Take the Lead! Introductory post

I've decided to start a blog about Take the Lead!, a workshop leader course in Bedfordshire led by Paul Smith, Charles MacDougall and Aga Serugo-Lugo. I was going to go into a long ramble about Voces Cantabiles Music / Voces8 / Hatch My Ideas! but then managed to confuse myself ... it's late; the links provide further details! In short:
- Paul is the C.E.O. of VCM, a baritone, and community musician;
- Charles is a tenor, vocal coach, and community musician;
- sadly I know less about Aga but I do know he's an experienced community musician.
Here is a short video I discovered of the sort of thing they do (I alas know no more about it than the information on the webpage).

EDIT: I've since discovered that Charles and Aga are officially workshop leaders for VCM. Which makes sense!

The sessions are aimed towards singing workshops (this is either part of or inspired by the SingUp! initiative) but the majority of the processes and techniques we're learning apply to any workshop.

I have had a little taste of community music before this course; I was involved in 2007-08 as a musician on the Stepping Stones project (link takes you to this year's manifestation of it) with the Philharmonia Orchestra (education info here) and had an amazingly fun time ... I also learned a lot too, and the kids absolutely loved the workshops! (Useful.) They got an awful lot out of them, even though most of the schools were relatively well-off, with many of the children having instrumental lessons - there was one school that wasn't in such an affluent area, but the rest were ... well, lower-middle class, one could say. Despite the children already experiencing music, I was amazed at how much they grew throughout the eight workshops we did with them - in fact, even during the first workshop we saw a huge difference in many children, and I can safely say I was bitten by the community music bug!

Since then sadly my musical activity has declined: I finished my extra part-time year of sixth form so I then was no longer part of the school's string ensemble (such as it was), windband and jazz band; I also stopped attending Luton Youth Orchestra due to circumstances; and my attendance at Bedfordshire Youth Orchestra courses has been sporadic due to financial constraints. I do play in an orchestra (more chamber than symphony) called the Adelphi Players but as we are from far and wide (our leader is from Scotland and two years ago our double bassist was from Belarus!) and very busy people, we can only realistically rehearse thrice a year.

So, when Take the Lead! came along I jumped at the chance! Well, actually that's not quite true - I was a little hesitant at first (before the first session) because I couldn't quite understand what it was about - and if I don't know what to expect of something then I feel very fearful. Happily, however, The Choir came along just as I was trying to decide whether or not to attend, and it made me realise that this could well be a fantastic opportunity to, if not become involved with community music, at least learn skills that would be vital should I find myself presented with a community music opportunity at a later date. So I convinced myself to go along, see what it was all about, and go from there.

I can categorically say that was one of The Best secular decisions I have ever made! Part of me can't quite believe how hesitant I was originally, with hindsight; had I wimped out the mind boggles to consider what a fantastic opportunity I would have missed.

The intention of this blog is to record my experiences on this course, for my own record but also hopefully to inspire others to investigate community music - or even just to grab a chance about which they may be unsure. I'm hoping to be able to note down most of what we do and analyse why. Zum Beispiel:

Warm-up:
- Start off with Paul saying 'copy me'. Small movements with hands, progressing to sounds+movement.
Analysis: gets attention. Movement to gradually deconstrict and warm up; adding sounds gets them using vocal cords without thinking (shameless displacement, as Charles pointed out).
- All different sorts of sounds; mostly ridiculous
Analysis: gets everything warmed up: vocal cords, facial muscles, abdomen, diaphragm, etc. All different consonant and vowel sounds; very pronounced. Ridiculous: 'lose yourself' - lose inhibitions; stop feeling self-conscious. Becomes a safe environment.
- Progress to larger, more energetic movements (of course still with sounds)
Analysis: deconstricts the entire body (vital: a singer's instrument is the entire body). Energetic: wears them out = breathing properly!

... usw./etc. It'll hopefully usually be more specific than that but it's too late to be wracking my brains that hard!

This evening was the second session of TtL; so why have I only just decided to blog about it? I was mulling over a part of the session when we were leading small groups; three of us had a different part and we each had to lead some of the rest of the group (more detailed explanation to follow in the write-up of session 2) and it suddenly occurred to me: I had been rather afraid of the idea of having to lead a small group (by small, I mean three ... I am a self-conscious wimp!) and it took a couple of repeats to get into it. But then I found myself enjoying it and actually leading the group when to come in after our rests, even feeling confident - !!! - that, for me, is quite an achievement! It ties in nicely with something I've been mulling over since a conversation with Paul last Monday, but that's for another time.

So, that's an introduction to this blog. Feel free to ask questions; I apologise if I've been unclear about things (that'll be because either I'm unclear about it, or just because it's late) ... and enjoy.

Thanks for stopping by :)