MASTER CLASSES and SONGSHOPS with CLAUDIA HOMMEL

Claudia Hommel brings to student and adult singers more than three decades of stage and song career. She approaches each student and each song with insights and energy that come from her own studies with international cabaret singer Martha Schlamme, actor/director Alvin Epstein, music director Steve Blier, voice teacher Roberta Vatske, pianist/composer Christopher Berg, the Stratford Shakespeare Players and the Riverside Shakespeare workshops, Westminster Choir College Art Song summer sessions, and others.

This hands-on workshop is an opportunity for theatre and music students to strengthen their interpretative abilities in song. We work with singers at various levels of performance experience. We work with songs from any genre (opera, art song, folk, cabaret, rock, pop, musical theatre) as long as there is a story to tell. For each song, we ask the performer to explore the sense of place, character, poetry; to examine the specific moments and changes within the song, and in the process make the song their own. Auditors and accompanists are also actively engaged in the process.

SINGER1 (52K)

This is a class of discovery and process.

  • While not a vocal technique class, singing a song for its “truth” often clears up diction and physical problems that stem from lack of specific intention in the interpretation.
  • This is not a vocal coaching session to learn new songs. Each student is expected to have learned the music before bringing a song to class.
  • This is not an audition workshop per se. Therefore, songs will not be excluded because of “unsuitability to your type” nor will they be coached to match a particular performance style.
  • This is a class that uses the concept of intimate "cabaret" work to enhance ANY singing.

    For schools sponsoring Claudia's master class, when choosing the performers:
    Do not limit the selection of performers to those with the "best voices". Strength of conviction and communication along with basic musicality is for our purposes far more important than the quality or range of their voice. There have been plenty of singers (Mabel Mercer, Lotte Lenya, Martha Schlamme, Julie Wilson come to mind) whose voices when beyond their prime still enraptured their audiences.

    Preparation:
    Each performer should prepare two songs. They should choose which of the two to present to the class. The second song is a "back-up" in case a) the first song is so spectacular there’s nothing to add, b) it’s so uninteresting there’s no way to save it as a piece of theatre or c) we have enough time to work with both songs.

    Know the songs well. They need not be memorized but, as we’ll see through the work, songs are easier to memorize as a result of knowing the song from the inside out, learning it literally "by heart". (Schools hosting the class will provide a music stand.)

    Bring a copy of the lyrics for your songs, preferably handwritten, along with 2 copies of the sheet music. The pianist will thank you for having the songs in a 3-ring binder or pages taped in series. A notebook for your own use may prove invaluable as a place to remember and reflect on the process.

    Selecting the songs:

  • Songs for our class can be of any genre (opera, folk, art song, rock, jazz, musical theatre, rap).
  • The songs can be well-known; but it’s always the mark of creativity to exploit a relatively unknown song or to make a well-known song distinctly our own.
  • The songs can be humorful (not every story is dead serious).
  • The songs can be in any language as long as the student is able to give a literal translation of it.

    Other participants:
    Students may be accompanied by other students (piano, guitar, accordion, etc.). In fact, we encourage it. The accompanists will be fair game as well. They can learn a lot about how to hold their end of the story and how to breathe and enunciate with the singer.

    The auditors play an important role as well. Every performer needs an audience. An audience of one’s peers can be the toughest crowd to win over. The audience should come with as open a mind as possible: embrace the effort, applaud the new discoveries, be on the lookout for the process and not just the product. Auditors who are also singers will get a lot out of the exercise if they, too, bring along a song…not to sing in class but to look over as they listen to the comments made about other songs. Finally, auditors are often used as “foils” and asked to be on stage to serve as the object of affection or derision, the sympathetic ear, the person to whom the singer is talking.

    All in the timing:
    For the high school master class, please allot 15 minutes for each singer (90 minutes would allow us a maximum of six performers).

    For the university setting and our sessions at DePaul, we can have extended periods -- going three hours with a break in the middle. If we allot 15-30 minutes per student, we may work with six to ten singers.

    Songshop sessions (usually running 4 weeks at a time) offer us the opportunity to fine-tune, explore deeper, address many more aspects to the performance process. We create an environment of respect for ourselves and each other, a place to nurture confidence and risk-taking. Some songshops have concluded with group performances at Davenport's and the Chicago Cultural Center. The proof of progress is in the sustained ovations!

    Maison Clobert | P. O. Box 259327 | Chicago, IL 60625 | (773) 509-9360 | (888) 590-9360
    info@cabaret-paree.com