Sing With The Ad Hoc Choir Wednesday

Course Name -Sing with the Ad Hoc Choir

Award -Certificate of Attendance (on request). Please email: gtiadulted@gretb.ie

Course Overview

We are born singers. The workshop will be all about getting the most out of singing in a group and is fun and educational; By the end of the course you will have learned about your voice and how to use it with freedom.

Course Content

Every class will have a similar format:

• There is a gentle warm up to stretch the body and this will naturally lead to a voice warm up to stretch the voice. The physical and vocal warm ups are accessible to everybody, and I can adapt to those who have particular needs.
• There will be listening and little technical hints whenever a song demands it.
• The songs learned come from all around the world and are all learned by ear. They will be divided into parts or harmonies.
• The first few weeks will be about building a group sound, learning how to listen to each other and the music in the songs and harmonies.
• By the end of the term participants will have learned new songs,sung together in a group and gained more confidence in themselves and their abilities.

Entry Requirements

No musical experience necessary; Absolute beginners welcome.

Tutor Biography

Kate Duignan

I studied Theatre and developed an interest in voice from that.

I completed a year-long pilot Community Music course here in Galway run by Galway City Partnership, and then completed 2 years with AMP also here in Galway. I am interested in how we express ourselves through the voice and studied with the Roy Hart Theatre (which is concerned primarily with voice work and development) both here in Ireland and in their base in France. Also I have taken part in many singing workshops that are focused on group sound and harmony, including Jazz summer schools in Cork, and Sligo, with Sian Croose, (a visiting choral teacher to Ireland ) twice a year since 2009.

In 2013 I completed a teacher training course on the Natural Voice method of teaching singing and have been running singing workshops consistently since then. I have run workshops for many groups including parents and home schooled children, children with Down’s Syndrome and their parents, older members of the community with dementia and their carers. I have also run workshops to show the benefit of singing for mental health and organised and conducted the Dawn Chorus as part of Bealtaine, the Arts festival for older people. And finally workshops for all-comers through night classes with the GTI and the Galway Arts Centre.

Gretb email address: kate.duignan@gretb.ie