EDUCATION
Choir Voicing Workshop
how it works. No choir member sings alone and all that is required is for choir members to change places! Choir Voicing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve the overall sound of your choir.
Brought to you by the Association of Irish Choirs.
KEVIN O’CARROLL Conductor
Thursday 1st May, 6.30pm Curtis Auditorium, CIT Cork School of Music
Kevin O’Carroll is a Waterford based freelance conductor. He currently directs a number of Irish community choirs and a professional choral ensemble. Equally at home in front of orchestra, choir or musical theatre groups, he has been guest conductor for choirs, orchestras and musical societies all over Ireland and abroad. Having studied with the internationally renowned conducting clinician Dr. John Dickson in the USA and Cambridge, Kevin is recognised nationally as a choral specialist. He is in demand throughout Ireland as an adjudicator, conducting teacher and for choral workshops. In 2012 he was conducting consultant on a film for BBC television, Loving Miss Hatto. Kevin’s 2013 book on choral conducting (Choral Conducting – A Handbook for Irish Choir Trainers and Conductors), is aimed at supporting new or reluctant choral conductors and is used as a text book by several colleges. Kevin holds a Dip. ABRSM in Choral Conducting, a B.A. (Hons.) in Music and Business Management and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting performance. In September 2014 he hopes to commence PhD studies in the University of Limerick. The topic of his research relates to performance practice of Renaissance choral music and the impact of modern notation on such performance.
Admission: Free of charge Are there prominent voices in your choir? Are their voices you never hear? Do each of the voice lines blend as if they were one voice? If you answered Yes, Yes and No to these three questions then it is highly likely that your choir would benefit from a technique known as Choir Voicing. Not to be confused with the classification of voices as Soprano, Alto, Tenor, or Bass, the technique known as Choir Voicing was created to assist in generating the optimal blend of the singers in any given ensemble. One of the country’s leading musicians, conductor David Brophy, has said of this technique “Having attended Kevin O’Carroll’s absorbing presentation I’m fully convinced that all choirs should investigate the potential benefits of utilising this subtle and mysterious technique - they will be surprised at the results!” The effect of the technique has been acclaimed as magical, special and transforming. Kevin has been referred to as ‘The Choir Whisperer” and the Voicing technique has been described as voodoo for choirs! Whether you work with a large amateur group of 120 or an 8 member professional choral ensemble, the technique is equally effective. The Choir Voicing workshop is a one hour presentation held in an entertaining and collaborative atmosphere where either volunteers or a guest choir are used to demonstrate the technique and explain
Sacred Harp Workshop Thursday 1st May, 5pm St. Fin Barre’s Hall, Dean Street Admission: Free of charge (donations welcome) Sacred Harp is a four-part a cappella music dating from the 16th through the 20th centuries, and is characterised by haunting harmonies, traditional modes, raucous songs, serene hymns, fast fugues, and high-energy anthems. “The Sacred Harp” is a tunebook first published in 1844 in Georgia, USA. The phrase can also be interpreted as referring to the inherent human ability to make music with the voice, a “sacred harp”.
The notation in the book is written in shapes that correspond to degrees of the scale, designed to make it easier to learn to sight-sing with no prior experience. This tradition is democratic and egalitarian, with participants arranged in a hollow square; facing each other so as to sing with each other and for each other. Eimear O’Donovan will host a beginners’ workshop to introduce newcomers to the Sacred Harp tradition. An introduction to shape notation, singing in four part harmony and some very basic music theory will be covered. No experience necessary.
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