Repertoire discovery sessions: our famous repertoire reading sessions are back live! With new music from our Corporate and Associate member publishers, and individual member composers, these brilliant sessions introduce you to new music for all kinds of voice combinations. Your key to fresh music for your concerts. All the music submitted will be available online and you'll be able to peruse it at leisure, as well as singing highlights live. This year's topics are young singers, SATB/SAB sacred and secular, community choirs and self-published repertoire.
Our Education strand: sessions throughout the weekend for everyone working with young voices. See the timetable below for full details.
Visit the exhibition. Our exhibition has been a sell-out! Stands will be in the main hall alongside tea and coffee stands, ideally placed for browsing in session breaks. Chat with publishers and composers, browse through some real sheet music, book players and singers and start planning that long overdue choir trip! Stands include:
9.30am: registration. Grab a coffee, meet colleagues and have a first look at the exhibition.
10.30am: welcome, followed by:
The ultimate warm up! Join our opening plenary with not one but three presenters - great warm-ups for choirs of all kinds and all ages. With Amy Bebbington, Naveen Arles and Joanna Tomlinson.
11.45am: choose from:
Meet the composer: Ēriks Ešenvalds. We're delighted to welcome Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds as our featured composer. At the forefront of contemporary choral composing, he has won multiple awards, had his music performed at numerous international festivals, and has been frequently featured on recordings. Stars was recently performed at the BBC Proms on its Choral Day by the joint forces of The King's Singers and VOCES8, and his music is loved by professional and amateur choirs alike. This is an unmissable opportunity to hear Ēriks talking about some of his choral music which is particularly suited to amateur choirs, as well as singing some of it and chatting with him.
Practical pieces with a purpose. In this session Jenny Trattles and Charles MacDougall will help you recognise the skills you can bring to the singers of all ages that you work with, by exploring with repertoire in a slightly different way. We'll unpack three pieces that are ideal for choral performance, but also through which you are able to explore the fundamentals of musicianship. You'll leave with activities that you can immediately put into practice in your choir.
Education strand. Repertoire discovery session I: music for young voices. In this first repertoire discovery session, discover lots of new music for your school or youth choir, including changing voices. Joanna Tomlinson will lead you through highlights, and you can explore the full range on our website.
12.45: lunch and exhibition time.
14.15: choose from:
Orchestral conducting - be prepared. Conducting instrumentalists as well as your singers can be a daunting prospect, however experienced you are. BBC Symphony Chorus Director Neil Ferris leads a practical session on technique and preparation for conducting your choir with an orchestra. By way of working with three participants, the advice and attention will be for all delegates including tips on score preparation, rehearsal planning and timing, technical advice, troubleshooting and keeping calm! Repertoire includes Fauré's Requiem, Mendelssohn's Elijah and Haydn's Creation - attend as a participant or an observer. If you would like to take part as a volunteer conductor, please get in touch with Elisabeth Brierley. Please provide a very brief summary of your experience to date and any issues with which you would like particular help.
Repertoire discovery session II: music for community choirs. With Sarah Tenant-Flowers. In the second of our repertoire discovery sessions, discover new sacred and secular music for adult community choirs singing mainly in one or two parts. You'll be able to sing highlights with Sarah, and you can explore the full range on our website.
Education strand. Building a lesson from a song. This practical session shows how you can build a lesson from a song, using vocal work to teach children musicianship skills that will help them develop their aural skills, performing and composing in line with the Music National Curriculum. Join Rebecca Berkley, the children of Universal Voices, and Music Education students from the University of Reading as they demonstrate music teaching for KS2 children, starting with chanting and singing as the first instrument that all children can access, and then progressing with movement work to develop rhythmic understanding, listening work with analytical talking about music, and composing with voices and classroom instruments. We will also discuss how to develop these initial ideas into a medium term scheme of work. The session will use songs from the Sing for Pleasure Junior Song pack.
15.15: tea, networking and exhibition.
15.45: choose from:
Everything that has breath……sings in tune! How can we get the best possible sound out of our singers and how do we make sure they are always in tune, with great diction, phrasing and dynamics? Conductor, singer and vocal coach Joanna Tomlinson considers how vocal technique including breath flow, vowel placement and registration can help choir with all these elements. We will apply these technical ideas to various musical extracts in order to put it straight into practice. We will also deal with common issues that arise for each voice type to ensure all voice parts enjoy a feeling of freedom and ease within their own vocal colour.
Composer forum. Another Convention favourite, our composers' forum is a unique gathering of composers, each with their own distinctive sound. Find out their different working methods which bring about their success and chat with them about their current projects. This year's panel, chaired by abcd Trustee Leslie East, includes Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Russell Hepplewhite and our featured composer Ēriks Ešenvalds.
Education strand. Inclusive vocal and movement work with children. This session explores ideas and challenges in making singing and movement work accessible and inclusive to all children in the primary classroom. Children with special needs, whether identified or not, can find singing and movement work challenging in the classroom especially when it involves working socially with other children and needs movement fluency that they may not have fully mastered. Join Rebecca Berkley and Music Education students from the University of Reading for a practical, discursive session exploring our on-going work into finding ways to make our work in choral education more inclusive whilst still providing a high quality music education to all children.
