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Gyan has been working in the area of promoting and coordinating community choral events and facilitating workshops and concerts for visiting artists for the last ten years. She has coordinated seven RhythmSong music camps since 2000, and has been organising Gospel singing weekends for Tony Backhouse (Sydney) since 2003.
Through RhythmSong, in association with Rosie Johnstone, and prior to that through Voice Moves WA, Gyan has brought a number of quality artists to Western Australia who have gone on to forge fruitful links with the WA community. These include Rachel Hore, Valanga Khoza, Stephen Taberner, Joseph Jordania, Greg Sheehan, Carl Pannuzzo, Kavisha Mazzella, Andrea Watson and Parissa Bouas of the Hottentots.
She also initiated and ran the InCahoots Music Café at La Tropicana in Fremantle between 2003 and 2006. This provided an excellent venue for local musicians, singers and music lovers to gather and perform.
Gyan has a passion for world and original music, travelling to Georgia in 2006 to attend an ethnomusicological conference in Tbilisi and take part in a two week residential workshop in Georgian singing and dancing. She is a member of the group Shalva who sing Georgian and East European music.
Her main interest lies in creating opportunities for people to discover the joy and inherently life affirming qualities of music and other creative pursuits.
Contact Gyan by email at gya42@yahoo.com.
25th to 27th September, 2009
Main Venue: Floreat Uniting Church,
50 Berkeley Crescent, Floreat
Final revised programme now available to view and download!
Click here for the Final Programme
and new
Venue Location Map
Click here for a Choir Registration Form
Click here for a Public Registration Form
Spring Song is a music festival aimed at giving community singers a chance to perform and also to participate in quality workshops at the least possible cost. We are a not for profit entity and any profits from the festival will go towards seeding next year's event. Note that all members of choirs and singing groups will be offered discount weekend or day tickets.
This year's festival will have a Brazilian theme, drawing on the vibrant music and rhythms of Brazil. We have lured Diana Clark over from Melbourne to teach some of her amazing Brazilian repertoire and this will be reinforced by the Brazilian percussion skills of Richy Glasgow.
The structure for 2009 is slightly different from the past 2 years. This year we want participants in the singing workshops to be able to perform in the Big Sing which will be part of the closing concert. This will add extra energy and focus to the weekend and more fun for participants.
We’ll also be offering some great workshops in other styles of singing, Alexander technique, vocal technique and an ‘infomusic’ session. There’ll be an informal Friday opening event that will be free to those with weekend tickets.
Like last year the weekend will be structured around daytime workshops and afternoon and evening concerts and there’ll also be a café for catching up with friends. We think this combination of workshops and entertainment will make for an excellent weekend of community music.
Another exciting development....this year’s Spring Song is receiving sponsorship from Voice Moves WA, the association for singers in WA.
The festival can only succeed with the support of choirs and the singing community so we hope you can join us at Spring Song this year and make it another fantastic event.
Application forms for choirs and individuals are available here now and all information about the event will be posted here so watch this space.
Choirs interested in performing please contact Gyan to register your interest before filling out form.
Click here to view the Final Programme
and new Venue Location Map
Click here to download the Choir Registration Form or here to download the Public Registration Form.
Alternatively contact Matthew Clements on 08 9339 7333 or clementsm@bigpond.com for further details.
If you wish to attend but your choir is not performing, you can still access performer prices via the Choir Registration Form.
» Click here for a Choir Registration Form
» Click here for a Public Registration Form
» Click here to view the Final Programme
» and new Venue Location Map
Diana is an award winning vocalist, composer and choir director based in Melbourne. She is currently band leader of the Diana Clark trio.
A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts with a Bachelor of Music in performance and improvisation, she’s has been the recipient of two Australia Council Grants.
Diana is experienced in the areas of Jazz and Bossa Nova and sings fluently in Portugese. She and her musical and life partner (now husband), master guitarist Doug de Vries , have an ongoing love affair with Brazil and it’s music and have been there numerous times to immerse themselves in its culture and its unique musical environment . Their recordings, ‘Three Shadows of Blue’ and ‘A Knot in the Wood’,, have won art critic awards in Australia and the USA.
Diana has also released a CD of her own songs ‘Breathe in to Time’ to critical acclaim. She was a co-founder of popular a cappella group AKASA, (Best World /Folk album 2000 & 2007, CARA, USA) and in 2001 established Australia’s first performing Brazilian choir BORBOLETA.
Diana is an experienced workshop leader and director of choirs and has in the past directed the legendary 400 voice Melbourne Millennium Chorus.
At Spring Song in 2009 she will be teaching Brazilian songs and sharing her passion for that vital and infectious musical tradition.
