Please click on the Events Menu above to see our online offerings. Vocal Improvisation: The Spirit of Expression
The Vocal Improvisation course is offered in Albuquerque & Santa Fe. Check "Register" page for dates, time and location.
This course is intended to be repeated as often as you wish. As with all practices, repetition leads to mastery. Please attend one of our Circle Singing events before signing up to make sure it's a fit for you.
Just as in theatrical improvisation, Vocal Improvisation requires a skill set that is developed over time. You may have heard of Second City Improv in Chicago, which is home to many great comedic improvisers. Just like theatrical and comedic improvisation require strong skill sets, Vocal Improvisation becomes more fruitful, enjoyable and relatable as we delve into what makes it good, and, if we dare, what makes it great! Holistic Voice Lab has been developing curriculum since 2012 to help you develop your Vocal Improvisation chops. In this super fun setting, we will dive deeply into the components of spontaneous group singing. These include, motor, melody, soloing, harmony, dynamics, rhythm, and syncopation.
We welcome all levels of adult singers who are curious, courageous and playful. The ability to sing on pitch is imperative for the purposes of this course. Please attend a CircleSong and check with the instructor if you have any questions.
The nature of this program is to provide a safe space to explore your voice, develop musicality and artistry and, what's more, to have fun! Whether you're new to singing, or, if you already have a singing practice and want to take it deeper, you will find this a satisfying way to find and release your expressive voice.
Marie Black at a vocal improvisation retreat with teachers Rhiannon, Bob Stoloff & WeBe3, in North Carolina.
Unleash the Power of Your Voice!
As with all meaningful practices, the benefits of studying vocal improvisation will carry to many areas of your life. Does intuition lead you? Would you like to be more spontaneous? Do you wish to discard patterns that no longer work for you? Or, have you ever wanted to find a path to express your true inner self? Or, perhaps, you have been vocally shut down. Singing can be just the medicine that sets you free. Singing is your birthright. And, you are your own instrument. In essence, you are music! Your beating heart started it all. So, now is your time to soar and explore!
“Vocal improvisation is nothing more than motion, which means that you start singing and keep going.” ~ Bobby McFerrin
Marie Black with Bobby McFerrin
In the study of vocal improvisation, we dive deeply into many of the following areas: Drills to attain musical fluidity including working with musical scales. Rhythmic games and exercises, developing our own personal language of sounds, working in duos and trios, working in larger groups. Developing melodies, soloing, harmonizing. All aspects of musicality are developed and even heightened as we sing improvisationally. This process is iterative and the course is intended to be taken as often as you wish. There is no end to what we learn and where we can go musically, and what's more, the joy never stops. The beauty to studying vocal improv is that we don't feel like we're "studying" at all since it is so much fun! It's a process of freeing, releasing, incubating, birthing, and more freeing and releasing! Fabulous.
To enhance your Vocal Improvisation experience, students are encouraged to enroll in Vocal Mastery: Group Singing Lesson. The two programs together make up our Star Series. In Vocal Mastery you learn the nuts and bolts of singing. In Vocal Improv you learn the art of expression. We want our singers to be adept 
improvisers and our improvisers to know how to sing! It is ultimately helpful to know proper singing techniques for improvisation. It helps you do what you want to do, when you want to do it and you will be in much more control of your voice. There is a discount when you purchase the two programs together.
STUDYING VOCAL IMPROVISATION WILL HELP YOU:
Sing for joy!
Enjoy a meditative experience
Lubricate your brain
Strengthen community bonds
Build musical skills
Improve your singing
Soar like a bird!
Attain vocal freedom
Heighten creativity
Give your confidence a boost
Have way more fun than in therapy
Increase oxytocin levels!