Belair Vocal Courses 2012
with Jacqui Hicks, Brigitte Beraha & Anita Wardell

Dates

Course One: Sunday 29th July to Saturday 4th August

Arrival 7pm Sunday – departure 10am Saturday

Tutors: Jacqui Hicks will tutor the course with two guest masterclasses and feedback session from Anita Wardell

Course Two: Saturday 4th August to Friday 10th August

Arrival 7pm Saturday – departure 10am Friday

Tutors: Brigitte Beraha will tutor the course with two guest masterclasses and feedback session from Anita Wardell

Both vocal courses run at the same time as the instrumental courses

Course Outline

The vocal course welcomes vocalists with a wide variety of backgrounds and experience who want to develop and improve their jazz singing.

This year we are delighted to welcome three fantastic and highly experienced vocalists to Bel Air.

Jacqui Hicks, will focus on vocal technique and performance skills, repertoire and styles ranging from jazz to funk and latin.

Brigitte Beraha, will focus on technique and interpretation, jazz styles and improvisation skills . Vocalists who want to develop their scatting can join the instrumental groups as improvisers.

Anita Wardell will join in for part of each course and bring her unrivalled expertise in jazz vocal coaching.

Support classes from the instrumental tutors on topics such as harmony, aural training , rhythm and feel complete both courses.

There is a strong emphasis on practical skills and participants have the opportunity to prepare songs for performance in the evenings with pianists and trios.

Please click on tutor names to access biogs for more details and sound clips.

Study topics

• Performance: projection, technique, confidence, conveying lyrics, repertoire.
• Jazz phrasing: swung quavers, triplets, accenting and feel.
• Time and feel: counting in, choosing appropriate tempos, changing the time signature and feel of a song.
• Improvisation: Scat vocabulary, developing and building solos.
• Theory/harmony: Aural skills, understanding chord symbols. Chord/scale relationships, ear training.
• Each participant will be allocated individual rehearsal time with a pianist or trio to prepare songs for performance in the evening concerts.
• The program is completed by some open question and answer sessions where students can quiz the faculty about any area of jazz performance they are interested in.

Schedule (typical day)

• 8.30am: Breakfast.
• 10.00 to 10.45am: Warm up / choir
• 10.45 to 1.00pm: Materclass with vocal tutor
• 1.00pm: Lunch
• 2.00 to 4.30pm: More masterclasses or other sessions including rhythm , aural training , working with pianists or trios etc...
• 4.30 to 7.30pm: Free time for rest, recreation or practice.
• 7.30pm: Everyone regroups for an aperitif and dinner.
• 9.00 pm: The evening continues with a concert and then a jam session

Excursion

After several days of serious study it's nice to have a little break so we organise a half-day trip to the picturesque town of La Fleche. It's an opportunity to sample french cuisine, cafés and shopping .