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Worldsongs: Community Hymns
and Songs From All Around the World
with Alan Gasser
Alan Gasser is the co-founder of Worldsong summer camps and workshops. It is an idea that has grown out of and contributed to the recent revival of community music-making. For summer 2012 Alan is bringing the Worldsong experience to Sorrento Centre. This interactive workshop (Alan describes it as a sort of slow flash-mob) incorporates traditional methods and songs from widely-varied world music sources: shapenote and West-Gallery Music, Balkan, South-African and Georgian traditional polyphony, and the many lively subcultures of North-American roots music.
Participants will sing together and learn to flex their “muscles of inclusion and communal expression.” There may be a little dancing, and there will certainly be open-throated song styles, and vivid varieties of expression. Harmony singing -whether gospel camp-meeting songs, or exotic world music- will feed your soul and make your body vibrate in good ways.
No prior experience is required.
The only prerequisites are an open heart and ears, along with willing voices. Worldsongs draws a large boundary circle, and aims to listen intently so that we can sing the songs of the village.
ALAN GASSER is an experienced conductor, professional chorister, and voice teacher. He has co-directed the Echo Women’s Choir since 1993 and led countless choirs in Toronto over the past 20 years. Alan has sung Georgian folk music since 1985 with the Kartuli Ensemble, in addition to founding the Trio Kavkasia and the ensemble Darbazi. He worked with Village Harmony for many years in Vermont and founded Worldsongs in Canada in 2005.
Course Fee: $300
Sponsored by Sorrento Centre
Typical day's schedule at Sorrento here »
Register for this course here »
LINKS
- This course: an 8.5 x 11 poster "emailer" (246k .jpg) of the image below - download »
- This course: a high-resolution print version pdf (2.8 MB) of the image below - download »
- The List: all the emailers/printable pdfs for this year's courses - here »
