by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für Feature: Kreativo Vocal Band (SI)

Natural, organic and fresh sounds as it was straight from a backyard passionately composed into rich and full-flavoured harmonies. 
Six vocal enthusiasts joined in the pursuit of a simple goal of capturing the natural warmth and harmony of human voices and translating them into a sensual experience for the enjoyment of the listeners. 
Music is a universal language – there is no instrument more primal than that of a human body and no rhythm more pure that the sound of a beating heart. 
In our musical ventures, we always strive to create a comprehensive harmony of sounds. As the six voices become one we suddenly become aware that the essence of beauty is not at all pretentious, but merely a simple and natural occurrence. With time and persistence such beauty can mature and bring out its genuine splendour and creativity. 

In 2013, the Kreativo Vocal Band began to invest more time to their song creation process with the desire to fulfill their common passion and calling to perform Jazz, Pop and Country music among other popular genres. All singers still continue to perfect their vocal techniques and have a long track record performing at small- and large-scale events world-wide. We give an appealing and playful twist to well known hits of the Slovenian and foreign songs, and in 2015 we have released our first album with arrangements of popular Slovenian songs. 

In addition to performing at various events we have already held numerous independents shows, among which is the traditional annual concert “Igramo na Glas” (Fierce and Loud), and in September 2014 we performed in the non-competitive part of the Slovenian Song Festival. We partake in different music festivals for vocal groups held in Slovenia and abroad, and we already pride ourselves with several more prominent achievements. In 2015, we performed at the International Vokal Total Festival in Austria and were awarded the Silver Award in the “Jazz” category, and also a special Bronze Ward Swingle Award. In May 2016, we attended the Slovenian A Cappella Festival called “Sredi Zvezd” (Among the Stars) held in Žalec and won first place. In July 2016, we appeared at the Total Vokal Festival again and won first place in the “Pop” category, and we were presented with a Gold Award and a Gold Ward Swingle Award. 

With the awards came numerous opportunities to work with famous people from the world of the a cappella music, including Peder Karlsson, Anders Jalkeus (The Real Group) and Andrea Figallo (Flying Pickets). All artists are former members of world-renowned vocal bands with the current mission to spread their rich knowledge and experience among other enthusiasts of vocal music. Working with these experts is key to our professional development; therefore, we hope these cooperations will be the source for our creative and artistic growth in the future.

KATJA KOVAČIČ
Soprano

Tranquil and hard-working girl born and bred in Ljubljana. A lawyer by profession, and a rocker by heart who swears by Japanese cars and sticks to Styrian men (Štajerska region).

JANA GAMSER
Alto

Hard-working, conscientious and uncompromisingly strict when it comes to music performance. Her velvety voice will leave you speechless.

ALEŠ MAJERIČ
Tenor

His sensitive humour and orderly old-fashioned upbringing always follow him around. Love for women, dedicated singing and passion for sports are what keeps him young at heart.

SAMO VOVK
Tenor / Vocal drums

The personification of music itself. Someone, who feels right at home between the lines and spaces of the staff. Relentless Jazz player with a perfect pitch for rhythm and intonation. Favourite waste of time – the electric guitar.

DOMINIK ŠTRUCELJ
Tenor / Vocal drums

The most friendly “drum machine” in the Universe and a matchless sound engineer, hacker and heartily White Carniolan (region of Bela Krajina)

LUKA ČERNE
Bass

A thrifty and resourceful bass singer from Upper Carniola (Gorenjska region) with strong managerial skills. Time is his worst enemy, but when it comes to music, everything can be put on hold.

http://www.kreativo.si/

by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für Beatbox complete – now available in english!

The definitive book on beatboxing by the renowned beatbox performers and coaches Indra Tedjasukmana and Andreas Kuch.

Need a bite-size drum kit and percussion section? No instruments are required to achieve stylistic fluency with this book! It offers an easy and hands-on approach to the basics of beatboxing and is the ideal tool for classroom practice and self-study. All important beatbox sounds are explained with examples from various music styles, stretching from rock and ballads to hip-hop and Latin music.

