by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für Local Blog #4: Reflections – composing for contemporary a cappella choirs

Over the last six years, I have been working as a choir leader and arranger for contemporary a cappella choirs. I made the observation that most of the choirs in the scene sing cover music. My Master’s project at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus/Aalborg (DK), that was coached by Malene Rigtrup (Ørehænger), Jens Johansen (Vocal Line) and Jim Daus Hjernøe (choir professor at the Royal Academy of Music) is an attempt to contribute with new original music to the choir world.

In the last couple of months I composed the song cycle Reflections, a coherent composition of 8 different songs of about 24 minutes. This project offered me the possibility to experiment with different composing and arranging techniques, with the creation of own lyrics and with the planning of a large composition process. I have chosen the title Reflections, because I wanted to reflect my own musical roots in classical music, pop, jazz and choral improvisation. The combination of elements from these musical genres resulted in this crossover composition, the melting-together of classical and rhythmic music, uniting the two worlds that have been separated over so many years. The musical frame is composed, but some pieces also leave space for group improvisation. The singers get a chance to contribute with their own musicality and get involved in a unique interpretation of the music.

The individual songs of the cycle are thematically linked by the eight basic emotions (anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust, and joy) that the psychologist Robert Plutchik defined in his theory of emotion. I have chosen to write music to the eight basic emotions, because they include stories and feelings that every one at some point experienced. The listeners can relate to their own memories and reflect about the feelings they had. The two choir composers Roger Treece and Eric Whitacre inspired me the most to write original choir music. I studied especially Eric Whitacre’s Sleep and Roger Treece’s The Four Loves and tried to incorporate their composing and arranging techniques in my music. I also used different songwriting techniques. As an example, I wrote music to the famous painting The Scream by Edvard Munch. He described shortly in his diary, how he came up with the idea of painting The Scream. I translated his words into English, added my own descriptions of the painting and put them together in a lyric. The Song is called Silent Noise.

Last week my compositions were performed at my Master’s exam with 28 singers from a.o. Vocal Line, Postyr and naura. Truly an amazing feeling to finally hear and see your own creations being sung with great expression and musical dedication.

Feel free to contact me, when you are curious to see the sheet music or want to hear more about the project.

Email: christian.ronsfeld@gmail.com

by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für Local Blog #3: OPERATION SYNG

1 day – 4 songs – 6 locations throughout the whole country – 2500 young singers. Sounds like a dream scenario, right? It actually happens every second year in Denmark. The event is called “Operation Syng” and is organized by the Danish youth choir organization Syng, which I am working for. Last month the event took place at 6 different high schools all over Denmark. In combination to the project, Syng publishes every second year a songbook with 4 pop choir arrangements that are rehearsed on the “Operation Syng” day with a choir of 300-500 singers at each location. This year I had the honour to be one of the choir leaders for this event. It was an amazing experience to see the joy and passion for pop music in the singers’ faces. The fact that all choirs were singing the same songs on the same day created the spirit of unity and being special. In the years in between there is a similar event called “Operation SyngEfter” for even younger singers.

Another event for young singers is Syng’s elite youth choir. Over 60 singers from all parts of Denmark were applying with a video audition to become a member of this national selection choir. In October we met for the first weekend with all the singers, one beatboxer and their choir leader and Syng consultant, Thue Thesbjerg. The first rehearsals already showed the high quality of this new youth choir. We succeeded in gathering an a cappella pop choir with 24 singers and a beatboxer that manages 7-part-arrangements. I am sure that we will hear fantastic choir music from them in the near future. So watch out, Aca-people! The singers are between 18 and 30 years old and have different backgrounds in music. Some of the singers are well-known faces in the Syng family, because they have been singing at other events of Syng before.

The goal of the organization Syng is to support young singers with many different choir events, publishing songbooks with youth choir arrangements and arranging workshops for choir leaders. Every year we arrange together with Kor72 a summer camp that I mentioned in my first blog. Furthermore, we support our assigned choirs with founding for travelling, concerts, workshops and recordings. One of our next projects is to connect with youth choir organizations from other countries and exchange ideas for supporting young singers. We are also interested in finding an international partner youth choir for an exchange with our new elite choir. At the Aarhus Vocal Festival (AAVF) on May 22nd-25th 2015 there will be an open discussion about the work of youth choir organizations in different countries. The goal is to get inspired by each other and to build an international network. Syng and AAVF are looking forward to hear your ideas in Aarhus!

