tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80087175000304664442024-03-20T08:10:30.882-07:00Our Singing Thingfinding new ways to be a singer. they're probably old. they're new for me.Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.comBlogger88125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-89677881556717233352015-03-26T20:07:00.000-07:002015-03-26T20:07:03.582-07:00Eivor Trollabudin<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LpiFmZLICgM?list=RD_9Dh_azZqyQ" width="560"></iframe>Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-6502108847912734262012-10-30T09:15:00.000-07:002012-10-30T09:15:09.951-07:00Esperanza Spalding<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0IqcmhkfJRE" width="420"></iframe>
Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-34129060285662932282012-09-25T16:29:00.002-07:002012-09-25T16:29:26.569-07:00Will Hewett - Singing Yourself Alive<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/It8VtkHwtd4" width="560"></iframe>Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-76845761026003187072012-05-09T11:43:00.002-07:002012-05-09T11:44:49.179-07:00Kieth TerryMy new hero.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3Ysq0rh5ZaQ" width="420"></iframe><br />
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He sells instructional videos <a href="http://www.crosspulse.com/merchandise2.html#bodymusic" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.crosspulse.com/merchandise2.html#bodymusic2" target="_blank">here</a>.Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-48411869590256793412012-05-09T11:39:00.001-07:002012-05-09T11:45:53.691-07:00The importance of rests<br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">This from facebook. Jo is going through psychology finals.</span></div>
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<a class="actorName" data-ft="{"type":35,"tn":";"}" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=646182068" href="http://www.facebook.com/briony.greenhill" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Briony Greenhill</a> <span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text">perhaps you need some sleep.</span><br />
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<a class="uiLinkSubtle" data-ft="{"tn":"N"}" href="http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151549076835262&set=a.353641205261.353721.737310261&type=1&comment_id=14932153&offset=0&total_comments=12" style="color: grey; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">April 25 at 10:49am</a> · <span class="comment_like_14932153 fsm fwn fcg" data-ft="{"type":36,"tn":">"}"><button class="stat_elem as_link cmnt_like_link" name="like_comment_id[14932153]" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: visible; overflow-y: visible; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; width: auto;" title="Like this comment" type="submit" value="14932153"><span class="default_message" style="display: inline;">Like</span></button></span></div>
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<a class="actorName" data-ft="{"type":35,"tn":";"}" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=646182068" href="http://www.facebook.com/briony.greenhill" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Briony Greenhill</a> <span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text">P.S. I am currently thinking about the need for rest in learning. Right now I'm learning to play a complex sequence of jazz chords. I get to know the chords really well in pairs. Each pair takes about ten minutes. After that I need to do nothing. Just gaze out of the window for a few moments, maybe noodle on facebook. It's like my brain is asking for a rest while it digests the new information. Psychology of learning?</span><br />
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<a class="actorName" data-ft="{"type":35,"tn":";"}" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=737310261" href="http://www.facebook.com/jo.evershed" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Jo Evershed</a> <span class="commentBody" data-jsid="text">There is a nice paper by Ericsson (1993) that shows that expert musicians, in contrast to just very good musicians, are more likely to have a nap mid afternoon.<br /><br />He infers that by doing so they allow a 'sleep cycle' to 'consolidate' the learning so that they are ready for more.<br /><br />In another interesting study (Seabrook, 2004) compared two methods of learning to read. One in which 5 year olds had 1 x 6 minute session every day for 2 weeks and on in which they had 3x2 minute session every day for 2 weeks. The total amount of learning is the same but the distributed practice group improved FAR more.<br /><br />Bahrick et al. argue that this is because short session allow you to focus and attend to the subject matter more. I think something slightly different is going on, by leaving the task and returning to it you allow some forgetting which subsequently requires that you re-instate the memory / learning. This 're-instantment' has a powerful learning impact and additionally, helps you form a more generalisable representation of what you have just learnt.<br /><br />You didn't want an essay but I was looking at this material this morning so it is good revision for me!<br /><br />xx</span><br />