Contents

  • Basic beatboxing techniques and sounds
  • Patterns and fills in four styles: rock, ballads, hip-hop, and Latin music
  • Tandem beatboxing: patterns for two or more beatboxers
  • Beatbox solo works: demanding solo pieces for impressive performances
  • A special chapter on microphones
  • A chapter devoted to optimizing your practicing routines and finding new sounds

The enclosed DVD contains 93 video clips, which explain the beatbox sounds and patterns. Demonstrations by the authors teach sounds, rhythms, and styles. Performances of the solo pieces offer authentic examples and creative impulses for your own interpretations.

The audio part of the DVD contains 32 audio loops and play-alongs in different styles, which act as groovy soundtracks to practice beatboxing and will help you develop a varied beatbox repertoire.

This book is ideal for

  • Teachers who want to inspire their students, and vice versa
  • Choir directors, choirs, and vocal ensembles who want to add a new dimension to their music
  • Drummers, singers, beatmakers, DJs, MCs, and all other fans of groove

The introduction video (in German) is here:

Example page can be downloaded here.

And you can buy it here.

by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für EKTE «Vocal Music Connected to Earth»

Two male choir students Federico Trindade and Vemund Kjelstad at The Royal Academy of Music Aalborg, create fall 2015 the vocal group EKTE. A project-based group with the intention of cooperating with musicians and ensembles from all over the world. With music written by themselves, they want to share authentic stories about real life.

The Uruguayan and the Norwegian

It all begins spring 2015, when we discover the extraordinary chemistry we have together. We sing arrangements of Latin-American melodies, and everything fits. The harmonies create vibrations we can feel all the way out in our fingertips. The strong feelings in one of Piazzola´s tangoes, can with Federicos irascible, up-tempo melody and my aggressive, heavy bass, fill the whole room. We agree we need to share this, and the search for female singers begins.

The first project

Fall 2015 we gather three female singers from the conservatory for joining EKTE´s first project. The repertoire consists of self-written arrangements and compositions in the genre World Music. Since Federico and I met first time when we started our education at The Royal Academy of Music in Aalborg, both had a fascination of folk traditions around the world. Project 1 results in arrangements of a Brazilian samba, a folk-dance from Norway and a Syrian lullaby. Furthermore, we make three compositions that takes you on a journey including vibes of Africa, Middle East and Indigenous people. The projects danish singers(Anna Dyrvig, Marie Hahne og Anne Lindahl) are wildly enthusiastic about the music and enter the studio ready for creating something unique. After an intens week in the studio, it results in six tracks everybody enjoy a lot.

The ideas behind

The idea behind EKTE is to create authentic musically moments together with other musicians and ensembles. We want to write original music made for the ensemble we are cooperating with. It can be all kinds of constellations: a choir, a vocal group, a band etc. A liveshow together with a vocal group could for instance consist of the vocal groups own repertoar and our arrangements/compositions, written for the occasion. In addition, for those who would like it, we want to have passages were the music is being improvised in the moment. This, we think, will add a new dimension, and create these authentic moments we seek when making music. According to us, music should be trustworthy and authentic. It should express feelings and emotions about the real life. It can be compared with telling a story. A good story is often being told with great passion and conviction, which can make the listeners feel they are a part of it themselves. Likewise, we want to express and share our musical stories with passion and emotions from inside our hearts.

EKTE 2016

The new year will bring many exicting EKTE Projects. We are in touch with the awarded and famous beat boxers Indra and RoxorLoops. Together with a former Swingle, Tobias Hug, and the danish choir-proffesor and founder of VoxNorth, Jim Daus Hjernoe, we also got plans. Not to mention upcoming liveshows this Spring. In March, EKTE will participate in a concert administrated by Peder Karlsson consisting among others by the Music Academy choir of Aalborg, RAMA voices. In April, Project 1 will be performed live during the RAMA-festival, a yearly festival students of the conservatory present their own music.

We are so much looking forward, and can barely wait!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vocalekte/

by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für Artist spotlight: Ensemble Kumo from Finland

This time we have our artist spotlight on Finnish upcoming vocal group “KUMO”, who have just released this Christmas single https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N142oxLl7KM&feature=youtu.be

Hello all!

We are a vocal group called Kumo from Finland.

Our group has five singers. Four of us study music education at the Sibelius Academy (the University of the Arts Helsinki), and our bass singer is – naturally – a doctor. 😉 Also, we have a really important sixth member in our group: our sound engineer. Whatever we do on stage, he makes it even more awesome!

