A four day Spring course with Barefoot Opera Thursday 20 – Sunday 23 April 2023 inclusiveBarefoot Studio, 93 Endwell Road, London SE4 2NF and Telegraph Hill Centre, Kitto Rd,London SE14 5TY
About the Course ‘Rediscover, reconnect, revitalise’ – our four-day Intensive Course in April 2023 offers a chance to reconnect with and explore all the tools you already have at your disposal as a singer and learn some new ones to complement and enhance your power of expression.
Content of the course The days begin with group work to differentiate and integrate body, voice and movement Themed group workshops are then interspersed with individual slots in informal masterclasses, accompanied by our Music staff.
Examples of workshops:
Rehabilitative somatic movement practice, breath and voicework to support singers re-entering the profession after interruption – for example, after Covid, childbirth, injury, or managing ongoing health conditions
Playful drama workshops explore how we can use text and intention in our performances as singers.
Audition technique workshop examines how to integrate and access our skills in a pressurised setting
One day will be devoted to the staging and performing of a pre-agreed operatic aria of your choice.
You will be invited to bring at least two other pieces of your own choice to work on during the course.
As well as the above, you can expect to:
Find exercises to free up your movement and its communicative power
Find exercises to balance your breath and sound, creating optimal personal resonance
Develop ways to connect to the space around you with presence and imagination
Receive individual feedback and bespoke consultation
Tutors
Jenny Miller: Voice & Drama
Penelope Randall-Davis: Voice
Lesley Anne Sammons , Nicholas Bosworth, Laurence Panter : Repetiteurs/Coaches
Alexandra Baybutt: Movement Specialist
7 March, 2023 - 4 April, 2023
Weekly vocal workshops with Jenny Miller
Barefoot Studio 93 Endwell Road London SE4 2NF 7-9pm Tuesdays 7 March – 4 April 2023 Max 8 participants per workshop
Barefoot Opera’s tutors positively enable and support the work that singers are already engaged in, whilst offering fresh insights into the skills of classical singing and integrated movement.
Since we believe that real artistry and satisfaction in our art form is only found by engaging our whole self in the process, we work with the whole body /person in every sense. We firmly believe that a deeper understanding of how your body and breath work in movement will significantly develop your understanding of your voice, and to this end we have been creating a unique body of work for over fifteen years with our movement specialists.
26 February, 2023
One day full immersion course
26 Feb 2023 10:30 – 5pm Barefoot Studio 93 Endwell Road SE4 2NF
“A voice means this: there is a living person, throat, chest, feelings, who sends into the air this voice, different from all other voices.” —Italo Calvino, “A King Listens”
If you are an advanced and passionate classical singer, and want to refresh your whole experience of singing, Penny Randall Davis and Jenny Miller will give you in-depth body, voice, movement and mindfulness in the warmth and safety of Barefoot Studio, London SE4. Over many years we have been developing alongside our excellent coaches and movement specialists, a holistic approach to sound-making. Our exercises aim to free your voice and body, and de-stress the process of training. We work with you individually, supporting whatever study you are currently engaged in.
13 January, 2022
VoiceWorks – voice training techniques workshops
13 January, 3 and 10 February 2022 ( if COVID guidelines require, workshops will be postponed to a later date)
Fee: £10 per day
Voice training workshops at St Johns Pevensey Road, St Leonards on Sea East Sussex TN38 0RD 1700-1830
In these sessions we practice…
Barefoot body, voice and movement work including breathing exercises and in-depth vocal technique
Thursday, December 10th 6 – 7:30 pm Naomi Burrell £12.50
Brilliant solo violinist Naomi Burrell is also an expert Dalcroze trainer, and we thoroughly recommend that you dive into this exploration of movement phrasing, based on the pioneering work of Emile Jacques Dalcroze, himself a student of Fauré, and Bruckner. A deeply refreshing way to connect to music.
Wednesday, November 25th 6 – 7:30 pm Penny Randall Davis £12.50
How do we scale the heights, and maintain optimum flexibility whilst singing with our freest sound? A fun exploration for all voice types of the fascinating art of coloratura.
Wednesday, November 18th 6 – 7:30 pm Jenny Miller & Evelyn Freebury £12.50
Classical singers want to ‘sound beautiful’. This can become conflated with ‘monotonous consistency’. What is vocal colour in classical voice and how can we find more colours to use? Jenny Miller and Evelyn Freebury will explore ways to liberate colour literally from the inside out.
Explore ways to refresh your existing vocal technique and all it includes: your breath, your body, yourself. Barefoot movement educator Evy Freebury and vocal tutor Penny Randall-Davis come together to offer their practice and experience in finding vitality from within, and resilience in action-exploring stillness, vibrant movement, and vocal exercises.
Thursday, October 15th 6:00 – 7:30pm Jenny Miller, Dr. Alexandra Baybutt £12.50
Jenny as a voice specialist and Alexandra as a Laban/Bartenieff practitioner explore how a singer creates line, projects sound, and conveys intention with breath and body-shaping. We will look at the body/mind response to narrative – how do we captivate our audience with the story we want to tell and how do we tell it expressively?
Barefoot Opera team leaders Penelope Randall Davis, Jenny Miller, Alexandra Baybutt, and Evelyn Miller will take it in turns to explore this question using detailed exercises with movement and breath.
By responding to each other’s work, they will create a more seamless and varied experience for our participants.
We are keeping the cost very low, £10, to enable access. This will also be a little taster for our late summer on-line course – info here!
Praise for our last workshop:
“So generous! Was such a powerful experience please ask jenny to do another session”
“Thank you so much for a fascinating session last Wednesday! I very much enjoyed your teaching and your philosophy. ”
For this workshop it would be great to familiarise yourself with the first two pages of O Del Mio Dolce Ardor – by Gluck – found in 24 songs and arias of the 17 and 18th centuries (Schirmer) or easily found on-line. It is NOT necessary to memorise – and if you are not comfortable with Italian just become familiar with the melody.
Barefoot Opera went north to create Purcell’s ‘Dido and Aeneas’ from scratch to performance in a single weekend.
Barefoot’s creative team; Jenny Miller, Lesley-Anne Sammons and Penelope Randall-Davis created a special weekend which offered opportunities for 10 soloists and 24 choristers.
A fun and informative day designed to help all types of singers develop their coloratura skills. Stimulating group-work will be followed by solo ‘masterclass’ slots in a relaxed and supportive atmosphere. There will also be time for questions and exploration as we tackle thorny issues!
Sunday, 19th January 2020 Barefoot Studio (93 Endwell Road London SE42NF) 10:30-5:30
Join us for a day of in-depth movement, breath and voice work with Alexandra Baybutt, Jenny Miller and guest artist Aleksandra Ristic. With each singer using audition arias or other significant pieces of solo music, we will explore in detail how to allow full-body participation in phrasing, colour change and physical response.
