NE Voices 2024 Workshops

Please see below for the list of workshops for the NE Voices 2024 Festival!
Instructor bios and headshots can be found here.

 Management

Compassionate Music Directing

Amber Bates

Leading a group of your peers is not an easy thing to do, even with all the necessary musical skills. In this workshop, we will explore the balance one must strike between leadership and friendship when music directing your peers. We will also explore the varying responsibilities of student leaders and how to work with your peers as their equal instead of as there superior. Finally, we will discuss tools one can use to discover strengths and continue growing with each rehearsal.

How to Build a Better Brand

Lauren Garcia
Miguel Aninon

Learn how to create and manage a brand that matches your a cappella group’s ever-changing personality and aesthetic through attire, social media, promotional materials, and more! 

Music Therapy

Kayla Liquori

If the intersection of psychology, therapy, and music sounds interesting, this class is for you! In this class we will discuss what music therapy is, how music therapy works, the clients that are best fit for music therapy, and how to become a board-certified music therapist. Come with any and all questions! :)

Student Leadership

Dave Grossman

You know what's harder than singing? Leading your peers. This workshop will explore leadership techniques and concepts to help students make the biggest impact on their groups, regardless of age, title, or role.

Performance

A Cappella Super-Group

Adam Tarpey

This year's A Cappella Super-Group will be focused on building bridges within the NE Voices community! Join us to sing some meaningful music together while exploring vulnerability and what it really means to connect. 

Choreography 101

Kat Smith

In this how-to course, Kat Smith will break down and build upon the basics of competition and showcase choreography in an interactive format. Participants will have the opportunity to brainstorm and choreograph a portion of a song with Kat's guidance in organization. A class beneficial for students and educators alike, students will walk away with a tool-kit to help them apply what they've learned in this course to their home groups!

From Performance to Percussion: Tips for Breaking Out of Your Performance Shell

Jarell Green

Gain knowledge into various vocal percussion styles, learn what it means to be a performer vs a vocalist, and tips to bring out your healthiest but most powerful version of your solo voice

The Importance of a Cohesive Rhythm Section

Angelo Knight

In this workshop, we will explore different ways you can be effective with a cohesive rhythm section, whether that may be with hits or special rhythmic patters or even a drum fill with a bass lick. Your rhythm section is the foundation of your group.

Making a Solo Your Own

Noyonika Gupta

You just got the solo in your a cappella group! Or perhaps you decided that you want to cover a song to put on Instagram. Or maybe you just finished writing a melody line that you want to record… now what do you do? In this class we will explore how to take a basic melody line and add in your own musical touches and emotional storyline. We will identify tools we can use to take a solo from bland to musically interesting and your own.

More Than Boots and Cats: Upgrading Group Sound with Vocal Percussion

Eliot Min

However, VP can be so much more than an ensemble's backbone. Like the soloist who rips a saucy riff, or background vocals that nail a jarring chord, or eye-catching choreo, a Vocal Percussionist can add inject new life into an a cappella arrangement by curating a part that is intentionally designed and convincingly performed. Knowing lots of cool sounds and effects is pretty neat — but I one hundred percent believe that knowing how to put the right sounds in the perfect places is way cooler.

Owning the Song's Story: Approaching Narrative as a Part of a Group

Black to Gold Members:
Aldon Knolls, Andrew Orsie, and ​Stefanie Sambrano

This workshop will focus on how to physically embody the story of a song in performance, both as a group and as an individual within that group. We'll spend time on our feet, exploring how to make physical and emotional choices that express your song and its message, and how to mesh those choices with your other singers to successfully bring the audience into the narrative you're telling.

Small but Mighty: Transitioning Your Musicianship from a Large to a Small Group

Black to Gold Members:
Connor Martin, Courtney Cox, and Leah Petraglia

A cappella groups can come in all shapes and sizes, but the approach you bring to the group will need to differ when there are fewer members. In this workshop, we'll discuss the differences between various group sizes, how to transition your skill set between these sizes, and ways to feel confident owning your larger part in a smaller ensemble.

Solo Coachings

Amber Bates and Adam Tarpey

We’ve all been in a place where we feel stuck trying to work on our solos and audition songs, just running them over and over without making any real changes. Solo Coachings is designed to help you overcome that feeling and to give you specific practice techniques to take home! Volunteers will sing sections of their solo, and together we'll identify specific areas that need work, before digging in and putting these practice techniques to the test.

Stage Presence: Confidence, Movement, and Expression

Pitch, Please!

If you find yourself stuck swaying back and forth, side-stepping, and doing the classic aca-bop for every song, this workshop is for you! Learn to widen your scope of performance emotions and movements, channel the stage presence of your favorite performers, and more deeply connect with your material. This workshop will break you out of your shell with activities, exercises, and tips and tricks from Northeastern's Pitch, Please!

