Workshops, master classes, round tables in 13 sessions
Salle A = 21 bis rue des écoles in the 5th arronidissement
Salle B = Centre Culturel Italien, 21 rue des Carmes, Paris 75005
Round tables (RT)
- The History of Cabaret (with Frantz Wouilloz) followed by a Round Table on What Is Cabaret Today ? (with Martin Pénet)
- Paris Noir: The influence of African-American singers in Paris, Q&A led by Lynne Jordan, Michèle Barbier, Jeanne Franks, and others (RT)
- Getting Political in Cabaret – Paul L. Martin to chair a discussion on the performer’s relationship to political opinion during stage-time (RT)
- The Business and Promotion of Cabaret, the mission of the Cabaret Connexion: a round table discussion led by Anne Burnell and Claudia Hommel; French panelists to be determined (RT)
Workshops (W) and masterclasses (MC)
- English & French Diction for singers led by David Hoffman
- Be Yourself. Everyone else is taken, Isabelle Georges (MC)
- Vocal Techniques Essential for Cabaret, Elisabeth Howard (W)
- Stage movement essentials, Elisabeth Howard (W),
- Vocal Techniques for the Rest of Your Life or How to Be a Better Singer in 10 Minutes a Day, Jeanie Carroll (W)
- Patter Matters: communicating with your audience, Paul L Martin (W)
- Talking with your pianist, musicality and communication, Jean-Claude Orfali, Mark Burnell, Jon Weber (W)
- Using Improvisation to improve our performances, Anne Fromm (W)
- Vocal Musicianship , Anne & Mark Burnell (W)
Visit the Preparation page to get your repertoire ready for the workshops.
Sessions will be held each morning and afternoon, Monday to Friday, September 1. Morning sessions begin at 10 AM until 1PM. Doors open on Monday at 9:30 AM to complete registration and payments. Most afternoon sessions begin at 2:30 PM and end at 5:30 PM.
Some session descriptions
Anne & Mark Burnell: Vocal Musicianship
Find your unique arrangement by experimenting with different rhythmic grooves or styles. Embody the rhythm of a song, and convey the tempo and feel to an accompanist or band. Learn techniques of using contemporary flourishes, altering the melody, jazz scatting or back phrasing to create signature songs.
Jeanie Carroll —Vocal Techniques for the Rest of Your Life or How to Be a Better Singer in 10 Minutes a Day. Easy to remember methods for honing in on your inner potential as a vocalist. Added bonus, a focus on Stage Presence; connecting with your audience.
Anne Fromm — Better Performance through Improvisation
We will play with different group exercises of ‘letting go’ and improvisation. These exercises will allow us to feel freer and enter more easily into different emotional states. We will include vocal and body expression, space management and text interpretation on your songs to better convey emotions and reach your audience.
Isabelle Georges—“Be Yourself. Everyone else is taken” The quote is from Oscar Wilde and serves as Isabelle’s motto for her master classes. There is joy to be shared, and healing that comes from the sharing of song.
David Hoffman — “English and French Diction for Singers” will give your lips a thrill and your tongue a new workout in whichever language you are singing. The Feeling of [o] or If you can’t say anything nice, maybe put your tongue In a different position. A perhaps unconventional approach that provides more tools than rules, we’ll be asking the question, “What is my mouth doing when I say that?” This is a playful way to experience speech. Even though we’ll be focusing mainly on the challenges of French and English you should leave feeling empowered to harness your articulator awareness to tackle any language.
Elisabeth Howard — Vocal Technique Essential for Cabaret Singing (10-12 singers). Whether you sing opera, jazz, Broadway or pop, Elisabeth will address vocal techniques to make the healthy and most resonant choices for each. Elisabeth will lay her hands on your voice to find new expression. We will cover breathing and support, vocal colors and resonances, head and chest registers, the mix and eliminating the “break,” expanding the range, vibrato types and personal expression. We will address pronunciation and phrasing.
Elisabeth Howard —Stage Movement Essential for Cabaret Performance. We will cover working with microphone, entering and exiting the stage, what to do with my hands, when and how to stand, walk, sit, turn. We can address working with the pianist, connecting with the audience, telling your story, patter between songs.
Paulus — Patter Matters: communicating with your audience.
While other workshops will explore text and subtext of our lyrics, let’s take a look at what happens in between the songs. What setup or context connects the song to your audience? Whether the song serves as soundtrack to the world we live in or is a time-travel vehicle to another time, its “patter” helps point the way.
Getting Political in Cabaret – Paulus will chair a discussion on the performer’s relationship to political opinion during stage-time. We can address the question of when and how to step into controversy; is cabaret a safe haven for controversy, a place to be civil, silly, supercilious, and serious about the political issues of the day?
Jean-Claude Orfali, Stefan Kukurugya: Talking with Your Pianist.
Speaking the Language of your Accompanist. Whether meeting for the first time at an open mic or working for years with a pianist partner, there’s an essential vocabulary to share. Tempo, Key, and Song Form.
The relationship between pianist and singer soloist is technical, psychological and spiritual. Let’s explore what each brings to the partnership. Bringing a clean score, specifying the key tonality and other details. What you “hear” and what you want the pianist to hear. The song is an instantaneous creation you make together. Elements to keep in mind include phrasing, the beat, the rhythm, tempo, the pickup and longer anacrusis, slowing down and accelerating, guiding, breathing, Vibrato and vibration, vibrating, climax and coda. This workshop is for singers and accompanists.