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</form>Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-10391881792335374912012-02-08T09:13:00.000-08:002012-02-08T09:13:36.860-08:00I loves you porgy, Keith Jarrett<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/o3D8Ri84hmw" width="420"></iframe>Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-68567396425695206522012-01-31T02:56:00.001-08:002012-01-31T02:56:52.188-08:00Bobby McFerrin Interview<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="225" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/25170698?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/25170698">In the Room with Bobby McFerrin</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/being">On Being</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-34719392263068948912012-01-11T08:47:00.000-08:002012-01-26T05:24:09.933-08:00Group vocal improv exercisesOver the last few months we at the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/174779989236059/" target="_blank">London Vocal Improv Collective</a> have found, collated, created and collected these ways of approaching vocal improvisation in a group of about 6 - 12 people.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: orange;">1. Talking nonsense</span></b><br />
Start by having conversations in nonsense. Before long, patterns start to arise from the nonsense - hear a phrase you like and start to repeat it. Little loops arrive, and from them music grows...<br />
<br />
A good warm up for this is the Bobby M exercise where you go through the alphabet doing a bit of nonsense with each letter of it as the starting letter in turn.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>2. Twisted karaoke</b></span><br />
One person thinks of a song and keeps it secret. The rest of the group starts a groove (using, if needed, exercise 4). Then the soloist has to put their song over the group's groove, keeping as faithfully as possible to the song yet putting it within the tempo, time and key signature of the groove. Especially good with traditional songs in your mother tongue :)<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>3. You sing we follow</b></span><br />
One person starts singing. It can be a song or an improvisation. The rest of the group brings in sound to support.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>4. Motor, interlocker, counterpoint</b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Small version</span><br />
Create a base with three roles.<br />
<br />
The motor is a 1 - 4 bar repetitive riff. It has to have some space in it. Often you improvise your way into it, start singing whatever and wait for the loop to arise. The motor is also the conductor, and can lead key changes, endings, pauses, dynamic changes and so on.<br />
<br />
The interlocker is like the motor's partner. It lives in the spaces created by the motor and works with the motor to create a strong basket to hold the piece in.<br />
<br />
The counterpoint is another loop, but now an entirely new kind of sound, to create a fresh contrast to the motor-interlocker partnership. So, if they are very staccato, the counterpoint might be very flowing. If they are cute, it might be harsh. If they descend slowly, the counterpoint might ascend quickly. You get the idea.<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;">Bigger version</span><br />
Several other parts can layer upon the three part basis. Each of the primary three parts can have harmonies from other singers. In addition, there is base, rhythm (can be two or more people) and a soloist.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="color: orange;"><b>5. Whale song</b></span><br />
Apparently, communities of whales know who's in their community because they all share the same song. They swim around the sea singing it. Often little variations come in. When a whale hears a community member singing a variation they like, they pick it up. In that way, by the end of a season often a whole community will be singing an entirely different song to the song they started with, but they will all still be singing the same song as one another.<br />
<br />
Here's how whale song works.<br />
<br />
One person is the conductor. They divide singers into parts and make up a part for each part group.<br />
<br />
Once you've been given your part, you can stick to it, you can copy someone else, or you can sing something entirely different. The only idea really is to keep what you're doing in fitting with the whole sound. (It can be fitting to take it somewhere new).<br />
