Calling the chorally confident and creatively curious!
If you enjoy small group harmony singing, you are interested in creative storytelling through song and you have a ‘flair for the dramatic’ then Bards and Ballads is for you!
Bards and Ballads is a Choral Theatre workshop course, which explores group devising and performing in a fun and innovative way. The project is led by choral composer and director Kirsty Martin and it combines several creative elements – harmony and small group singing, spoken word, creative writing and – new for the Zoom era, video visuals!
The material explored in B&B is both archetypal and personal – rites of passage, epiphanic rites of passage and moments of change and transformation sit alongside reflecting on the beauty in everyday activity, in an unusual and often humorous way! We use some set texts set around an agreed theme, as well as specially created original material and group devised material. It’s a really unusual and satisfying combination!
We are launching a brand new B&B semester which will run from Oct ’20 – Feb ’21. Our working title is The Story as it Goes. Due to the current restrictions, the course will be Zoom based with extra tasks.
October 11 * November 8 * December 6 *January 10 * February 7
All sessions from 2pm – 6pm & led on Zoom
This semester we’ll be singing beautiful choral arrangements of a song cycle of original material along the theme of memory, heartbreak and transformation, as well as pondering the magical and mystic!
Bards and Ballads is not for beginner singers / actors, but you also do not need to be able to read music, as the songs will be taught by ear and supported by mp3s. You just need some harmony singing / ensemble experience, an open mind and an intrepid spirit!
You must also be willing and able to record your speaking and singing voice at home (on your phone is fine) and we will also be using some rehearsed Zoom film footage as part of the final piece, so you need to be willing to be videoed as part of the ensemble as part of the project. As well as this, you may be asked to film yourself at home for certain parts of the story, although if you prefer not to take part in the solo filming you can still join in with the singing! (but you must be willing to be videoed on Zoom!)
The final ‘show’ will be in February ’21 and will be a pre-recorded film made up of the videos we’ve recorded all separately at home, then edited together with the music we’ve recorded. It will be shown to audiences on social media as a ‘live stream’. The music will also be made on to a CD of which you’ll all get to keep a copy.
Spaces are really limited and this is going to be a really special project.
Full Price £100
Concession £85
Special Concession £70 (this price band is for singers experiencing financial difficulty)