To get more information about Syng and AAVF, check out the following links:

Syng.dk (only in Danish) and aavf.dk

by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für Local Blog #2: The Intelligent Choir

A choir full of academic super brains and future winners of „Who wants to be a millionaire“? What makes a choir intelligent? The title „The Intelligent Choir“ was invented by the Danish choir professor Jim Daus Hjernøe and refers to his pedagogical philosophy: to educate your choir singers in taking more responsibility for the musical process. Jim Daus is one of my teachers in pop/jazz choir leading at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus/Aalborg (Denmark), who is specialized in choral improvisation (a. o.  Circle Song), Soundpainting and ear training for choirs. Over the past 10 years, he created a methodology that is inspired by Bobby McFerrin, The Real Group, Walter Thompson and the Berklee College of Music. The basic principle of his ideology is to prepare the choir singers to shape the intended music in the most efficient way. ”The Intelligent Choir” is the opposite of a choir that receives all information about the music from the choir leader. The goal is to create a group of singers that are also able to guide the musical process as leaders. A raw model of this philosophy is the Danish pop choir Vocal Line that consists of many singers that are choir leaders themselves and who are often allowed to make musical decisions on their own. However, it is no coincidence that Jim Daus and Jens Johansen, the leader of Vocal Line, are following the same philosophy in educating choirs. We have to go back to the early 90s.

It was the time when Jens started Vocal Line and Jim studied at the Royal Academy of Music. A time, when the city of Aarhus was open for pop choirs. In his last year of studies, Jim was taught in pop/jazz choir leading by Jens. In the following years both were teaching choir leading at the conservatory. In 1999 Jim started to teach at the conservatory in Aalborg and was supported by the former leader of the Royal Academy to start in 2004 the first Bachelor programme for pop/choir leading in Denmark. Info for all the ACA geeks: The first student that took the education was Morten Vinther, who is nowadays a member of The Real Group. In 2010 the two conservatories in Aarhus and Aalborg merged and made development in the programmes of pop/jazz choir leading as a main subject possible.

As a student of the Royal Academy of Music I have to emphasize the great flexibility that the conservatory offers with all their study programmes, though it is sometimes hard to keep the overview. The Royal Academy is – as far as I know – the only conservatory in the world, where you can study pop/jazz choir leading as a main subject. This is of course attracting students from all over Europe and even one student from Uruguay!! At the moment there are 24 students in the different programmes. For all of you who might think: „Wow! That sounds all really interesting! How can I study there without having to move to Denmark and without learning the difficult Danish language?” Well, I can tell you, there is hope! The conservatory does not only offer Bachelor and Master programmes on a full time basis, it is also possible to study long-distance classes, where you only have to travel 6 weekends a year to Aalborg. Geeky info number 2: An international airport is located right next door. In long-distance learning you can choose between 4 options, depending on the qualifications you already have. You could follow an inspiration class without any qualifications. If you have already studied music and want to improve your choir leading skills, you could audition for an international professional Master course or a Diploma course (EVU) based on half-time studies. For those of you, who have already studied a Bachelor in choir leading and write vocal break warm-up exercises for breakfast, you could audition for a talent line (KA-RK) in pop/jazz choir leading.

Besides the long-distance programmes the Royal Academy offers regular Bachelor and Master programmes in Aarhus and Aalborg, depending on how much you want to focus on pop/jazz choir leading with your ECTS points. You think that this sounds like a huge buffet of possibilities? Just to wait for the dessert. There is even a 2-year post-doc programme (soloist) for those who cannot get enough of being a student. The list of well-known names that studied or is studying one of those educations is rather long. So in order not to forget anyone, I will instead keep on writing about the content of studies.