Worthwhile Warmups

Jason Luciana

Take your warmup game to the next level and never sing scales again! The objective of this workshop is to teach you 5 different warmups each designed to help your group unify your sound, set the tone for your rehearsal, and transition into singing with intention!

Creation

Arranging for Songwriting

Tim Bongiovanni

So, you've written an original song that you want to arrange for your group. You've got chords and a melody, but you used a piano or guitar, and your beautiful singing voice to get that far. Now what? How do you translate what you've written into an a cappella arrangement that will communicate your song with clarity and stun your audiences? This class will focus on answering this question. We'll discuss arranging and production techniques that will help you move beyond chords and melody and put you on the path to a finished a cappella arrangement. Students should arrive prepared to sing, and optionally, with eight bars of an original song that they wouldn't mind sharing with the group. We won't have time to work on everyone's song, but it will be good to have ideas to work from. The instructor will also have some original ideas ready to go, so there is no pressure to bring original music if you'd just like to attend.

Finding Creative Balance in A Cappella Arranging

Connor Martin

You already know the basics of a cappella arranging; now where do you go? In this workshop, we'll explore the different creative elements in an arrangement and how to feel comfortable balancing them. Then, through back-and-forth discussions, we'll put our eyes, ears, and voices to the test to identify these elements and their functions within successful arrangements and performances!

Intro to Arranging

Kari Francis

Want to arrange, but don't know where to start? In this introductory workshop, Kari will walk you through using solfége to navigate common chord progressions, as well as options for musical 'moments' and how to use them. No previous arranging experience required!

Intro to Vocal Painting

Kari Francis

Have you ever wondered how a choir can improvise music together? In this hands-on workshop, Kari will introduce you to Vocal Painting (VoPa), a practice that combines Walter Thompson's Soundpainting gestures with Bobby McFerrin's Circlesongs to make a sign language for composing music in the moment with other singers.

Organic Arranging

Monty Hill

Do you find that you jump to the harmony when you sing along to a song on the radio? Do you VP to songs while you are shopping in the grocery store? If so, you have taken the first steps to organic arranging! Come learn more about this unique style of arranging that can take your groups to the next level of performance and creativity. By the end of the course, we'll be able to put this into practice!

Songwriting 101

Kayla Liquori

Songwriters, come one come all! We will dive into songwriting strategies, prompts, where to find inspiration, and song analysis. Even if you haven’t written a song before, this workshop is for you - the information we’ll be discussing could be the inspiration for your very first song! If you’re comfortable, feel free to bring in an original that we can listen to :)

Songwriting & Lyricism

Emmie Kelley

In this workshop, we will cover the basics of songwriting for beginners - everything from finding a chord progression to channeling your emotions into your lyrics to independently marketing your first single! This workshop will be a great fit for anyone looking to try their hand at writing original music.

Deeper Learning

All Ears

Anthony Pulido

All Ears is a workshop developed b Anders Edenroth and Katarina Henryson. How often have we been told to "listen" when we're rehearsing without being told what that means? How often do we rehearse listening itself? In a fully interactive session, I'Il provide a tool which develops trust and initiative through heightened listening. We'll be singing a simple song together (no prep needed) to challenge and expand their listening ability. This workshop can be done with all levels of singers and requires no preparation other than demanding a lot of focus. Even instructors are welcome to join this workshop!

Connection Within Your A Cappella Group

Ally Carlson

This workshop focuses on building strong, trusting relationships between group members and translating that connection into music. We will practice listening, blending, and intuition so that, ultimately, groups can start to form their unique dynamic and sound even better as a result.

Essential Listening

Shannon McNulty

In a time where we are constantly bombarded with music and media, how do we regain our capacity to sit, engage with, and truly be moved by music? Join Shannon for 45 minutes of focused, intentful listening that will help you think about old songs in new ways and hopefully introduce you to some inspiring new music as well.

Group Energy for Stage Presence

Mary Whelan

We will cover how powerful performance starts with effective leadership. Setting up the proper foundations within a group’s dynamic creates chemistry on stage. We will work through exercises you can use with your group to feel comfortable enough to make choices and take risks as a performer.

Group Identity

Julia McBride

Being a part of an a cappella group has the power to make a tremendous impact on your life - let your group be a vehicle for that! Take this workshop to gain tips, tools, and inspiration for driving your group towards establishing your 'group identity' - from aesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal perspectives.

Music Technology

Intro to Recording Tech

Tim Bongiovanni

If you've ever wanted to untangle the web of audio cables that leads to a great sounding recording, this class is for you. We'll cover each piece of gear and software that gets your voice into the computer and out again along with recommendations for which ones to buy both on a budget and not. Maybe you've tried to record before and know the results could be better. Or maybe, you want to try it for the first time, but don't know where to start. This class will have you up and running in no time.