NE Voices 2026 Workshops

The NE Voices Festival 2026 workshops list will be available soon. In the meantime, check out the list of workshops from last year!

NE Voices Festival 2025 Workshops

 Management

Amplifying A Cappella: Social Media
​Strategies for Growth and Exposure

Makynzie Barton
Are you ready to take your acapella group to new heights by harnessing the power of social media? Join us for an interactive workshop where we’ll dive deep into strategies for growing your acapella community fanbase, boosting engagement, and amplifying your group's unique sound online.

Effective and Efficient
​A Cappella Leadership

Jess Garcia
No matter the structure of leadership in your a cappella group, student leaders have an incredibly important impact on how a group functions. In this workshop, we will discuss what makes leadership a big responsibility, and how to carry out your role in order to ensure the most effective, efficient, and positive group function. We will talk about conflict management, servant leadership, big picture thinking, organization, and more. This workshop is for anyone who wishes to level up their leadership skill.

How to Build a Better Brand

Lauren Garcia
Would you consider yourself a creative? Do you enjoy fashion, Tik Tok, and trend? If so, you should consider a brand manager position! 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! 
 Management
Beyond the Basics: Competitive
​Scoring and Movement
Kat Smith
How to elevate your groups choreography while leaning into competitive a Cappella scoring through the use of advanced dance content. Using traditional dance choreography elements, participants will learn how to push the limits of their creativity and expression in favor of competitive & engaging choreography!​
Crafting a Unique and
Expressive Solo Line
Jess Garcia
Curious about what takes a solo from good to great? In this workshop, explore beyond the written lyrics and melody and unlock new ways to make solos your own. We will discuss tone, placement, note changes and riffing, stage presence, and more. We will also do a deep dive on an award-winning solo and discuss the practical elements that elevated it from its original form to what it has become.

Hit Me With Your Best Sound!

Leah Raquel Petraglia
In this workshop, students will learn the importance of vowel choices, dynamics, and phrasing in their vocal performance of their arrangements. With an interactive approach, we will learn how changing shape vocally can elevate each song and take your performance to a new level!
Movement for Vocalists
Amber Bates
Our bodies are our instruments, and we need to remember that movement is a tool that singers must tap into! In this workshop, we will work through a physical warm-up and sing using different types of movement to see how it changes our sound, support, and vocal energy. We will explore how different types of movement can help us access new parts of our voice and tap into a more effective vocal recovery between sings! 
The Perfect Blend: Your Crash
​Course on Collaborative Singing
Upper Structure
Join award-winning a cappella group, Upper Structure, for an evening of learning from the minds that crafted a viral and globally resonating sound for collaborative singing. Learn different ways to sing and how to manipulate your voice to be able to successfully blend with other singers. 
Vocal Agility: So You Wanna
​Learn How to Riff
Kevin DeLisa
This class will focus on sustainable popular vocal training, with a focus on contemporary vocal riffing. We will listen to effective riffs, discuss vocal anatomy, work through popular music vocal techniques, and finish by singing through vocal agility.
VP 101
Kari Francis
"Cool mouth sounds are great -- but how do you use them? In this workshop, we'll cover a variety of basic drum grooves that every kit player knows, as well as uncommon meters and rhythmic groupings to stretch your rhythmic brain and get you thinking about possibilities for arrangements, drum solos, and more."
Creation
A Cappella Reinvention
Alyssa Koh
Interested in changing the vibe of a song tonally through the arrangement you create? Students will be given a couple of songs to analyze and reinvent through their own lens through small adjustments to groove, tonality, and arc interpretation.
Anybody Can Arrange
Louis Shriber
This workshop will provide students different ways to access arranging by meeting them at their level of musicianship and theory knowledge. Whether you come up with parts by ear, you play everything on the piano, or use a DAW to create your arrangements, this workshop will provide resources to empower your process, raising the level of your arrangements by introducing new musical ideas and theoretical concepts.
Organic Arranging
Angelo Knight
Have you ever wanted the creative freedom, but aren't the notation extraordinaire? This workshop is for you! In this workshop, you will learn steps and tools to create your own arrangements without notation, whether you are just creating music with friends or you want to take on arranging your next a cappella set. This workshop is also useful for students looking to strengthen their leadership and/or musicianship. And this workshop is beneficial for educators because you another opportunity to give your students a voice and an extra outlet of creation within a cappella.
Score Sculpting: Adaptive
​Arranging for A Cappella
Spencer Camacho
A cappella arrangers work diligently to put together a score perfect for their group. That said, sometimes the music on paper does not hit as imagined once it is being sung in rehearsal. Back to the drawing board? No! Let’s make the adjustments needed WITH your singers! In this rehearsal simulation, singers will be given an arrangement to sing. Participants will identify moments of opportunity within the sheet music – whether it is dynamics, syllables, harmony, or more – that will make the music that much more impactful.