As mentioned above professor Jim Daus Hjernøe, leader of VoxNorth, is the innovative pillar of the pop/jazz choir leading department. His teaching focuses on choral improvisation, Soundpainting and ear training. Jesper Holm, leader of the jazz vocal group Touché, focuses on vocal jazz in choirs, conducting technique and rehearsal methods. Malene Rigtrup, 10 years singer, arranger and assistant leader of Vocal Line, teaches arrangement and rehearsal methods for pop choirs. They are supported by guest teachers like Kristian Skårhøj (original Circle Song), Roxorloops (Beatbox), Walter Thompson (Soundpainting) and Peder Karlsson (The Organic Choir). In order to get a deeper understanding of pulse-based ”rhythmic music” – as the Danes call it – most of the choir leading students have supplementary classes like ”Singing, Dancing and Playing”, ear training, piano and singing. In addition to this, there are already plans about connecting a semi-professional vocal group to the education, to give the students a rehearsal group that suits their skills. The great idea of gathering all choir leading classes in Aalborg already creates the vibe of a “Nordic Vocal Centre”. The collaboration with the Norwegian conservatory in Levanger and the French organisation Cepravoi shows that there is a need for international exchange of pop/jazz choir music. In some years there might be an international exchange programme for students and teachers to spread the knowledge about this fantastic music we are working with. I can highly recommend studying at the Royal Academy of Music, because of the creative, personal and flexible structure. For more information, please check out the conservatory website: https://www.musikkons.dk  (you can find the English version as well) and spend 4 more minutes to watch this presentation video:

by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für Local Blog #1: Made in Denmark

Many people associate Denmark with smørrebrød, LEGO or H.C. Andersen. In the last 20 years Denmark also developed its own a cappella brand. “Made in Denmark” is a sign for extraordinary musical quality, innovation und sincere expression. Names like Jens Johansen, Vocal Line, Ørehænger and Postyr became inspiring figures of the international choir scene.

All these names have their origin in the city of Aarhus – a city of about 260.000 inhabitants, a city that is often called “the European centre of modern vocal music”. How can a comparatively small city like Aarhus have such a vibrant music scene? Which factors are necessary to shape such an environment? In the next months I will try to give some answers in my “Local Blog”. The title might remind you of Florian Städtler’s “Vocal Blog”. It was in fact Florian Städtler who asked me to report my time in Aarhus.

About me:
My name is Christian Ronsfeld, I am German and at the moment I am in the middle of my master studies in pop/jazz choir leading, singing and arranging at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. Besides that I am working as an arranger and as a choir leader for the two Danish pop choirs Naura and Sing it!. Four years ago, I experienced the quality brand “Made in Denmark” for the first time, when I went to my first concert with Vocal Line. I was so touched by their music that I felt compelled to follow all Danish workshops available at that time. My passion was enflamed, the idea was born to move to Aarhus to become a part of this unique musical centre. My journey had of course many more steps that I won’t present here in detail.

Instead, I would like to invite you on a journey to Denmark with the eyes of an insider. I want to report about the everyday life and special events in the Danish a cappella scene. My blogs will cover my studies at the Royal Academy of Music, my work on the board of the youth choir organization SYNG, artist portraits as well as the Aarhus Vocal Festival 2015.

The first “Local Blog” gives an answer to the question what you could experience in your holidays in Demark besides camping and hot dog shops. SING, SING, SING, SING – ALL YOU GOT TO DO IS SING! Every year the Danish choir organizations SYNG and KOR 72 organize a huge choir week in the Southern part of Denmark with about 400 singers from all over the country. Whole families can share their passion for singing in four different choirs: classical choir, children’s musical, pop choirs for young and more experienced participants with well-known instructors like Line Groth and Morten Kjær.

After the performance of the children’s musical, I was totally overwhelmed by the musical level. The concept makes sense: While the kids are preparing for their show, grandma has time to party with 150 singers and a huge band. Year after year family clans are meeting at this event. The Danes are calling such an occasion ”hygge”.

After one week of choir heaven in the South the guys from Postyr took over the scene with their first summer camp in Aarhus. 47 singing geeks from 10 different countries (including India and Taiwan!!!) came to Aarhus to learn from the innovative and highly educated vocal group. ”Postyr” is an old Danish word and means ”to stir something up” – well, I can conclude that they succeeded. I rarely experienced a ”do-it-yourself workshop” that was so organized, structured and had such a broad content.

The participants could choose between two tracks (singer/choir leader) in order to improve in their own field. The topics were vocal technique and interpretation, arrangement and choir leading, as well as rhythm & groove and technical issues. In the big choir the participants came together to sing a brand new song of Postyr and performed it in the final concert.

Besides the musical excellence of the group, I want to emphasize how warm-hearted Postyr interacted with the participants. Who would prepare a welcome bag with a lot of useful tourist info, discounts for a tour in the city and bottles with your personal name tag. Chapeau, Postyr!! This summer camp was a win and if I interpret the birds outside my kitchen window right, there will be a summer camp reloaded.