C3LA: The Los Angeles Choral Collective, is the third of its kind, and one of four choral collectives in the C4 Network.   When I first moved to New York in 2009, I found C4, the first choral collective, and knew that I had to be a part of it.  In a nutshell, these groups are a cluster of professional  musicians from different backgrounds (singers, composers, and conductors) who collectively run a choral ensemble proving that the "choir dictator" model is outdated at the least.  It's a fantastic and fun way to make music.  When I moved to Boston, I found some interested colleagues and began Triad: Boston's Choral Collective, which is still going strong.  Laurel and I were flirting with the idea of moving to Los Angeles when a friend from C4 who had recently moved to LA asked what I thought about starting another one, and that helped tip the scales on moving west. 

One of the things that sets C3LA apart from the others is their interest in voice science.  Not that the others weren't interested, but that one of the greatest challenges in a choral collective is determining what the sound of the group will be/can be.  In the other groups, we struggled to put language to it due mostly to everyone's disparate voice training backgrounds.  C3LA has enthusiastically opened themselves to the idea that voice science provides a means to create a common language around what the voice can do with new music.  Oh yeah, all of the choirs in the C4 Network only perform music written in the last 25 years.  The cool thing about new music is that composers have begun to understand that the voice can create so many wonderful sounds, and they are asking for those sounds to be performed.  With voice science in our corner, C3LA has been able to begin to open new doors into sound creation, and the sky is the limit! This week we begin preparations for our fourth concert that will close our first full season during which we've brought 10 new pieces to the stage for the first time, and sung 30 others for the second or third time. 

~David

David conducting C3LA on Nilo Alcala's
"Three Kalinga Chants" in a March, 2017 concert.

Fahad Siadat  conducting C3LA on David's
"Sense/Nonsense" in a March, 2017 concert.

As April winds its way toward May, just over a year after we began VoiceScienceWorks, our Facebook page reached 1000 likes, our newsletter is going strong at 700 recipients, and the website averages 5000 views a week with a high water mark of 10,000 recently.  A year ago we weren't sure who would care or what would become of our experiment, we just knew that we needed to share what we had started, and hope that it meant something to someone.  The people that we've met, the chances we've had to grow and share, and the community that we've been able to strengthen through our explanations, images, and promotion of other vocology activities has opened up our lives in beautiful ways, reminding us of Goethe's unending quote "What you can do, or dream you can, begin it:  Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

~David

In early  April we headed out to Racho Cucamonga to present for the choirs at Chaffey College, and their fantastic director, Dr. David Rentz.  Having worked so deeply with choirs, we always feel a special kind of homecoming when we get to bring voice science into the choral setting.  The Chaffey choirs were eager, attentive, and accomplished.  The information came at them quickly in our brief two-hour session, and they soaked it in.  Perhaps the most interesting part of choral presentations is getting to have them sing, and getting to see the changes that come to them as they begin to employ voice science.  The difference is immediate.  You can hear it in their voices, see it on their faces, and enjoy the confidence bounce that they feel from having new, clear language to apply to their voice practice.

David Rentz commented on the event saying that  "David and Laurel came to Chaffey College, a California Community College in Rancho Cucamonga, to work with my choirs. They were intense and rigorous, but also engaging and exceedingly good-humored. They took my students where they found them and helped them grow in their understanding of the physiology of the voice—with all that entails—and to curate and augment their personal singer toolboxes. My singers sing better and better as a result of their VoiceScience workshop—I can’t imagine an afternoon better spent."

~David

At the end of March we hopped in the car and made our way up to San Francisco for a weekend of workshops with Vocology in Practice  and to perform with our friend Michael Conley and his beautiful choir at Calvary Presbyterian Church.  It was a brilliant weekend. 

The Vocology in Practice crew are an affiliation of voice people from many disciplines striving to more fully understand and implement new research and practices into their own work.  In addition to hearing multiple presentations from people across the field including Ingo Titze and Karin Titze Cox, Michael Goodrich, Ana Flavia, and Alex Kariotis, we gave a presentation on ways to bring vocology into lessons in fun and inviting ways.  Everyone there had experience with acoustics and anatomy, so we were able to go a little more quickly than normal.  They seemed to love the way we explained harmonics and formants, and in particular, the visuals that we use.  They lit up, though, when we began to delve into technology, showed vocal acoustics in action, and brought out some of the Ian Howell-inspired psychoacoustic ideas.  We had a great time, and very much enjoyed getting to know that community of accomplished and creative musicians. 

On Sunday morning, we had the pleasure of singing with Michael Conley.  He asked Laurel to sing the 5th movement soprano solo from Brahm's iconic "German Requiem", and I got to conduct so that he could play part of the four-hand piano arrangement.  Laurel's voice soared, and brought people to tears through the deep passion of Brahms' music.  Conducting Calvary's responsive and emotionally connected choir in concert with Laurel and two fantastic keyboard players was a treat.  The weekend was a reminder of the beauty of music, connection, and the joy of opening our lives to the creative power of sharing.

~David

On the weekend of March 24th, I had the pleasure of attending a celebration for one of my DMA mentors, Dr. Joan Catoni-Conlon.  As a part of the weekend, I presented a lecture on vocal acoustics to faculty, graduate students, and community members.  The lecture was enthusiastically received, and a delight to have a chance to share what I've been learning with "my people" since having left CU over  a decade ago.  There are few pleasures in life like reuniting with people that you used to create and learn with.  Singing for Joan next to my Colorado colleagues reminded me of how important community is, and how fortunate I am to have found community with so many beautiful people. 

Among the comments about the acoustics presentation, Allison Zema, a graduate student at CU said "I enjoy that the website is such an amazing resource. It was informative and very much needed for any choral conductor and singer. Also, I am a changed woman after trying straw phonation!" Bill Rawsky, an long-time avocational singer said that he "found it helpful, clear and insightful even to me as an amateur non-academic singer."

~David