Songwriting 101

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.
Vocal Arranging: 3 Steps to an
Effective Arrangement
Kevin DeLisa
This class will focus on how to begin a successful arrangement. We will listen to some great arranging, discuss the techniques they utilized, sing through a piece of a vocal arrangement, and arrange something new together.

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.

A Writers Guide to Creating an Original A Cappella hit!

Leah Raquel Petraglia
In this workshop, we will explore the components of songwriting and how to translate your original music to an a cappella hit! We will dissect popular, Top 40 songs turned a cappella covers, both lyrically and sonically, and through open forum we will discuss how a writer can translate the pop/rock formula to your own original music for your a cappella group - creating a catchy hit that has audience members singing along by the end of the song!
Deeper Learning
Bursting the Bubble: Looking Outside of A Cappella to Improve... A Cappella
Dave Grossman
Listen to a jaded curmudgeon get on his soapbox about the trends he sees in a cappella that, at least in his mind, are going to bring the art form to its death. More importantly, in this workshop, you'll learn how to look outside the suffocating walls of a cappella and find ways to help normal people connect with your group, and not just a cappella nerds.
From Set to Show: Tips and Tricks to
Create an Experience That Will
​Engage the Audience
Ball in the House
A show is WAY more than just stringing together the songs you know! Learn how to think differently about your setlist and structure the show. We'll discuss repertoire, intros, engaging the audience, movement/blocking, selling your lead, and owning the stage, all in pursuit of creating an engaging, entertaining show. 
Group Energy for Stage Presence
Mary Whelan
A show is WAY more than just stringing together the songs you know! Learn how to think differently about your setlist and structure the show. We'll discuss repertoire, intros, engaging the audience, movement/blocking, selling your lead, and owning the stage, all in pursuit of creating an engaging, entertaining show. 
Rehearsal Resonance: Building Shared Leadership Behaviors
Spencer Camacho
Everyone has a vital role to play in an a cappella group, regardless of position or if they hold one. ‘Rehearsal Resonance’ explores how all members can deepen their connection to the rehearsal process and adopt inclusive behaviors to increase engagement. Through a rehearsal simulation, singers will learn strategies in how they can more deeply engage in the learning process that will contribute to group sound, morale, and even make rehearsal more efficient. Not only will current and aspirational music directors expand their pedagogical toolkit on facilitating rehearsals, but members in non-directing roles will be empowered to ensure group success.
Music Technology

DIY A Cappella Musician

Ball in the House
Ways to record, arrange, and produce entirely on your own, and new ways to use those skills to enhance group experience (learning tracks, alternative way to arrange by recording, the ability to be entirely self-sufficient, etc.)

Music Video Production

Jess Garcia
Does the idea of creating a professional level music video for your group feel impossible? Does the thought of producing a set video feel overwhelming and inaccessible? That's what I used to think too! In this workshop, we will go over all of the basics for transforming your group performances into professional-grade visual media. We will go over the production process from start to finish, discuss options for different budget levels, talk about the creative elements of production, and simply talk about where to even start. (Note: This is not a workshop on the technical skills of video filming or editing, but rather a workshop on how to get all of the elements together in order to produce a video for your group)
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