Let's sing more in the New Year!
New Year's Pass: 7 vocal playshops Jan - May 2020 for the price of 6: $90 >>
Single tix: $20 at the door | $15 in advance via PayPal >>
Please select "for friends and family" to avoid fees, and note which dates you'd like to reserve. Email Merlyn with any questions.
Introducing
Global Rhythms & Voice
Mondays, Feb 10, March 9 , April 6... | 6-8 pm
with Kristina Sophia
Limit of 20 each evening.
Boulder Circus Center, 4747 26th St., Boulder
​
Find a new part of your soul expression. Explore and expand into the endless possibilities of rhythms from around the world and through time.
Co-founder of Musical Ambassadors of Peace, Kristina Sophia, will guide us into new ways of experiencing rhythms from around the world, particularly the Middle East. We will learn how to sing in ways that many people in the western world never get to experience.
We will move, sing, and clap to these rhythms and open up new neural pathways in our brain that will allow us to express ourselves vocally in new and exciting ways.
Come play, improvise, and explore new ways of singing. No experience is necessary; all are welcome.
About Kristina Sophia
Kristina Sophia has sung in the Cairo Stadium to an audience of 60,000 Egyptians, and also performed in Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Venezuela, Mexico, Panama, on the streets of Baghdad and in over half of the states in the U.S.
She has led workshops in voice and drumming for over 20 years. She is a graduate of Naropa University and is co-founder of Musical Ambassadors of Peace, a non-profit dedicated to helping create world peace through music.
Her passion is to help bring healing, peace and awakening to humanity through the power of music.
Circle Singing
​
Third Mondays, 3rd Mondays, Jan 20, Feb 17, Mar 16, April 20, May 18... | 6-8 pm
Circle Singing — Spontaneous A’cappella
with Roy Willey
Limit of 20 each evening
​
Circle Singing is an improvisational singing and sounding practice, spontaneous and evolving — like a drum circle for voices. Simultaneously an act of community, collaboration and creation, we circle together to make unique, original music, never sung before, never to be sung again.
Every game we’ll play is a’cappella, spontaneous and improvisational. Based on practices developed by Bobby McFerrin, Rhiannon, and their collaborators, this workshop focuses on the forms and techniques to create completely improvised compositions. Rather than “scat” or “freestyle” singing, we’ll learn to improvise entire songs together with musical patterns, textures, harmonies, invented language and other vocal elements.
This practice builds skills in listening, collaboration, creativity, generosity, flexibility, trust, and forgiveness — useful in both music and in life. It’s a very safe, simple, playful, community experience that will free your improvisational voice, sharpen your creative brain, and make you feel great all over!
All voices are welcome. No experience necessary
About Roy Willey
I've been singing my entire life — in my shower, my car and the privacy of my own living room, afraid to let anyone else hear my voice. It wasn’t until about 10 years ago that I “came out of the shower” and began singing in public. I discovered Circle Singing shortly thereafter, and I soon developed a passion for creating spontaneous music and harmony together with other people. Since then I’ve studied extensively with some of the masters of vocal improvisation, such as Rhiannon and Bobby McFerrin. I’ve been leading Circle Singing groups, small group improvisation, and improvisational singing workshops in the Denver area since 2014.
Mmmwhah's Winter 2019
Vocal Playshop Series
​
Songbird Special! Bring a friend for free (2-for-1) for...
Body Song with Marta Aarli and Merlyn Holmes
Monday, March 18, 6-8 pm
$25
Email Merlyn to reserve a space (or spaces), and let her know if you'll pay by PayPal, check, or cash.
​
Sign up for the newsletter to stay in the loop and receive direct invites and updates. Spring sessions TBA soon!
Join us for this delightful series with some of Boulder-Denver's best vocal facilitators. Impossible to find such a series anywhere else.
Come discover your voice over and over again in myriad ways of expression. And sing to your heart's delight.
