Blue Ridge
Vocal Connection
Workshop Description
Ola will open our event with an energetic session of vocal warmups that will prepare singers for a day of vocal fun. You don’t need to know how to read music, or even sing! Using a “Simon says” approach, she will guide adventuresome participants into vocal frontiers where they’ll discover welcome flexibility, remarkable accuracy, and production techniques they didn’t know they had.
Info about Presenter: Ula Weber
Ula is a leading conductor, teacher trainer and workshop leader, whose work has taken her around the UK and as far afield as Poland, Uganda, Ukraine, Thailand, China and New Zealand.
A former “Outstanding” (Ofsted 2004) primary school teacher, Ula is a leading conductor, teacher trainer and workshop leader, whose work has taken her around the UK and as far afield as Poland, Uganda, Ukraine, Thailand, China and New Zealand.
Ula is an expert in developing choral and classroom singing through creating singing strategies and delivering school workshops, large-scale choral events and teacher CPD. She is currently Vocal Projects Leader (Sandwell Music and Arts Service) and Co-director of Vocal.Point. She has had a number of songs and arrangements published, including Sing Up, Sing Out! and Ziggy da Dumba.
As well as singing with the renowned choir Ex Cathedra, Ula also works for the organisation as a lead vocal tutor; and co-created Singing Playgrounds, Ex Cathedra education’s internationally acclaimed and award-winning project.
A trained choral conductor, Ula currently conducts CBSO SO Vocal (a 200-strong community choir run by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra), CBSO Young Voices and the Birmingham City Council Choir (as featured in the 2013 BBC2 programme ‘The Choir’, with Gareth Malone). She is the founder and Musical Director of Echo Doliny (The National Polish folk choir) and, most recently, the National Teachers’ Choir.
As Head of Events for the National Choral Organisation, Sing for Pleasure (SfP), Ula organises conducting and singing courses across the UK and abroad. She regularly tutors on SfP conductor training courses and is Course Director for their annual Summer School.
Ula guest conducts at national and international events and is regularly invited to lead singing, training, and corporate workshops for organisations including ABCD, BBC, G4S, Glyndebourne, NAME, NYCOS, Music Mark, Sing Up and numerous Music Hubs across the UK.
8:30 AM
Registration
(Upper Entrance)
9:00 AM
Keynote Kickoff: Warm Up w/Justin Stoney
(Sanctuary)
10:00 AM
All (Vocal) Cords Rehearsal
(Sanctuary)
11:00 AM
Intro to Reading Music
Accompanying
One-on-one with
Justin Stoney
12:00 PM
Lunch! (Sanctuary)
1:00 PM
Applied Skills:
Allisonia Chorus
Applied Skills:
Brush Mtn. Chorus
Applied Skills:
Claytor Lake Chorus
Applied Skills:
Dan River Chorus
2:00 PM
Songleading/Directing
One-on-one with
Justin Stoney
3:00 PM
Applied Skills:
Allisonia Chorus
Applied Skills:
Brush Mtn. Chorus
Applied Skills:
Claytor Lake Chorus
Applied Skills:
Dan River Chorus
4:00 PM
All (Vocal) Cords Concert
Sanctuary
We want family & friends to enjoy this workshop together as much as possible. But we also have an aesthetic need to distribute people among the four choruses as evenly as possible according to their vocal range.
That’s why you’ll be asked during the purchase process to tell us what each ticketholder’s vocal range is. If you don’t know what it is, you can tell us that as well.
We’re also asking you to identify any underage children in your party by age, so we can keep children 17 and younger together with their parents.
If you’re registering 4 or more people, and don’t mind splitting them up, you can let us know that as well.