<br />
In that way, once you've all got into the car, so to speak, you can take the car anywhere together. The piece finishes itself. When it's over, it's over.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: orange;">6. Conductor soloist </span></b><br />
This is a bit like whale song but more power remains with the initial conductor. The conductor can keep tweaking the piece once it's live, changing parts, influencing dynamics and generally doing whatever they want.<br />
<br />
The conductor can pick a soloist, or different soloists in turn. If you're picked you come into the middle and solo over the group. It doesn't matter how scared you are. You'll relax before long. It's important that the group supports the soloist with their volume, being quiet enough to hear the soloist and matching the soloists energy when they get loud and strong.<br />
<br />
The conductor can be the soloist, and can play with the parts, for example cutting a part for half of it and singing in the space created like a call and response. You can silence parts entirely, move part volumes up and down, get everyone singing the same part, create more and more sub parts, and solo in a way that supports and serves the sound - anything that sounds and feels good!<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: orange;">6. Bubble up from silence</span></b><br />
Here you just start from silence, with closed eyes, and let sound bubble up, live and die. What I find really delightful here is the mix between more and less musical noise. It can start from breath, rhythm can emerge, strange noises, animal or machinery noises, then some notes might flower like petals, stretch and harmonise, fly a little together, then sink back into atonal sounds.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="color: orange;">7. Scene setting</span></b><br />
This is a bit like bubbling up from silence, but you start by deciding on a scene. It can be, 'sunrise in Mumbai', or, 'a swamp', or, '2am soho' etc. Again you start from silence, the scene rises, lives out a kind of story, and then dies back into silence.<br />
<br />
Do you have any more?Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-9503310751720107652011-09-23T02:41:00.000-07:002011-09-26T05:04:29.368-07:00Lovely lullabies<a href="http://www.thebards.net/music/lyrics/A_Miners_Lullaby.shtml">Coorie Doon</a> is beautiful<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~wap001/staff/details.php?id=r01iw7">Irene Watt </a>is an ethnomusicologist in Scotland who teaches lullabies to mothers and all their babies fall asleep in the classes.Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-64502775235559792882011-08-29T19:11:00.000-07:002011-08-29T19:11:04.550-07:00Bobby McFerrin Workshop!<br />
Totally high. I’m at the Omega Institute in New York State, just after the first night of a workshop with Bobby McFerrin. The Master<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrpIIVZ8ILL_PXrflwL34v3sPtjPF7cFi9O1nRx_5LvvpA4Gk-b9UWMnO0ZJ8xGORfbmj38UpuPPQVGP4YUzVn87n33__P-AWsjZkmUxRWrLOH1Y7jhDFYAsk5HLyXSFKQS_CVW7-2/s1600/Bobby_McFerrin_photo_by_Szaniszlo_Ivor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrpIIVZ8ILL_PXrflwL34v3sPtjPF7cFi9O1nRx_5LvvpA4Gk-b9UWMnO0ZJ8xGORfbmj38UpuPPQVGP4YUzVn87n33__P-AWsjZkmUxRWrLOH1Y7jhDFYAsk5HLyXSFKQS_CVW7-2/s320/Bobby_McFerrin_photo_by_Szaniszlo_Ivor.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
thanks to <a href="http://pitchrhythmandgod.com/2011/07/catching-song/">pitch, rhythm and God</a> for the picture. Oo. Pitch rhythm and God?<br />
<br />
<b>Circle songs</b><br />
He creates them quickly. No premeditation. He gets a feeling, starts singing something, turns it into a loop, looks around for which voice it is, assigns it appropriately. Creates another, off he goes.<br />
<br />
He creates parts which he can break into chunks. It’s like a dolls house that you can take parts off. You can take off the whole roof, or this or that chimney, or all chimneys leaving the roof, or the whole roof again. By which I mean, he’ll give three voices the same part in harmony, and the part can be split in two. Then he plays call and response. Sometimes with one voice, silencing it one round while he sings in the gap that creates, bringing it back in again one round while he stops singing, silencing it again and singing back. Or he’ll do that with half the part – silencing it for the first half of the loop and singing, bringing it back for the second half. Sometimes he’ll do that with one voice, the top voice, say, keeping the lower two voices of that part, sometimes he’ll do that with all three voices, just leaving, say, the bottom three voices keeping a different part of the sound going. Like sometimes peeling off the trees, and sometimes peeling off the trees and the earth showing the bare rock beneath.<br />
<br />
