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The ‘Single Singers’ (Page 25)

Nina Ruckhaber, event manager Humboldtsaal Freiburg/Germany (Reservix) and choir manager of the Jazz Choir Freiburg

 

The Single Singers are an international project choir, coming together at European a-cappella festivals. 

‘Whenever I was on my way, on my own, to a-cappella festivals, I had mixed feelings: of course I was greatly looking forward to the concerts and workshops.  But what I really wanted was to stand on the stage myself.  I wanted to sing - not just to listen!’  In 2011 Emily May’t Hoen from the Netherlands wasn’t on her own with such thoughts and so, in January 2012, on the occasion of the London A Cappella Festival, together with her choir friend Annemarie Homan, she founded the Single Singers. 

The idea was to offer festival visitors attending on their own the opportunity for a joint choral appearance within the framework of the festival.  The name ‘Single Singers’ is, of course, first cousin to the legendary Swingle Singers, who actually put on the London A Cappella Festival.

In her day job Emily is the public relations officer of a charity, and Annemarie works as the online-editor of a choral organisation - so the two publicized their idea online, on Facebook and on Twitter.  From this start, the concept developed an extraordinary dynamic all of its own.  Annemarie Homan reports: ’24 enthusiastic singers from all over the world, who wanted to be involved in London, came forward’ - and thus the Single Singers were born. 

But how does this simple idea work in practice?  What is it like to be a Single Singer?  How does this international group coordinate itself?  At this year’s Aarhus Vocal Festival in Denmark (AAVF) I enjoyed, for the second time, the opportunity to be part of the Single Singers.

The first - albeit virtual - meeting of all Single Singers for Aarhus took place on Facebook, where 30 singers met as a group set up specifically for this purpose.  This group offered us participants the opportunity to introduce ourselves and to come to know each other and - most importantly - to look forward together to the project at which we were aiming.  Everything was governed by the slogan ‘three songs, two rehearsals, one concert!’  This time, however, Annemarie and Emily had actually selected four challenging choral arrangements.

 

With ‘Ticket to Ride’, a Beatles classic in the Swingle Singers’ version was on the list.  Clare Wheeler, an alto in this group, supported us in situ with the rehearsals.  ‘If you’re out there’ by R&B singer John Legend was also on the programme, arranged by Merel Martens, founder and director of the Den Haag group Pitch Control and vocal coach of The Junction, winner of this year’s AAVF.  We also sang ‘Bottom’ by the Belgian world music troupe Zap Mama - represented at AAVF 2015 with a concert - and ‘No one’ by the soul singer Alicia Keys, arranged by Morten Kjaer, the versatile vocal coach and long-standing member of Vocal Line. 

We received the sheet music and files with which to rehearse, online, so that we could all prepare the pieces at home - something which in light of ‘two rehearsals’ is of course of crucial importance.

It’s a marvellous feeling to know that all over Europe there are the most different people, at this moment in time occupying themselves with the same sheet music, with the same musical material - each one on her/his own but nevertheless already linked to each other as part of a process that is beginning to take shape at many quite different places.

Time went on, the festival approached, and suddenly the moment had arrived: we came together for the first rehearsal of the Single Singers Aarhus 2015, to meet in the flesh and to make music together.  The European a-cappella scene is not overwhelmingly large: many of the roughly 750 participants, workshop and concert attendees know each other.  You meet again and again at the various festivals on the continent and enjoy being part of the a-cappella family.

The good thing, however, is that one does always also meet new faces - in Aarhus, too.  Most of us have, over the last few years, already garnered Single Singers experience at this, that one the other festival, but - at least for me - there were some new encounters in this specific casting.  During the first rehearsal it became apparent how well the concept of individual preparation works.  All the Single Singers had already mastered the repertoire to such a degree that we could very soon start applying the fine musical polish.  As a matter of principle, the Single Singers rehearse without a conductor - that’s part of the original concept.  As, however, there are always a few choir directors among the participants, who take over the leadership for certain phases, rehearsing is an intriguing process, oscillating between directed and free work on the pieces.

The project Single Singers unites the singers for the entire duration of the festival.  As opposed to the participants of the many other workshops, we are a fixed group, meeting and working together every day.  The joint preparation and the prospect of the final performance welds the 30 individuals together.

The concert itself then takes place within the framework of the final event of the festival, moderated by Jens Johansen, leader of the legendary Danish pop choir Vocal Line.  As in all preceding festivals, the appearance of the Single Singers was given prominent positioning, for example as part of the build-up to the Swingle Singers, Vocal Line or Rajaton.

After four festival days spent together, of course it’s really emotional to stand on stage as a member of the Single Singers.  But even weeks after the festival I still have many positive memories of encounters with people whom otherwise I was unlikely to have met, of songs and arrangements which otherwise I would never have sung, and of many precious moments which would be unthinkable but for the adventure of ‘Single Singers’. 

Thanks to the internet, the enthusiasm of earlier participants spread fast: Florian Städtler, founder of the Vocal Blog on Acappellazone, described the idea of the Single Singers as ‘ … a wonderful non-commercial “get-on-with-it-and-have-fun” work of art’.  Some 480 people have expressed their interest in the Single Singers by joining their Facebook page.  To date the project has already managed to establish itself at five European festivals (several times in London and Aarhus, once each in Stockholm, Hamburg and Fossano).  The two founders’ idea even managed to jump across the big pond to American a-cappella festivals.  There, the Single Singers are managed by the American musician Judy Fontana, who this year herself was a guest at the Aarhus Vocal Festival.

