yugenro

1. General course description
   1. Subject matter covered in this course
   2. This class will cover various experiential approaches to vocalization, including texture and harmony, as a group. We will concentrate on eliciting a variety of emotions, as a group, using only our voices and bodies.
   3. My approach to teaching this content will be both very experiential and experimental. I will use various means to engage and prepare students for our attempts to work together to elicit specific emotions.
   4. The only prerequisites for this course are the willingness to vocalize with other people, and a willingness to be open to all sorts of possible experiences.
   5. This class will draw on various elements of choral composition, such as rhythm, melody, harmony, dissonance, tone/timbre, volume/amplitude, texture, etc. It will also draw upon visualization, meditation, calisthenics, and breathing techniques.
   6. Students might find it helpful to draw upon their experiences working in groups (not necessarily singing in groups!), and in meditative environments.

1. Method of course delivery
   • The course will mainly entail learning together, as a group.
   • In fact, the main point of this class is to create what we cannot create alone.
   • Students will be sticking to the pace of the group’s growth. I will encourage students to engage in active listening throughout their lives, by listening to various artists, as well as the world around them, in an effort to broaden their “palette” of sounds with which to elicit emotion. But the point of the class is, again, to create together what we cannot create alone.
   • Inspirational resources may be provided via audio CDs and/or printed material.

1. General course goals/objectives
   • Students will directly experience working in a group.
   • Students will directly experience creating something as a group that they cannot create on their own.
   • Students will broaden:
     • 1) their relationships with others
     • 2) their ideas of what music is
     • 3) the limitations of their feelings
     • 4) the limitations of their expression

1. Outline of overall course structure (i.e., lessons/topics)
   • The course is broken down into combinations of “preparation-to-create” and “approach-to-creation.”
     • “Preparation-to-create” is: calisthenics, meditation, breathing, and visualization.
     • “Approach-to-creation” is: visualization, and the various choral-composition techniques, such as texture, harmony, melody, unity, dissonance, rhythm, amplitude/volume, and tone/timbre.
   • The course will last an hour and a half, once a week, for six weeks.
   • Each week I will present a new combination of “preparation” and “approach.”

In this class, people will use their voices to elicit emotion. The class is inherently experiential and experimental, with the participants exploring their voices, their emotions, and their interrelationships, all within a safe, fun, and enticing environment. Exercises will include visualization, meditation, breathing, calisthenics, rhythm, melody, harmony, dissonance, tone/timbre, volume/amplitude, texture (monophonic, polyphonic), etc. In such an experimental and interactive creative environment, we will foster community via people sharing in the creation and experience of a wide array of emotions, including love, sadness, joy, power, anger, grooviness, happiness, play, confusion, and peace.