The conductor in the middle plays solo. They’re not taking from the group sound, the group doesn’t subjugate to support them; they’re contributing. Giving whatever they can to raise the energy. Bits. Pieces. Artful little contributions. The energy raises. They alter the piece. Add something. A hey on an off beat. That gets gradually louder. An underlying beatbox. Something that gives.<br />
<br />
It’s brilliant. It’s fucking brilliant.<br />
<br />
<b>Small group improv</b><br />
Wowweeeeee I can’t say how delighted I was to see what they started with.<br />
A group of five. Bobby got going with a loose little loop that sometimes stuck to the pattern and sometimes didn’t. Gradually each singer began to contribute something complementary. All voices relaxed and soft. Everything playful and delicious and musical. The piece meandered, grew, took a left, up a sharp hill, down a soft slope, suddenly in unison, now polyphonic again, Oh My God this is heaven and I want to jump in and I want to swim and swim and live in this.<br />
<br />
The four singers accompanying him are the teachers. They are <a href="http://www.rhiannonmusic.com/index.html">Rhiannon</a>, <a href="http://www.berklee.edu/faculty/detail/christiane-karam">Christiane Karam</a>, <a href="http://www.berklee.edu/faculty/detail/joey-blake">Joey Blake </a>and <a href="http://www.davidworm.com/">David Worm</a>. They are humble and brilliant and beautiful and I want to sit at their feet and apprentice myself to them, to Rhiannon and Bobby in particular.<br />
<br />
There is embodied grace, embodied humility, embodied excellence, a palpable spirituality that is about grounded authentic play, play with elegant beauty, play with beastly snarls, play with all that it is to be human, but all that so subtly, because above all it is music and it is very very musical. Sometimes I find, in myself and in others, that when the musical expertise is lacking an over-expressiveness can take over to compensate. These guys have the balance.<br />
<br />
Here are some of the things that they said.<br />
<br />
Someone voiced my question: what are you <i>doing</i> when you do that? They said things like this:<br />
<br />
I’m thinking, co-operate, co-operate, co-operate. Blend in. Don’t do anything tricky.<br />
Give away. Find out where you fit. Trust. We have each others’ backs. A lot of love. Being very quiet. Listening for what’s being given.<br />
<br />
Everyone has a tone, sound and rhythm. Don’t be impatient. Take time to listen for what the person is doing.<br />
<br />
Not really thinking. Anticipating what they might do (often wrongly), supporting and accompanying.<br />
<br />
Practice informs and enriches your vocabulary. Listen listen listen to all manner of things. Among other activities that will develop your vocabulary.<br />
<br />
It’s all jazz. Be loose, be free, don’t think too much about it, let the music come out.<br />
<br />
Skill building. Become confident to jump in. At first it will be fearful, of course. “Anything worthwhile doing, if it’s new, you’ll be a little afraid of it.” (Bobby).<br />
<br />
Watch the music come out. See where it goes.<br />
<br />
<b>Practice</b><br />
Play with different sounds, the whole alphabet. Play with each consonant against each vowel. Quickly. Light and agile. Play your way through the whole alphabet in something like a minute.<br />
<br />
Could be supported by an underlying slow groove circle song.<br />
<br />
Someone can lead it. Calling things like chord number – singing the instructions. And say things like: Stop. Hold a silence. Then, Go.<br />
<br />
Humm. What can I do, each week, little by gentle little, humble by playful humble, enjoyably, to expand my vocabulary?<br />
<br />
Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-20382451364581103302011-07-25T06:08:00.000-07:002012-01-26T05:22:40.667-08:00Poor old Amy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBhV8MZBOKWrxFiIEdaAg0E2Mnl-MBUA1LiPCdIFiWFYUhXklz0v5r2kdzT7AZ9GEfgK60e_L9psz63461hx1p5ZXm-LNGHobZQhOH6u-qGDjr6HKRhCcRAJoLsQD2flSbCTrBJjEs/s1600/amy_winehouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBhV8MZBOKWrxFiIEdaAg0E2Mnl-MBUA1LiPCdIFiWFYUhXklz0v5r2kdzT7AZ9GEfgK60e_L9psz63461hx1p5ZXm-LNGHobZQhOH6u-qGDjr6HKRhCcRAJoLsQD2flSbCTrBJjEs/s320/amy_winehouse.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
I just heard the sad news about Amy Winehouse's death.<br />
<br />
She was in a tough position.<br />
<br />
In <a href="http://oursingingthing.blogspot.com/2009/10/genius.html">a great TED talk</a>, Liz Gilbert muses on what a difficult position contemporary arts culture puts artists in.<br />
<br />
