A new workshop series offering from the Kitka Institute!

Spend 4 weeks exploring diaphonic songs – traditional folksongs for treble voices from across the region of Macedonia, lying in Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, and Pirin Bulgaria. This musical form features two parts, a melody and a fixed or semi-fixed drone. In each class, we will warm up, work on the technique needed to achieve what these songs require, the blending of two voices to sound like one, and then learn a song or two. Come ready to learn by ear, work on technique, sing in several languages, sing in small groups, create close dissonant harmony.

Pre-requisite/audition info: Participants must be comfortable with singing in harmony…. Previous experience with singing music from the Balkans is welcome, not required.

Michele Simon has been involved with Balkan folk music for most of her life, as a dancer, singer, drummer and teacher. She has performed with Kitka, Anoush, Brass Menažeri, Helladelics and Zabava!. Michele has studied with numerous singers, including Bulgarian master singer Tatiana Sarbinska, with whom she trained as a teacher. Over thirty years of teaching, her specialty has become integrating Balkan vocal styles with American voices, using innovative exercises and imagery to develop technique for safely creating the bright forward sound characteristic throughout the Balkans. Rooted in the fundamentals of anatomy, breath, individual vocal range, performance ease, and safe-singing practice, she works intensively on placement, close harmony, ornaments, pronunciation, non-western scales and odd-metered rhythms.

Full 4-workshop series: $100
Individual class Drop-in Rate: $30

Photo by April Renae