Kumo was founded in the beginning of 2012. First it was just for fun, but pretty soon we realized we might really have something here and our passion for a cappella kept growing all the time. By now we are already so hooked to this stuff we simply cannot stop! Probably every a cappella singer knows how rewarding it is when even the simplest harmony rings perfectly in tune. Sound wise the key to our blend is – besides hard work of course – the fact that all of us come from various musical backgrounds. Some of us had studied mostly classical singing before this project, whereas some have a stronger background in pop/jazz vocals. Also, not all of us had sung in a choir or vocal group before we started with Kumo, which we feel also brings in new and fresh ways to look at things.

One of our passions is also to always find new and unique ways to bring our music to our listeners. Three years ago we started a concept that hasn’t been done that much yet in the world. Our “Concerts in the dark” let the listeners completely concentrate on the music. Cutting off all the visual parts of a show gives the listeners a chance to experience our voices in a deeper way. One of our singers – Kirsi – came up with the idea when she was listening to a concert and realized that when people really want to concentrate on the music they tend to lean back and close their eyes. So why not create a concert based on that idea and cut the visuals off completely! We feel that people have been really interested about this concept. It is something we want to keep working with and take the idea even further.

This past year has been groundbreaking for us also music wise. We’ve been composing and arranging a lot of our own music lately. With only a few years behind us it feels that we have finally found the sound we’ve been aiming for and really keep working hard to develop it into something recognizable, something of our own. This fall we also published our first Christmas single “Tonttu” (The Christmas Elf), our arrangement of a famous finnish Christmas song. The next step now is to make our debut album, which we are planning on recording in the summer of 2016. That is something we have really been looking forward to for a long time now!

www.lauluyhtyekumo.fi

@kumoacappella

by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für Reflections Of An 10-year Old Ensemble

[by Ida Olsonen]
It feels almost surreal: this autumn my vocal group Ensemble Norma celebrated it’s 10 Year Anniversary! The group that started as a high school project with (I happily admit) more enthusiasm than knowledge or skill, has developed into a skilled and powerful instrument with the five of us being professional musicians with a cappella as our shared passion.
A lot has happened in 10 years. We’ve literally grown up with this group, learning from and alongside each other. Ensemble Norma has been the best possible arena for developing our skills, trying out new ideas and exploring our artistic expression! Most things have been learned by doing – as much by succeeding in our actions as in making mistakes. 

We feel, like most groups and artists I guess, that we owe a lot to all the amazing people that have given us advice and encouragement through the years. Sharing experiences with others has been a major source of inspiration for us. I’ll always remember our first encounter with the international a cappella scene in Västerås, Sweden in 2009. It was incredibly exciting to meet other vocal groups with the same passion as we had, not to mention being mentored by some of our biggest a cappella role models! So as our 10 Year Anniversary was drawing close, we felt that we wanted to do something special to celebrate; to also pass on something from what web ve gained over the years. We decided to go back to where it all started, and invite the Girls Choir at the Sibelius High School to join us for our Anniversary Concerts.

I remember scribbling down some goals for the collaboration and our learning process in early August 2014: „teaching stage presence and interpretation“, „improving & stabilizing their groove“  and „empowering each singer“ . These were, alongside our repertoire for the choir, the guidelines for our three month rehearsal period. One of the conceptual ideas for the Anniversary Concerts was to play around with the image of us in Ensemble Norma being a part of the choir. Five 20-somethings could visually  easily blend into the high school choir, but also pop out and take the spotlight at a given moment, we thought. Going into and singing among the choir worked not only as a theatrical tool for the concert. At the rehearsals, the choir absorbed a huge amount of information nonverbally, just by mimicking and following us. It changed their way of being, their energy when singing and their stage presence. Following this huge development of both formal and informal learning was very impressive.
If, to some extent, the rehearsal sessions had also had it’s stressful moments, everything was made up for during the two last weeks of rehearsals. As the concerts grew closer, the close-to-a-deadline-magic really kicked in. Pieces where falling into place at a rapid tempo. As a result we performed two concerts with sparkling energy, touching interpretations and amazing stage presence – even the parts of the concert that were sung by only our ensemble were affected by the energy that was radiating from the choir. We couldn’t have been more proud of our talented protegés!
It was such a dream come true to be able to share our music with 65 talented singers and work alongside their wonderful conductor, Reijo Aittakumpu! Planning it all, writing music, selecting favorite songs and teaching the choir was a huge undertaking, and totally worth every minute of it. And we did not expect the huge musical and emotional response that we got from the choir. After the three month long rehearsal period and two sold-out concerts (the first one being broadcast in real time online, gaining a record-breaking internet audience), it was time to say goodbye. At the party after the concert the air was filled with laughter, tears and gratitude. We kept hugging each other, thanking each and every one for their input and wishing everyone the best possible things for their futures. I think that we did make a difference for these singers, and that they actually felt how their appreciation for both themselves and their choir as a group rose during this project. It’ll be great to see what they make of this experience, and what the following 10 years will bring with it!