Back in the day, she said, artistic inspiration was understood to be about more than the individual. The creative at work was inspired, in-spired; spirit was in the house. The creative was a channel. Upon her shoulder sat a 'genie' - etymological origin of 'genius' - some small creature who would pour the ideas into the creative, who would then pour them into the work. If the musician was fabulous, they were lucky to have a great genie. It wasn't all about them. If they were having a fallow period, bad old genie wasn't showing up for work. The ego was protected from taking direct responsibility for the inevitable peaks and troughs in creative productivity.<br />
<br />
Not so these days with our secular ideas: the individual is responsible for the greatness when the work is great, and has lost it, fallen from grace, when the work lacks spark.<br />
<br />
It puts the ego in a difficult place. Especially for someone as talented as Amy. Huge inflation from the huge audiences, deals, money, fame. Huge crashes when her identity struggles to healthily accommodate these bloated notions.<br />
<br />
She would have struggled too, I imagine, with the absence of a grounding humility in the idea of the role of the musician.<br />
<br />
I once sung with some Kora players from Mali and was struck by their humble, generous, relaxed and playful attitude towards making and sharing music. The Kora player in Mali plays a cultural service, they explained to me, with three main roles. Firstly, to hold the values of the culture that are embedded in the traditional songs. Their role is to learn the songs, know the songs, teach the songs and sing the songs so that the people remember who they are and what they value. (The Shona songs from Zimbabwe that I sing with Chartwell play a similar role in carrying values. "Where will I be when the problem comes? I will be with my father" are the lyrics to one entire song. It tells a lot about the role of a father. "Don't make the children wear patchwork: patchwork clothes are only for adults," sings another. Patchwork fabric is a sign of poverty. If there is poverty, the priority is to protect the children from feeling poor, the song instructs.)<br />
<br />
Two more roles for the Kora player from Mali: to create a party atmosphere for weddings and celebrations, and to keep the peace. The kora is wonderfully soothing - you've heard Toumani Diabate right? So, if you argue with, say, your partner, someone will go and fetch the nearest kora player to come and sit nearby and play the kora while you argue. And when he does, you will not be able to help but soften. You will soften into a way of communicating that is less violent, and as a result, face a better chance of hearing and being heard, and finding a resolution to your conflict.<br />
<br />
How cool is that?<br />
<br />
I think we need these ideas as musicians, of service, of embedded social role, of being a channel for 'god' rather than 'god' itself.<br />
<br />
Malidoma Some agrees. He says:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">"[Artistic] talents are widely recognised in indigenous communities because indigenous people assume that the artist is a priest or a priestess through whom the Other World finds an entrance into this world. If the priest or the priestess regards with reverence and humility the world where his or her art originates, then the work done becomes lasting and impressive. If not, the artist does not last very long." - <a href="http://oursingingthing.blogspot.com/2009/09/artist-in-dagar-ghana.html">The Healing Wisdom of Africa</a></span><br />
<br />
I bet a lot of people helped Amy to package herself - her sound, her appearance, her songs, her stage presence, her CDs, her financial management.<br />
<br />
I wonder if anybody helped Amy to see the enormous talent she had been given in this way.<br />
<br />
Somehow I doubt it. These ideas are not prevalent in our culture.<br />
<br />
Poor Amy.Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-10800756318363459132011-07-17T13:40:00.000-07:002011-07-17T13:40:33.417-07:00Sauna songsI've just come home from the wonderful Buddhafield festival.<br />
<br />
I'd like to go back next year armed with songs and singing to share. I didn't this year because I didn't think about it or prepare.<br />
<br />
Firstly, Sauna songs. I was a bit stumped by this.<br />
<br />
Sauna songs should be easy to learn and easy to build upon. Good to have high and low energy songs up your sleeve.<br />
<br />
First thoughts:<br />
<br />
In that sweet by and by<br />
Hold on just a little bit longer<br />
Great mother / from singing in the wild<br />
<br />
in the morning<br />
<br />
Good morning grandmother<br />
<br />
the best bit of all was when someone started a beat, people picked it up and added to it, the light mysteriously went out, people started to tone, tones turned into harmonies, harmonies into yodels, yodels into musical yells, claps into stamps, the whole thing went WILD - fantastic.Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-5174914188991063622011-07-13T01:04:00.000-07:002012-02-16T07:57:01.837-08:00GaudeteThis is one of my favourite Christmas songs.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gObYrzbRXgI" width="425"></iframe><br />
