Let’s Singprovise! Intro Workshop

Let's Singprovise!

A beginners’ introduction to improvising a cappella music as a group

Discover how simple and accessible making up music with your voice can be.
Experience the magic of Collaborative Vocal Improvisation!

Date: 9th February 2025 | 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Location: Sound Your Voice, 29 Blenheim Street, Easton BS5 0NS
Price: £25

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You too can improvise vocally

If you’re someone who loves to sing, you’ll know the joy of learning new songs, or singing old favourites. But what if singing could be more creative, and even more deeply connecting?

What if you could play a part in making up music on the spot, even if you’ve never improvised or created music before?

Even if improvised singing sounds challenging to you, and a little outside your comfort zone, we’re confident that you too can start improvising. And we promise that Collaborative Vocal Improvisation can help you experience human connection and creative flow in a way few other activities can.

Join us for this special Let’s Singprovise! Intro Workshop, where we’ll provide a supportive and encouraging space for beginner improvisers to find their voice and confidence.

An accessible intro to vocal improvisation

We (Lise and Danielle) have been teaching Let’s Singprovise! as a weekly workshop since spring 2022. Now, for the first time we are offering a 3-hour introductory workshop exclusively for beginner improvisers. This could be perfect for you if you prefer to start your vocal improv journey in a beginner-only space.

You don’t have to know music theory, or have improvised before, to take part in this workshop (although you should be comfortable with singing). We will teach all the musical skills involved by ear, and in a step-by-step way.

We’ll begin with a gentle, embodied routine to help you feel grounded and to settle any nerves. We’ll also have guidelines in place to help everyone feel more comfortable and safe. For example, everything we do in the workshop is an invitation, so you can choose to sit out of any exercise at any time.

You’ll be learning Collaborative Vocal Improvisation (CVI) in a way that’s designed to support you to:

  • Value and embrace all your musical ideas – even simple ones
  • Gradually expand your comfort zone
  • Gain more confidence to take up space, express your unique voice and be heard

What exactly is Collaborative Vocal Improvisation?

CVI is an a cappella art form (i.e. sung without instrumental accompaniment). It’s often made up of vocal loops which are layered to create harmony and interesting rhythms. Over the top of this ‘basket of sound’ one singer – the soloist – can improvise a melody. (By the way, there’s no obligation to try soloing in the workshop, unless you’d like to!)

The forms or ‘ways into’ CVI we teach in Let’s Singprovise! were developed by the vocal improviser Rhiannon and other members of Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra in the US.

Taking part in CVI can hone your skills for any musical activity – whether you’re dreaming of writing songs, taking part in jams, or you’d just like more confidence to be heard singing.

Often people associate vocal improvisation with Jazz or musical theatre, but CVI isn’t about singing in a specific genre. The music we create together can sound like any contemporary music genre, or none.

Open up a whole new world of singing

CVI is a niche but rapidly growing art form here in the UK and internationally. Come along to experience its magic, and discover how you can become a more spontaneously creative singer!

Book your place

 

And if you’d like to put your new skills into practice straight away, and take a deeper dive into the many forms that CVI can take, this intro workshop will prepare you for the Singers Co-Create workshop, happening just a week later. Find out more about Singers Co-Create

Meet your facilitators

“Danielle and Lise are amazing facilitators. Their emotional intelligence is beautiful to connect with. Their teamwork and leadership skills are gifted. Their genuine love of singing and of bringing the best out of people by encouragement is wonderful.” Miranda

 

Lise Huber
Jazz singer, songwriter and vocal coach

Lise is the founder of Sound Your Voice, a Bristol-based vocal studio empowering singers of all levels to develop their individuality and independence as musical artists. A voice teacher with more than 15 years’ experience, Lise has taught everyone from performing artists to stage actors, as well as beginner singers who think they can’t sing!

Since 2019 Lise has trained as a singer and singing teacher with world-class vocal coaches at the Institute for Vocal Advancement (IVA). Her musical background is in Jazz and Contemporary Music. She began her journey as a creative facilitator in Vienna where she studied Jazz Vocals at the Vienna Music Institute and Music and Movement Education/Rhythmics at the University of Music and Performing Arts.

Lise performs and records with her Jazz band under the name of Lil Maxine.

 

“Brilliant, magnificent, sensitive and highly competent in the way Lise brings out the best in me as a singer and performer!“ Jakob Beubler, singer and actor

 

Danielle Styles
Vocal improvisation coach and songwriter

Danielle Styles

Danielle is a creative vocalist, vocal improvisation facilitator and coach. Working under the name Bird Flies Free, she helps nervous and inhibited singers to unlock their artist within and sing with true freedom and confidence in front of others.

Danielle dedicated herself to the study and practice of Collaborative Vocal Improvisation after falling in love with this art form six years ago. However, her longing to share her voice creatively was challenged by the intense performance nerves she would experience. The first time Danielle was invited to improvise a solo in front of classmates, the fear kicked in so strongly that she ended up sitting on the floor, half singing, half sobbing.

This challenge became a ‘call to adventure’ that opened up a deep exploration of her voice, her nervous system and her past. After seeking help from many coaches, courses and books, Danielle found ways to overcome her nerves – and she now shares this wisdom on Free Your Voice.

Danielle’s vocal improvisation teachers have been Briony Greenhill, Emma Coleman and Guillermo Rozenthuler. Danielle is a piano-based songwriter who is currently writing songs for her debut album.


“I felt entirely safe and held in Danielle’s workshop and I didn’t ever feel exposed or on the spot. Danielle is a wonderful facilitator who created a space that was fun and playful but also tender and open.” Amy Lawrence, singer, songwriter and performing artist

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