Brazilian Songs - Diana Clark
Immerse yourself in the intoxicating rhythms, sensual Portuguese language and exquisite harmony of this diverse musical culture. Diana will be working from her recently published 'Borboleta BRAZILIAN SONGBOOK'. The songs will vary from dancey samba-reggae rhythms to luscious laments of yearning melancholy.
There will be two workshops on the Saturday (see programme) and on the Sunday morning Diana will teach an exciting combined workshop with our resident Brazilian percussion specialist, Richy Glasgow.
These workshops will lead to a performance opportunity in the closing concert on Sunday.
Working with Diana is great fun and this is a rare opportunity to work with one of Australia’s foremost artists in this genre.
Richy is a percussionist, musician and teacher with a passion for Brazilian music and rhythms. In 1990 he founded the famed Sambanistas, the original street percussion group in WA, and was their musical director until 2005.
He’s been involved with numerous community music percussion projects. For the Festival of Perth he directed ‘Indian Ocean Water Drumming’, a huge project that involved 500 drummers of different ages and he also created a Brazilian style Bateria for the Joondalup Festival involving 150 people. During this period he was also Artist in Residence at Newman, establishing Marra Mamba Samba. In 2005/2006 Richy received an Australia Council Fellowship to study street percussion in Brazil and its use in community groups.
He is skilled at working with groups, small and large, young and old, and loves the energy and musicality of Brazilian music.
At Spring Song he’ll be teaching percussion workshops and combining with Diana Clark to create a participatory performance at the closing concert. He’ll also be contributing a segment on Brazilian music and culture in the ‘Infoconcert’.
Brazilian Percussion – Richy Glasgow
Richy will be facilitating two percussion workshops on the Saturday, where people will learn some great grooves and rhythms. Brazilian music and rhythm is definitely for the people and can be enjoyed by everybody. It’s inclusive and accessible.
On Sunday morning he and Diana Clark will run a combined workshop in singing and percussion. It’s sure to be high energy and heaps of fun.
Chloe King is a dynamic, experienced and adaptable performer, teacher and musical director from the UK. With 20 years of stage experience under her belt, Chloe has performed, directed and conducted for a huge variety of music theatre, choral, cabaret and theatre productions. Performances range from ‘Threepenny Opera’ (Young Vic Theatre, London) to ‘Side by Side by Sondheim’ (Tobacco Factory, Bristol) to touring with the award winning UK a cappella group ‘Naked Voices’ and winning ‘Best Actress’ at the ITA DramaFest 2008 in Perth.
Chloe’s teaching style is inspiring and playful, whether teaching singing/voice work in her private studio or schools and music schools, directing choirs, or running vocal workshops for all ages.
Chloe loves to work with material from all over the world, ranging from Soul to the Sacred, from Gospel to Georgian harmonies, and from Music Theatre to pop, jazz, blues and folk.
Chloe teaches two projects for Musica Viva – the Song Safari Professional Development program for Perth’s Primary Music Teachers and the Rhythm of Life/Music for Life project in Mandurah. Chloe is also MD for the Band of Angels gospel choir (Fremantle) and for the Australian Youth Choir (Perth).
Having taught a Performance Masterclass for Spring Song in 2008, Chloe is really excited to be returning to teach a Vocal Technique Masterclass this year.
Qualifications include: Certificate of Teaching from the ABRSM, Levels 1&2 Estill Voice Technique and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Music Theatre (Bristol Academy of Performing Arts, UK).
Vocal Technique Masterclass - Chloe King
Chloe King will be running a vocal technique masterclass for Spring Song..
Come and explore the power of your voice! Learn helpful hints and tips on developing a strong confident sound and working with different vocal qualities and colours. The first part of the class will involve a group warm-up, exercises and a song. During the second section Chloe will be advising and working with a handful of individual singers – if you are interested please put your name forward immediately as places will fill fast.
Come and troubleshoot a song you perform/would like to be performing - or learn as you watch others raise their game through this workshop experience. Watching other singers working intricately is a fantastically valuable way to absorb new ideas.
Drawing from Chloe's extensive teaching and performance experience as a vocalist and actor, this friendly and supportive 'masterclass' will focus mainly on solving problems such as:
‘Why do I strain for high notes?’
‘Why are some words or phrases easy to sing and others are hard?
‘What do you mean by breath control?’
‘How do I create one voice? How do I sing smoothly through my ‘breaks’?’
‘How do I add in different colours without losing control of my tone?’
Places for this workshop will go fast, and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.
Bernard Carney, guitarist, singer, songwriter and entertainer is based in Western Australia and has worked full time as a performer in the Australian entertainment industry for 33 years. He has been a prominent guest at Australia’s major acoustic music festivals for the past 25 years and has released 9 CDs to critical acclaim. In March 2003 he was named Artist of the Year at the Port Fairy Folk Festival and also won the prestigious Lawson Patterson Songwriting Award. He has previously won three major songwriting awards.