<br />
I like this youtube comment from one of the choir members:<br />
<span style="font-size: 12px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12px;">Mainly they are people who work on the fields (agriculture) whom don't even speak a foreign language besides myself 2 or 3 others among teenagers. </span><span style="font-size: 12px;">The conductor (he is a music teacher) intended to do so... fast and joyfully. He meant to and we did it :)</span><br />
<a class="author " href="http://www.youtube.com/user/matrixamp" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4272db; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow-x: hidden; overflow-y: hidden; padding-bottom: 3px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;" title="matrixamp">matrixamp</a><span style="color: #666666; font-size: 0.9166em; line-height: 14px;"> </span><span class="time" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">1 year ago</span><br />
<br />
I really like the Steeleye Span version.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tKT5_TlQ4GM" width="425"></iframe><br />
Its author says:<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"></span><br />
<div id="watch-uploader-info" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #666666; font-size: 0.9166em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Uploaded by <a class="author" href="http://www.youtube.com/user/viggojaredcoreymatt" rel="author" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #4272db; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">viggojaredcoreymatt</a> on <span class="watch-video-date" id="eow-date" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 11px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">May 1, 2009</span></div><div id="watch-description-text" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 1.09em; line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div id="eow-description" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: transparent; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">I love the way this song sounds, I couldn't find the lyrics anywhere on YouTube so I made this video. I also wondered what it meant so I found a translation - I did not translate it myself!</div></div>Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-45025099070208202782011-07-06T10:09:00.000-07:002012-02-16T07:58:42.739-08:00Bangdiza 2 from Chartwell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyCb8Ast8pt3guDhjMixb0B9-0AjgL0pjh3Q1RHAXtOCRMYrmLN60sJch-M3n5v3-NWPVpQEiuaBTuurqGrzA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thanks to Emily for the words:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Mhuka inoruma vakomana</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Mhuka inoruma</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">Mhuka inoruma vakomana</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">Mudeve mune tsanga</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">"Vakomana" means 'brothers'</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">The song means 'Hey guys this animal bites' </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">or something like that...</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px;">:)</span></div>Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-69335769934362508312011-07-06T08:49:00.000-07:002011-07-11T04:44:22.347-07:00Karimugamba<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwXOPg9rAiskhCrv1gUwxbXrOtD-LVLTUYUvvXZazFeMAkkZR8p_bzvF5pg5GL0YgIJeVUGQFraY_zQvZLYhQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
Hurendende iya wayene x3<br />
<br />
nyama musango (in the middle of the bush)<br />
huchi munodya mega<br />
ndiyah wamora<br />
<br />
it means<br />
bring the honey!<br />
Getting the honey is an act of daring. You have to climb tall trees and take honey from wild aggressive bees. Sugars don't come easy in the jungle :)Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-25604643138967308672011-07-06T07:54:00.000-07:002011-07-11T04:44:33.376-07:00Mahororo!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz4B-oZxoPo4BxOmSE_18dIlbROam7QlWMHApDSM0tkwvsnbTUKzAK4noKoUn7PR0__0xmglXctGey_WfnRhg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-14963064339659769942011-07-05T08:55:00.000-07:002011-07-11T04:44:42.796-07:00Nyangara Chena 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwBVz-d6rD5rjLOUJFx_NCxzvOmMnW29UDr9WDYlHn6bJTE0qyiV5ZjEeyoxX1GJNE3T5lNOSt1EqXXxtdP' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-29145485527040314092011-07-05T07:48:00.000-07:002011-07-11T04:44:52.678-07:00Nyangara Chena from FredSorry about the wobbly videos. I'll edit them at some point. In the mean time here they are.<br />
<br />
<b>Words</b><br />
Nyangara Chena (repeat)<br />
<br />
Nai way Nyangara way<br />
Ta zoku ona Nyangara<br />
<br />