by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für New thoughts about the Vocal Music Data Exchange Format

Vocal Music Data Exchange Format – Publication #2

Introduction

Based on the publication #1 (you can download it here: http://europeanvoices.org/filedepot_download/22/4) I had a lot of communication with different people, potential users and members of groups, booking agents and IT professionals, music professionals and other interested people.

While talking it through over and over again, looking at it from different angles, I came to the conclusion that, besides being focussed on data types and format on one end, I have to start another parallel thread that is at least as important: Data management.

Thesis

Similar to the nature of the Internet – where we are aiming to bring our concept to life – the data publishing and provision to the system has to be in a de-centralized way.

The how

The content provider and most likely the rights owner of the information, i.e. artists, groups, teachers, organizations, have to be able to place it where ever they want and „the other parties“ pull it from there. The only need for the publisher is to let the receiving party know, where to find it. This is basically the same approach as for RSS or similar feeds.

The why

Same as for the feeds mentioned above, the publisher places and updates the information in one place only. This is a huge advantage comparing to today where he has to keep all information in all places published in sync.

I mean: these people are artists and focussed on their art and not book keeper or IT

People. Simplifying their life is one of the major topics here.

On the other side for the receiving parties: how often does it happen that major changes happen in a group and you still provide the outdated information, just because you are not aware?

Here you just decide, how often you look up for information updates and your webserver pulls all changes accordingly.

The challenge with distributed storage

While thinking the process through and having in mind that a seamless connect between several data objects, potentially coming from different sources, is the key challenge, I again compared to the mechanics of the internet as a highly distributed datapool.

I recognized that there is one central authority not following the distributed approach: the Domain Name Service (DNS) administrating the assignment of Domain names to IP adresses (finally: the computer the domain’s information is stored on).

If you request to call www.cnn.com for example, the system checks in the register what IP address links with the domain name and advises the requester to retrieve the information from there.

Central Registration Authority needed

We need a central authority just for the purpose to ensure uniqueness of information. This Authority will be used to generate and provide a unique identifier for artist information (let’s call it AUID = Artist Unique IDentifier).

Why does it make sense? Imagine the data of a concert by a group called VocalExpress is transported several times from one platform to the other. Unfortunately it ends up at a place where a group of that name is already registered.

How do I know if it is the same group or just one with the same name?

With the AUID attached it is easy to find out. If it matches to the the groups AUID I have in my data already, I can simply link the information together. If it does not, I can refuse the record or I automatically request the matching group’s information via the central authority, add that group to my database and link the concert to it.

Next steps

I have decided to start with a proof of concept now because I want to get the first pieces of information flying as soon as possible and not wait until we have the 100% solution graved in stone. I will keep you posted.

Feel free to get in contact with me in case you want to comment, participate, help or just give some input to incorporate in this piece of work. You can reach me at volker@europeanvoices.org

Volker

P.S. join the #ACAtech forum to participate in the discussion. You can download the complete article here:http://europeanvoices.org/filedepot_download/22/7

by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für What I learned from Beatboxing with children

One of the very exciting things when teaching beatbox and vocal percussion workshops is that I always get to work with different groups of people. Sometimes  participants are professional singers, 
other times teachers or instrumentalists, or rappers.  And sometimes they are children. Yes you heard right. Over the last years there has been an increasing request for beatbox workshops for 
children. At first I wasn´t sure how to deal with it. After all most children don´t sing in pop rock jazz choirs, and no child has its own vocal band, and also most of them don´t know the a cappella scene. 
Only very few read or write music, even the ones who play drums. 