17.00: choose from:
Music in the moment: building confidence and presence in choirs using improvisation. With vocal leader, singer and composer Leanne Sedin. Getting away from notes on a page to creating music in the moment is a brilliant way to get your singers more engaged, present to the musical process and empowered as musicians in their own right. But it can also be scary! In this session Leanne will explore making improvisation accessible for choirs (and choir leaders!), with exercises and tools for getting singers out of their comfort zones into creative music making. The session will include work with solfa and vocal painting (VOPA), as well as musical games and song frames for improvisation. No experience necessary!
Repertoire discovery session III: SATB/SAB sacred and secular music. With Neil Ferris. In the third of our repertoire discovery sessions, discover new sacred and secular music for adult choirs singing in three or more parts. You'll be able to sing highlights with Neil, and you can explore the full range on our website.
Education strand. Unlocking every voice: inclusive choral leadership. Building on the success of the Breaking the Singing Barrier resource by Charles MacDougall, Jenny Trattles and the ISM Trust, this session will provide practical guidance and inspiration for choral leaders committed to inclusive practice. Charles and Jenny will introduce a range of repertoire and innovative strategies designed to remove barriers that may arise when leading choirs, particularly those working with SEND, mainstream groups, or choirs with diverse needs and experiences. Participants will come away with a toolkit of engaging activities and an adaptable repertoire that encourages the expression of all voices, including the most reluctant or anxious singers, in a supportive and welcoming environment. This session is ideal for those looking to create a more inclusive and accessible choral experience for singers of all ages and abilities.
18.00: exhibition time.
18.30: enjoy a hot buffet supper and wine (bookable separately).
20.00: listen to the wonderful upper voice ensemble Corra Sound, conducted by Amy Bebbington, in concert in the Great Hall, followed by a drink in the bar with colleagues.
About Corra Sound. Corra Sound is an upper voice ensemble, passionate about its collective mission: to discover new repertoire which explores the reach and versatility of the female voice, and to celebrate the works of remarkably talented, and often little known, female composers on the concert platform and in workshops. Gaining a reputation for high quality performance across a wide range of repertoire, Corra Sound has appeared at the Elgar, Ethelflaeda, Lamberhurst and MADhurst Festivals, performed with The Royal Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, and with Emma Johnson.
Corra Sound is delighted to bring a unique programme to the University of Reading's Great Hall for this prestigious annual event. Ranging from a cappella to accompanied works, you can expect to hear a broad range of sacred and secular music, including exciting new works by recent competition winners.
9.30: choose from:
Conducting masterclass. Delegates are invited as participants, singers and observers to this masterclass session led by renowned performer and teacher, Sarah Tenant-Flowers. Up to 3 conductors will direct fellow delegates and receive practical feedback and suggestions for developing singer-friendly gestures which get the best out of your choirs, as well as enhancing technique, clarity, relevance and communication skills.
If you would like to take part as a volunteer conductor, please get in touch with Elisabeth Brierley. The masterclass is aimed at Intermediate/Advanced level, so please provide a very brief summary of your experience to date and any issues with which you would like particular help.
Repertoire discovery session IV: music for all choir types by self-published composers. In the fourth of our repertoire discovery sessions, discover new music written and self-published by our member and exhibitor composers for youth and adult choirs of all kinds. In most cases the composers will introduce the pieces themselves, so this is a lovely way to explore new music directly with its composer.
Education strand. Inspiring singing at secondary school: resources, techniques and methods to support singing at Key Stage 3. Join Rebecca Ledgard and Gemma King from Ex Cathedra's Education and Participation team, as they share behind the scenes material from their award winning ChoirMaker project. The session will explore how to engage young people in singing through user friendly warm up activities and engaging repertoire, created and arranged by the Ex Cathedra team, with young voices in mind. Through the online ChoirMaker project, there are resources for teachers and students to develop conducting skills, learn how to effectively add percussion and supportive accompaniment to performances.
10.30am: coffee and exhibition time.
11.00: choose from:
Spotlight on choral works by women composers. An unmissable session for all choral leaders wanting to explore music by women composers. Amy Bebbington introduces a variety of repertoire to inspire you to diversify your choral programmes. A wide range of musical styles will be covered, from Renaissance to present day, for all types of choir. Each piece and composer will be introduced before singing the music, allowing participants to discover some wonderful repertoire by women composers from around the world.
Engagement and empowerment - collaborate with your choir with Naveen Arles. Using simple songs and warm-up material Nav will explore teaching and rehearsing approaches that increase rehearsal efficiency and reduce the pressure on vocal leaders. Our role as 'leader', if re-framed to be 'collaborator', enhances ownership in our vocal groups which results in faster, more committed music making and greater buy-in to not just performances but every music making opportunity. Nav is an inspirational vocal leader directing diverse singing groups of all ages and abilities, including youth choirs and choirs in prisons; he is founder director of MDBrunch.
Education strand. The teacher as musical leader. A practical session showing how teaching and leading music can be realised through a variety of different skills. Strategies ranging from pitch scaffolding and solfa hand signs, to kinaesthetic gestures, movement and simple beat patterns in order to equip teachers with a broad range of useful singing leadership skills. Come and be inspired and enlightened by the potential of your musical making in classrooms, school assemblies, performances and playgrounds.
12.15: final plenary sing.
13.15: lunch and final chance for exhibition.
