by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für What’s my part? An interview with Jo Annemans

There are two kinds of choir singers. Some of us are the shy one. We love singing in a group, but we don’t want to be heard too much. We don’t consider ourselves musicians, and we don’t know how to prepare or learn music on our own. In every concert, there are those two measures in that one song that we just don’t sing because they’re too hard. We just move our mouths and hope that our neighbors will manage those notes without us.

And some of us are the musicians, the confident ones, the divas. We audition for solos. We wait for our moment to shine. We love it when the director says our section is too quiet. And we wonder why our fellow singers always suggest, carefully, that we’re too loud.

Jo Annemans is in his element working with both of them. In his workshops (for vocal groups, choirs, or just gatherings of singers) he combines his approximately 20 years of experience singing with Belgian vocal group Voice Male and his day job as a therapist to teach the psychology of group singing. Most of all, he wants to teach singers how to listen. How does my part fit into the overall arrangement? What do my notes mean for the song in this moment? How does my vocal line interact with the others? What’s happening behind the solo?

Jo teaches several kinds of workshops for singers. Some involve learning one of his arrangements just to practice listening skills. Another involves arranging on the spot through improvisation and listening. And for vocal groups and choirs, he also offers individual master classes and coachings.

So what can singers get out of a workshop with Jo? One thing he always tries to do is give singers personal attention without making them feel uncomfortable. A shy singer can become more confident about their voice and start to feel more comfortable with every note they sing. And confident singers can learn how to listen more and understand how they fit into the group’s overall sound. In the end, both types of singers walk away knowing that they all share equal responsibility and value in the choir, and they find joy in realizing: we did this together, and everybody was in it.

Get more info about Jo on his website: www.joannemans.be

by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für It’s in our blood: An interview with Ensemble Nobiles

When tenors Paul Heller and Christian Pohlers, baritone Felix Hübner, and basses Lukas Lomtscher and Lucas Heller started Ensemble Nobiles, they already knew they wanted to be a professional a cappella group. The singers had met in St. Thomas Boys’ Choir in Leipzig, in which they had all sung for nine years or more and had learned musicianship and how to create a blended choral sound.

At first, they tried music in a number of different styles, including vocal jazz and arrangements by the popular German group The Wise Guys. However, it quickly became clear: pop a cappella isn’t in their blood.

So what is in the group’s blood? In a word, the choral tradition of Leipzig. In the St. Thomas’ Boys’ Choir, they grew up on the music of Bach and other liturgical and German composers. Once they began to focus on their strengths, the group began to experience much more success: they have sung new commissions by contemporary composers, have won several awards, and had 97 performances in 2015.

Unlike many a cappella groups, especially pop groups, Ensemble Nobiles doesn’t re-arrange songs. The two tenors, Paul Heller and Christian Pohlers, are both composers as well as singers, and the group has performed some of their original pieces. Otherwise, they stick to classical and contemporary choral repertoire written or arranged for four or five male voices. Their current repertoire includes some Weill, some Gershwin, some Hugo Distler, and the Leipzieger Liedertafel program: an evening of music by German Romantic composers with connections of some sort to Leipzig.

They do enjoy a somewhat wider range of music, however: Christian is currently studying opera and is a fan of Puccini; Lukas L. is partial to Poulenc, and Lucas H., Paul’s twin, likes Arthur Sullivan’s “The Long Day Closes.”  

To experience the music that flows through their veins, check out http://www.ensemblenobiles.de/new-events-1/ for information on their upcoming concerts.

A previous version of this article contained some innaccuracies, for which we apologize. –Ed.

by ·Kommentare deaktiviert für Don’t Miss the Bus—an Interview with Bliss

Lukas glanced at his watch as he hurried toward the bus stop. If the bus was just a few minutes late, he might still be able to catch it. As he rounded the corner, he saw his bus waiting at the stop, and he started to run, but it was too late. As he raced breathlessly towards the bus, it started to pull away. He waved frantically at the driver, trying to catch his attention, but the driver didn’t see him or just didn’t care.

Typical. He slowed to a walk, trying to catch his breath. And of course, there was nowhere to sit and wait. With a sigh, he resigned himself to waiting for the next one.

Little did he know that missed bus would change his life. 

Matthias, founding member and music director of the a cappella group Bliss and a friend of Lukas’ from university, was also running after a bus that day. And he couldn’t be late. When his bus left without him, he raced it to the next stop and managed to get on it anyway.

When Lukas’ bus finally came, he stepped on with a sigh of relief. Then he saw an empty seat…next to a familiar-looking face.

“Hey…Matthias?”

Matthias looked up. “Hey, Lukas, right? Didn’t we sing together in university?”

“Yeah!”

Bliss had just finished a round of auditions for a new tenor. But they weren’t really excited about anyone they had heard. Matthias remembered that Lukas was a better singer than all of them.


“Hey,” he asked, “What are you doing these days? Are you still singing? I’m in this group, and we need a new tenor…”

Lukas joined the group.

But he’s not the only one who became a member through happenstance. As Tom (baritone and group comedian) told me during our interview on Skype, “I’m not in this group at all. I’m the housekeeper for this hotel, and I just saw they were talking into the computer, so I came over here, and then they asked me to go on tour with them.”

Right.

So what is Bliss? A Bliss show is, of course, a cappella, but it’s also a musical theater show, with comedic dialogue, dramaturgy, staging, sets, props, lighting design, and even costume changes. In fact, it’s as much a visual experience as an auditory one. Viktor, the bass and newest member, says, “I always listen to a cappella, and I’ve never seen anything like it before!”

I asked each member for one word to describe Bliss. For Claudio, founding member and countertenor, Bliss is energy. For Matthias, the word is professional. Viktor sees it as an opportunity. Lukas describes the group as powerful.  And Tom’s word?

Wienerschnitzel.

So what is the true essence of Bliss—musical theater, a cappella, or wienerschnitzel? Catch them on tour and decide for yourself.

And the next time you’re running after public transportation, remember: maybe your future is on the next bus. 

Website: www.bliss.ch