Village Harmony Online Camps Summer 2020

Date: June 15 - August 1
Venue: N/A
Leaders: Many Village Harmony Leaders
Price: sliding scale

We will all definitely miss that remarkable joy of singing together in a group, in person, in the coming months. But our new online singing sessions will allow people from different parts of the world to come together virtually to learn and celebrate together. And much of the teaching material will be downloadable, making each course an invaluable source of new repertoire for choral conductors and music teachers.

Each of these interactive courses will culminate with a “concert” of end-of-camp virtual choir recordings and video. This will be immersion in a uniquely Village Harmony way—just with a new twist.

We realize that this pandemic has had an uneven financial impact on our community. Tuition has been set at a level needed to support our faculty, but we are nonetheless offering a tier of self-selected reduced price options for those who need them. Singers signing up for more than one session should feel free to choose the lower tuition level. You may also choose to make a tax-deductible donation over and above your tuition if you are in a position to do so.

These radically inventive song-learning sessions will include prerecorded teaching tracks, in-time Zoom sessions for meeting, socializing and direct teaching from the instructors, opportunities for one-on-one coaching, daily recording & uploading assignments, a zoom talent show, cultural/explorative classes (think cooking lessons, language study, virtual city tours & mushroom-hunting) and more.

Each week will tailor their live session hours to the participants. Tentatively each session is planning their primary live teaching session to take place at around 1pm ET, allowing singers from nearly anywhere in the world to take part.

These main daily live lessons will probably last about an hour to an hour and a half, depending on the program. All live sessions will be recorded and posted on the website so that those for whom it is impractical to “attend” (due to work obligations, living in a wildly different time zone or life’s trials) can always fully participate, even if a little delayed. Most of the rest of the material will be accessible on your own schedule.

August 7-9: Repertoire Mashup Weekend, led by veteran VH leaders Nadia Tarnawsky, Lysander Jaffe and Sora Harris Vincent. A lively weekend mash-up of great ensemble singing! English-language protest songs, traditional Ukrainian folk songs, and trio songs from Bulgaria and Corsica.

August 14-16: The Black Gospel Essentials, led by Chicago singer Lonnie Norwood. From “The Father of Gospel Music” Thomas Dorsey to Kirk Franklin, our examination of the gospel music canon will highlight the soul-stirring songs of Black composers, and the golden voices that elevated them. Our introductory course will include everyday practical exercises for vocal tone and phrasing, and groove and improvisatory exercises for all ability levels. We will also offer a critical analysis of the making of gospel music in America through a social justice lens.

Each workshop will include pre-recorded teaching tracks, in-time Zoom sessions for direct teaching from the instructors, virtual choir recording & uploading assignments, a zoom social hour/talent show and question/answer sessions. As with our earlier courses, all live sessions are recorded and uploaded to the learning site for later review, and both resource and teaching materials remain available to participants long after the course is over. The main Zoom sessions are normally scheduled to begin at 3pm EDT. On Friday and Saturday evenings there will be an additional optional hour-long session at 8pm EDT.

Tuition is $165, with a self-selected reduced price option of $125 for anyone who needs it.

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