Nai way Nyangara way<br />
Mambo wedu wofa Nyangara<br />
<br />
<b>Meaning</b><br />
Nyangara is python-healer. The song says, Python healer, come out (chena). We need your help (ta zoku ona). Our chief is dying (mambo wedu wofa).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dw5viE1vMVnTXjtEbNpTIw8fX36MY1nd7u2TDsnAUWZhR2KX_VDe4srlmOasAsqZDEe4GTmoMVQO0ve_wjyAA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-82940035609399827052011-07-05T03:36:00.000-07:002011-07-11T04:45:13.823-07:00Mandarendare from Sebastian and Doug<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwPdzGQRZ58OnCuHHsIRU62to-cp77bjg5uCVQxXsE4F8XSLs2C-h7kpCZYRKmyIa0zzZU5ajxW9yF_9gj_ng' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-89675429543173291022011-06-28T06:35:00.000-07:002011-06-28T06:35:13.377-07:00The learning process. And 'genies'...When I began to focus more on vocal improvisation, I found I often heard a little voice inside of me. My job as an improviser was simply to follow it. It always seemed to come up with beauty. To follow it was a smooth pleasure.<br />
<br />
Now I have been studying vocal improvisation for a year, with David Eskenazy. I don't hear that little voice any more. I haven't for a while. My hunch about why this is has been pretty much the same as Jo's, but she explains it very nicely...<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">"We never got back to talking about how your voice connection to the 'genies' has gone. My take on this is that while you are learning a new skill the genies go away. This is so that they don't interrupt the dialogue that you brain is having with your body. Once you reach your new desired skill level and feel confident in it the brain will be able to go back onto autopilot and the genies will come back. PROMISE!<br />
<br />
"It's all about the progression from unconsciously incompetent to unconsciously competent. The steps in development are:<br />
<br />
1) Unconscious incompetence (or old skill level)<br />
2) Conscious incompetence<br />
3) Conscious competence (new skill level)<br />
4) Unconscious competence<br />
<br />
The genies can only speak when the action is so well established that it can be performed unconsciously."</span>Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-62768045159376237232010-08-30T08:43:00.001-07:002012-02-16T08:00:46.706-08:00Circle Song<object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/2wHxkCOrUII?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/2wHxkCOrUII?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
We did a lot of circle song with <a href="http://improvisation-vocale.com/english/home.php">David</a>. He gets us all singing a repetitive rhythmic kind of backing track and we take it in turns to improvise over it. It's taken from Bobby Mcferrin. Who took it from ancestral African traditions. In many ways it's like what we do all night in <a href="http://playingaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2009/07/mbira-camp.html">The Tent</a> on <a href="http://oursingingthing.blogspot.com/2009/07/nemum-msasa.html">Mbira camp</a>.<br />
<br />
So I'm listening to Bobby McFerrin circle songs on Youtube and I'm starting to think about the possibilities for gathering a group of performance quality singers, maybe a pan-European flexible come and go group, with different constellations of singers gathering for performances in different places<br />
<br />
I'm thinking about developing some kind of show that's a mixture of the individual singers' work maybe and some circle songs, and doing some fun playful participatory stuff with the audience, I like that part a lot<br />
<br />
I'm thinking about progressive circle songs - I really like the way this one of Bobby's builds so gradually and continually as a whole piece. I'd kind of like it to have some kind of key change perhaps at some point - that's getting quite western, you don't have key changes in, for example, Hindustani (Indian) classical and Shona (Zimbabwean) improvisation-based music. You just have really gradual organic progression within a single key or chord sequence.<br />
<br />
Then I'm thinking about the form of Indian classical music, and how you could bring that into circle songs.<br />
<br />
You start with the alap - low and slow and arhythmic. The sounds enter like the rising sun; first the gradual, soft lighting of the sky. At some point some way in, the actual sun appears on the horizon. Because of the gradual play preceding it, it's a breathtaking moment, electric like a first touch within chemistry. It's when the improviser reaches the 8th note, (in other words the base note, the tonic, one octave up).<br />
<br />
