4 Residential weeks in South Devon at Sharpham House, and Bala Brook
8-13 October 2024, 3-8 December 2024, 14-19 March 2025, July 8-13 2025
Wild Voice Solid Roots is a year-long immersion into the art of Collaborative Vocal Improvisation, with an emphasis on vocal musicianship and excellence, taught by Briony Greenhill. It ends with performances, recording and filming, creating experiences and documentation you can take forwards with you.
Course Structure
In person time: We have 20 days together in 4 residential weeks at beautiful retreat centres in South Devon, UK.
Personal practice: at least 5h per week is suggested for the duration of the course. More is great; if you can’t make at least 2.5h per week of personal practice time, this may not be the time for you to do this.
App Support: participants get free access to Briony’s YourSong app for the duration of the course
Buddy Support: Everyone who wants to has a support buddy through the course. Pairs change a few times.
Monthly calls: Group Zoom calls to talk with Briony about how it’s going and get support. Vocal Improv Satsang.
The 2024-5 course is for Levels 2 and 3 - an intermediate level course. Read more about course levels here.
Teaching time is split into 4 areas: Rhythm, Harmony, Melody, and Creativity and Integration. Throughout, space is made for support for the inner life themes that usually arise working with vocal improvisation. The whole time we are singing. It’s a somatic, embodied pedagogy, music theory taught through the voice, ear and body. We learn by applying the theory to CVI exercises for optimal learning and integration of the marvellous mechanics of music into your available vocal musicianship.
We work to help you bring out your true, authentic voice; free from the burden of inner constraints; available for your life, and perhaps your work.
Vocal Improvisation is ultimately, I would say, a spiritual practice. This is explored more deeply in Singing the Unseen, but it is not absent from Wild Voice Solid Roots. Briony’s spirituality is Earth-Based and the course space is inclusive and pluralistic: you be you.
This 10 month deep dive into your creativity, artistry, musicianship, voice, and your place in this world as a singer culminates with an open studio, a public concert, and a day of filming and recording that creates resources you can take forwards with you.
Wild Voice, Solid Roots is taught by Briony Greenhill, named by The Guardian as “one of the world’s leading proponents of collaborative vocal improvisation (CVI)” - The Guardian. WVSR has been running since 2018.
CVI is the art of co-creating vocal music in the moment. Here is a short film about Briony’s teaching, which has evolved from the lineage of Rhiannon, Bobby McFerrin, Joey Blake and others. Briony is a founding member of The Well Global Vocal Improvisation Network and the UK Vocal Improvisation Festival.
Briony has released 4 entirely improvised albums. Her debut studio album Crossing the Ocean took improvisations and reproduced them adding instrumentation in the studio; it was featured in The Guardian, Mojo, Radio 3, and Woman’s Hour. Briony’s artistic life as an improviser, composer, performer, arranger and producer continues, with support from Arts Council England, PRS Women Make Music, and others.
Briony teaches Vocal Musicianship from beginner to advanced levels, while also honouring the spiritual, ritual and therapeutic application of CVI. She is a qualified SomaSource Leader; a “psycho-spiritual educator, artist, activist and healer who has an integrated understanding of how to creatively work in developmentally attuned ways with diverse people throughout life’s cycles.” Briony has been teaching vocal improvisation internationally since 2013; is a ritual singer, and was a piano teacher for 5 years.
Teaching is trauma informed and we create containers for support with the inner life. Meanwhile, Briony is not a therapist and if a lot comes up, it may be necessary to seek additional professional therapeutic support.
Cost
£4000
2 Assistant places are available at £2000 for people who have worked with Briony before
2 Bursary places are available at £2500: these are reserved for people of colour, non-binary / LGBTQ folks, and low-income regenerative world makers.
We have some accommodation options for our time at Sharpham. If you would like a Heritage Room, the total course fee rises to £4500. For a Premium Room, the cost is £4000. For a Standard Room, the total course cost can be £3500.
The Course fee includes
Lodging at Sharpham house and Bala Brook
Really Great food
All teaching
App membership for the duration
Monthly Zoom support calls
The show, filming and recording
Hopefully, morning yoga and dancing during our residential time together
To participate, you need:
To be able to sing in tune, keep a beat, and want an adventure. To make available time and space for practice; at least 2-4 hours per week is recommended. With more time, you will go futher. To be in moderate to good mental health. To be able to meet the course attendance and financial requirements.
To Apply
Please complete the application form below, and
Please send us 2 recordings of 1 minute each: 1 minute of you improvising alone, and 1 minute of you singing a song you know well. Both unaccompanied, the voice memos app on your phone is quite fine. Please send to info@brionygreenhill.com; email us if you have any technical difficulties with this.
Questions? Email info@brionygreenhill.com