In 1997 his song “Gardens of Death” was adopted as the international anthem for the campaign to ban landmines by the International Red Cross in Geneva who made it into an educational video and a CD single which has raised money for victims.
Bernard has been the musical director of the Working Voices Choir, the combined trade unions choir of Western Australia, since 1997. This choir performs at rallies, social justice events, union events and festivals and their repertoire reflects the member’s commitment to peace, social change, conservation, reconciliation and many more social justice issues where music can help to further a cause.
2007 saw the birth of the Spirit of the Streets Choir, originally put together from sellers of the Big Issue magazine and broadened out to include any potential singer from a disadvantaged background, or who was long term unemployed or disabled in some way. The choir is all inclusive and has performed at many conferences to do with social welfare and mental health and in October 2008 staged a phenomenally well supported concert at the Perth Concert Hall.
At Spring Song in 2009 Bernard will be performing in his own right and he’ll also be directing the Spirit of the Streets Choir in one of the Saturday afternoon concerts.
Infoconcert
On the Sunday he will share some of his experiences in his journey with this choir in the Infoconcert. This should be of interest to anybody who loves to sing and who’d like to hear more about the benefits singing can bring to all parts of the community.
Singalong with Bernard Carney
He’ll also be leading one of his famed ‘sing-a-long’ concerts on the Sunday afternoon which is sure to be fantastic fun.
Annie Robinson STAT AUSTAT AMusA has been teaching the Alexander Technique and singing in Perth for the last 15 years. She has taught at the WA Academy of Performing Arts, Murdoch University, the Australian Opera Studio and the University of WA Extension program. She has also run classes for young dancers at the Graduate College of Dance, and for theatre students at Total Theatre.
Annie is interested in the specific application of the Alexander Technique to the use of the voice, as well as its general application in performing, playing music, and public speaking. She has taught many musicians who use the Alexander Technique in their professional lives. She also works with school teachers with chronic laryngitis, people who can't sing in tune, singers who want to improve their singing and young people just starting out on a career.
Annie currently teaches singing and conducts choral ensembles in Secondary schools, as well as teaching singing and Alexander Technique in private practice and as a consultant. For the last 10 years she has been the Musical Director of the Fremantle Women’s Choir.
Alexander Technique and The Art of Breathing
This workshop will introduce participants to the Alexander Technique through its application to singing, with particular emphasis on the role of the breath. Alexander’s discoveries about human functioning are of a broader and deeper nature than the commonly held associations of the Technique with ‘posture’; the Technique usefully challenges many assumptions about learning, breathing and the nature of habit.
Christine Morrison is a unique Musician, Sound Healer, Composer and Teacher.
Her piano music and vocal sounds have been said to “Soothe the Soul”. Whatever your soul requires, her sounds and music reach it – in a gentle and compassionate way, allowing you to discover your inner talents and knowledge.
Christine was guided to work with sound, music and colour while she was recovering from an illness. It played a major part in her healing, taking her on a journey of self-discovery and an awakening of her soul, and also guiding her to realize her soul’s purpose. She decided to resign from her primary school teaching profession to share her knowledge of using and working with Sound, Music and Colour.
The music Christine composes connects with your Heart and your Soul, giving you peace, relaxation and calm. Her music is used for many purposes, such as for relaxation, grief, pregnancy and labour, passing over, pain relief, meditation, massage and bodywork, to calm children, and for the pure enjoyment of listening.
Throughout her journey, Christine has had connections and experiences with Aboriginal culture and spirituality. Her sounds and music connect you with the ancient ones and your ancient knowledge & wisdom deep within your Soul.
Christine travels interstate and overseas facilitating workshops, retreats and offering Soul Impression CD individual sessions where she composes music specifically for you. Her CD’s are also sold internationally.
“She has brought to Earth the sacred sounds from the Angelic realms of light. Every note feels as if it has been touched by the wings and the breath of Angels.”
Lorna May Todd. Author of “Working with Angels and Nature Spirits”
Infoconcert
Connect with your heart and soul as you allow your Soul sounds to emerge from deep within. Christine will guide you to open up and free your voice using sound and colour techniques, to allow the love to flow through you and for you to receive deep peace within.
Join in singing a few songs that warm the heart and nurture the soul.
» Click here to view the Final Programme
» and new Venue Location Map
Tara and Bhavan have kindly uploaded their photos on Picasa.
You can view them by clicking on the links below.
» Click here to view Tara's photos
» Click here to view Bhavan's photos
Gig details for Shalva will be listed here from now on and if you are looking for a vocal quintet who sing Georgian and East European influenced music for a special event or occasion please contact
Gyan 0415 995 121 or gya42@yahoo.com.
Gyan Godfrey
gya42@yahoo.com
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