The arrival of each new note is an Event, and one that is lingered upon. <a href="http://www.atulkumarupadhye.com/">Atul</a> described it to me like a road trip. "First you are in England. England is Sa (the 1st). Well you go about England preparing your journey. Then you move - and it is a journey - over to France. France is Re (the 2nd). Now you're in France, do you go straight to Germany? Germany is Ga (the 3rd). No! You stay in France. You play for a while, visit some friends. You play around the edges. Then when you arrive in Germany, it is quite an event!"<br />
<br />
And so on. And all the while, softening, softening into the music, softening into the experience of letting the music sing through you rather than you pushing and forcing it out of you.<br />
<br />
So that's Alap.<br />
<br />
Then a beat comes in. It's low and slow. You improvise but every 12 bars or something a little repetitive phrase comes in that marks the kind of corners that are emerging within your form. Your improvisation stays mellow but moves from the arhythmic quality of the alap to a rhythmic quality in resonance with the beat.<br />
<br />
Next the beat quickens. Your improvisation does too. The drummer gets more playful. So you do you. You rise together; the pace, the speed of your sonic movements, the tones, rise rise rise until you reach your first climax.<br />
<br />
Next, the intensity goes back down half way. Now enters a melodic composition. It will be a little thing, maybe 8 bars, maybe 16 or 32. You'll sing it a few times over. Then you'll start to play with it. You might sing bars 1 - 4 of the composition, then improvise for 4 bars, then come back for bars 5 onwards. Next round, you might improvise for four bars between bars 4 and 5, and four bars between bars 12 and 13. Then you create bigger gaps in the composition for your improvisations, and more of them, then more and more, until the composition is literally in shreds, tiny strips that give a thematic kind of fiber to the improvisation, and you can whip and weave them around each other. By this point both the melodic soloist and the drummer are going crazy, improvising with wild abandon, beyond all control, yet still within the form and feel of the music, until the final peak is reached, and gradually like the slowing and softening after orgasm, the music moves towards the still intimacy of silence.<br />
<br />
I wonder if it's possible to weave some elements of that musical form into circle song. With the right group of people. I wonder who those people would be.Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-92120578978405663402010-08-30T04:46:00.000-07:002010-08-30T04:46:59.665-07:00David Eskenazy Rocks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZW-_3l5A8Z3NujwmmJ5gX85-kwXVeJtogOMhyuAWQUGLkINKUuW9XyMOAM0X_Ccj0X2971KkY2sZuvPLMa1OvF270Nt1vgxC0R5fuIB0nzNXQ6OFMyEGSqVju2CGOAfThqustg-w-/s1600/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZW-_3l5A8Z3NujwmmJ5gX85-kwXVeJtogOMhyuAWQUGLkINKUuW9XyMOAM0X_Ccj0X2971KkY2sZuvPLMa1OvF270Nt1vgxC0R5fuIB0nzNXQ6OFMyEGSqVju2CGOAfThqustg-w-/s320/Picture+1.png" /></a></div>I've just come back from the most rockingest week long vocal improv workshop in the south of France with <a href="http://improvisation-vocale.com/">David Eskenazy</a>. All I want to do now is sing.<br />
<br />
He's got a teaching style that is both artistic and practical, free and rigorous, which pushes you to your edge then lets you fly. And as a musician, vocally and instrumentally, he rocks out.<br />
<br />
I'm going to study with him for a year. I've cleared ten hours a week in my diary. I want to clear more.<br />
<br />
Be warned though, his advanced workshops are not a space to get comfortable with vocal improv, they're a place for those already comfortable with it to really stretch themselves. If you're interested and just getting comfortable with public improv, go for the intermediate and beginners levels.<br />
<br />
I'm going to help him organise some workshops in London. Watch this space...Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-56071207184990624532010-08-17T06:41:00.001-07:002010-08-17T06:41:56.197-07:00International body music festivals...The first was in San Francisco. The second was in NYC. The third will be in Sao Paulo this autumn. The fourth?<br />
<br />
<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/BJp7SlE6R2s?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/BJp7SlE6R2s?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-33152825689898830852010-08-17T06:35:00.000-07:002010-08-17T06:35:08.348-07:00Barbatuques<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QonQxG01tJY?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QonQxG01tJY?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008717500030466444.post-18700452782856285622010-08-17T06:33:00.001-07:002010-08-17T06:33:53.082-07:00Max Pollak<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NysKrHhmlJE?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NysKrHhmlJE?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>Briony Greenhillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05001656790572588123noreply@blogger.com0