Time and again you can spot individual stars of the scene mingle with the Single Singers, like Jens Sadler (ex-Swingle Singer and member of The Magnets), Tor Martin Antonsen (from the Norwegian group Apes & Babes) or - as this year - Hans Cassa (head of the Dutch group Montezuma’s Revenge) and Bill Hare (Grammy-decorated a-cappella producer from the USA).  But the whole point of the Single Singers’ joint music-making is not the opportunity for the jubilant audience to pay homage to stars, but being included in this very specific festival enthusiasm - whether as an amateur or as a pro.

Annemarie Homan and Emily May’t Hoen are the driving forces behind this incredible international project: a collective of individual singers appears at a concert in carefully planned spontaneity - the audience conquers the stage!  The firm inclusion of the Single Singers into the most varied festivals is a superb organisational feat.  In the spring of 2016, at the London A Cappella Festival, the founders celebrated the Single Singers’ fifth birthday.

Meanwhile the idea of the two ladies from the Netherlands has developed into a very special little a-cappella community.  Around 40 enthusiastic singers come together for any one festival - some whom have met before several times, others who are new - forming a colourfully mixed international project choir which has already acquired cult status.  However, we should not forget that the idea at the bottom of it all is as old as it is simple: making music together makes you happy!

www.thesinglesingers.com

 

Nina Ruckhaber works in Freiburg (Germany) managing of choirs and events, and as a publicist.  She has been singing in the renowned Jazzchor Freiburg, directed by Bertrand Gröger, since 2010.  Nina Ruckhaber is Deputy Chair of the German Association of Young People in Choirs, and she runs the blog “Nina’s VoxBox”. Email: nina@ninasvoxbox.de

Les “Single Singers”

2018-10-15
By: Nina Ruckhaber
On: October 15, 2018
In: Choral World News
With: 0 Comments

Nina Ruckhaber, responsable événementiel à l’Humboldt-Saal, à Fribourg en Allemagne (Reservix) et directrice du Jazz Choir de Fribourg.

 

Les Single Singers s’insèrent dans un projet regroupant toutes les chorales lor…Read More →

Les chants byzantins, Musique chorale de la Chrétienté orientale

2018-10-15
By: Javier Martínez-Ramírez
On: October 15, 2018
In: Focus
With: 0 Comments

Javier Martínez-Ramírez, compositeur et chef de chœur

Au sein de l’Église, la musique nous aide à gagner en grâce devant Dieu ; quiconque l’envisage uniquement comme un plaisir esthétique ou un concert religieux est dépouillé d’un…Read More →

Message de la Présidente

2018-10-15
By: Emily Kuo Vong
On: October 15, 2018
In: Message from the President
With: 0 Comments

Chers amis,

C’est avec grand plaisir que je vous écris en ce mois de septembre, après que la FIMC a passé un été placé sous le signe des succès.

Comme vous le savez, en juillet nous avons organisé trois festivals à travers la Chine…Read More →

Festival choral international du chant folklorique de Qiandongnan, Chine. 27-30 juillet 2018

2018-10-15
By: Cristian Grases
On: October 15, 2018
In: IFCM News
With: 0 Comments

Cristian Grases, vice-président de la FIMC pour la région Amérique latine

 

L’été 2018 a été une période chargée pour la Fédération Internationale de Musique Chorale (FIMC). J’ai eu la chance de faire partie d’une dél…Read More →

Le refrain fait rêver, la musique fait vivre. 14ème Festival international de chœurs de Chine et Congrès mondial de chorales de la FIMC

2018-10-15
By: Andrea Angelini
On: October 15, 2018
In: IFCM News
With: 0 Comments

Par Andrea Angelini, chef, compositeur, rédacteur en chef de l’ICB

À grand pays, chiffres à rallonges! La 14ème édition du Festival international de chœurs de Chine et le Congrès mondial sur l’éducation chorale de la …Read More →

Semaine internationale 2018 de la musique chorale en Chine et en Mongolie intérieure

2018-10-15
By: Ki Adams
On: October 15, 2018
In: IFCM News
With: 1 Comment

Ki Adams, Membre du Comité de Direction de la FIMC

La Mongolie intérieure reste profondément en nous, comme un verre de bon vin réchauffe encore l’estomac quelques minutes après l’avoir bu. Ses couleurs douces ma…Read More →

Lithuania Cantat et le Premier Concours International de Chœurs et Orchestres ‘Birštonas Cantat’, 2018

2018-10-14
By: Theodora Pavlovitch
On: October 14, 2018
In: Choral World News
With: 0 Comments

Theodora Pavlovitch, chef de chœur et professeur

 

Plus grand des pays baltes, la Lituanie est réputée pour ses traditions chorales : de nombreux chœurs, chefs et compositeurs lituaniens ont suscité par le…Read More →

XXème Festival EUROPA CANTAT à Tallinn: retour sur l’événement

2018-10-13
By: European Choral Association - Europa Cantat
On: October 13, 2018
In: Choral World News
With: 0 Comments

Revue de presse de l’Association européenne des chœurs – Europa Cantat

 

Le grand festival de musique chorale EUROPA CANTAT XX à Tallinn, en Estonie, a pris fin. Il a accueilli plus de 5 000 choristes et mélomanes âgé…Read More →

IFCM Composition Competition 2017, Interview with the Winners, Biographies of the Winners

2018-07-15
By: Karolina Silkina
On: July 15, 2018
In: Focus
With: 0 Comments

…Read More →

Message de la Présidente

2018-04-01
By: Emily Kuo Vong
On: April 1, 2018
In: Message from the President
With: 0 Comments

La FIMC a été fondée en 1982 afin de promouvoir la communication et l’échange entre les musiciens de la musique chorale, au-delà des frontières nationales et culturelles. Depuis lors, elle est devenue la fédération mondiale d’un vaste réseau d’ass…Read More →

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