So questions started to arise in my head: What do I tell them? How can I approach this? Will they not be bored after a short while? How can I explain to them what each sound is and should it even 
matter how one notates them? Well, read here about my experiences:

  1.       I quickly noticed that children are playful and curious by nature. They want to explore things themselves. So I decided to reduce the amount of time that usually spent on explaining and talking. Instead I would demonstrate more sounds and let them watch me as I go. It was fascinating to watch them observe me and instantly trying to mimic the sounds without me even needing to  tell them to do so. All this also went without explaining a single thing.
  2. Instead of music notation I use big, laminated and colourful cards with the beatbox letters on them like “B” for bass drum and “Pf” for snare drum. I made these Cards from an Austrian Beatbox Book called “The Real Beatbox School” which focuses more on playfulness and  school classes whereas mine and Andis book “Beatbox Complete” focuses more on a cappella groups, performing musicians and choirs. 
  3. To explain them what each sound is I show them a BIG picture / poster or digitally projected picture of a drum set, naming each of the single components and slowly demonstrating the sounds to them. You can see that even the ones who are not aspiring drummers will recognize the sounds and what they stand for. This experience of “Ah I´ve got it!” is exactly what you´ll want and the more of these moments occur the better for you and the children. 
  4. I considerably shortened the overall time for the workshops. With adults I sometimes to a full day course with as much as six or seven hours. For children I settled for an hour with breaks in between. Whenever they lose concentration that´s my cue to introduce a new sound, game, or pattern.  
  5. I usually end workshops by letting them try out Beatbox with a microphone over a PA. In doing so they have the chance not only to play around but to really feel and hear the difference in beatboxing both acoustically and amplified. 

Bottom line: Although I was at first scared of working with children, ultimately it has helped me improving because if you think about it the points I have listed also work for us adults. We also want 

to understand by observing, by trying out things ourselves and we want an easy to understand as well as practical approach without too many technical terms.

So: Thanks for teaching me kids!!

[written by Indra]

by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für Conducting pop/rock/jazz choir (60 ECTS) courses in Aarhus

Further Education at The Royal Academy of Music in Denmark

Professional Master (60 ECTS)
– is for music teachers, music pedagogues and others with a passed music education containing choir conducting at a bachelor level or equivalent qualifications with at least two years relevant professional experience with choir conducting. The main focus is upgrading the pedagogical and artistic activities at an advanced level.

Diploma Course (60 ECTS)
– is intended for teachers, pedagogues and others having a 3-4 year long university education, higher education or other corresponding qualification supported with at least a 2-year professional experience. The emphasis is on the principal study in pop/rock/jazz choir conducting. The study course is meant to develop the students’ skills, musicianship and pedagogical competences.

Both study programs are part-time study courses divided over 4 terms (2 years) corresponding to one study year of 60 ECTS. The study course will primarily take place at the Academy’s department in Aalborg, Denmark, supported by extensive feedback via a unique virtual classroom.

Application deadline: February 17, 2014
Audition date: March 9, 2014, Aalborg
For further information visit: http://www.musikkons.dk/index.php?id=1346

by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für BALK TOP festival on 9th of November

This Saturday, Nov 9, is the day that many Dutch choirs are looking forward to with great anticipation, because it’s the day of the fourth biennial BALK TOPfestival!

The very best Dutch (amateur) choirs and vocal groups (light music only, but not strictly a cappella), competing in 10 competitions divided over 6 categories. There will be large pop choirs, large vocal groups, small vocal groups without mics, groups with mics, and there will be a special stage for youth choirs.

And all this will take place in just ONE day – November 9 – in ONE location: de Doelen, Rotterdam. For only €15 you get 12(!) hours of the very best in light choral music that The Netherlands has to offer.

And have we mentioned the workshops? There will also be workshops! Including one where 250+ young singers will learn the Cup Song to perform it later in the grand concert hall of De Doelen. The first competitions start at 10am and the grand finale concert will end around 10pm. Keep an eye on our Facebookpage Balk Licht Vocaal for live updates about this festival!