All voices welcome. For the shy and the bold. No experience necessary. Tons of experience welcome. For all who feel that tickle in the throat, the voice that wants to come out more... And have fun while we're doing it.
Register soon, as these will likely fill quickly.
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Mon, Jan 14, Moving from Fear to Flow with Aileen Hayden*
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Mon, Jan 21, Singing Circle with Roy Willey
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Mon, Jan 28, Vocal Play Group
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Mon, Feb 4, The Contemplative Voice with Amy Biondo
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Mon, Feb 18, Heaven, Earth, and Authentic Voice with Mike Cohen
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Mon, Feb 25, Vocal Play Group
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Mon. Mar 4, EnChantMent with Tina Fields
-
Mon, Mar 18, Body Song with Marta Aarli & Merlyn Holmes
Location & Time: All playshops will be 6-8 pm and play groups 6-7:30 pm at the Boulder Circus Center, 4747 26th St.
​
*Note, our first playshop "Moving from Fear to Flow" is one of the first offerings of our 2020 Vision project, where we aim to nourish and inspire people and help the evolution from Di-vision to Vision. Using a “Mindfulness through the Arts” approach, we plan to activate and empower audiences and participants by providing inspiration, key tools, practices, and alternatives to opposition and habitual thinking. We help attendees gain access to “new eyes” and clarity of their own greater Vision, which can propel them to stay engaged through any difficult times. Tune in for more >>
Photo by Dan Liu
REGISTRATION:
-
Email Merlyn to let her know which events you'd like to attend.
- ​Reserve in advance:
-
Whole Series: $150 (save $25!)
-
Single Playshops: $25 (2 hrs, 6-8 pm)
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Single Play Groups: $15 (1.5 hrs, 6-7:30 pm)
Cash, Checks, or PayPal accepted.
-
Send checks payable to Mmmwhah! to 4691 16th St, Boulder, CO 80304.
-
Or PayPal.me/MerlynHolmes as friend or family. (Credit cards incur small surcharge.)
Limited to 20 participants. Preference given to full-series registrants before single session attendees.
Sign up for the newsletter to stay in the loop and receive direct invites and updates.
​
Monday, January 14, 6-8 pm
"Moving from Fear to Flow"
with Aileen Hayden
"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone,” as Neale Donald Walsch, author of Conversations with God, so aptly said. That’s also a great home base for creativity, and many Mmmwhah! events and workshops invite you to join us at that edge. We often find an un-invited dancing partner awaiting us there as well, though: She takes on the many guises of Fear. So let’s dance with her!
Moving from Fear to Flow
In this playshop, we invite you to learn to recognize some subtle ways your body expresses fear or unwanted inhibition during self-expression -- and some fun and accessible ways to melt that fear and move back into creative flow.
Fear blocks creative flow and fun. And it shows up more often than most of us realize --disguised as other emotions or as physical sensations, thoughts or habits.
Join us in a playful exploration of fear and how it shows up physically. You can’t talk yourself out of inhibition – but you can melt your way through, with body-based physiological invitations.
We’ll move, sound, sing and talk physiology. And we'll explore some simple tools that let you:
-
melt your fear away
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notice and shift self-limiting stories
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free up aliveness to express
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fully enjoy creating together with others in Mmmwhah!
No experience required, and all experience welcomed. Come play!
Based on the work of Gay and Katie Hendricks, authors of Conscious Loving and directors of The Foundation for Conscious Living.
Aileen Hayden: My Story
Have you ever felt frozen when it’s your turn to sing? Turned into a deer in the headlights, or had the urge to fade into the background? Welcome to my world! I love sounding and singing when I’m alone, and in public I have sometimes turned into jelly and wished I had a different voice.
I was inspired to put together this workshop as I've worked through that with Mmmwhah! I want to share how I've been learning to access what I love about singing and sounding when I’m alone, even when I've felt that clinch in the throat in public.
About Aileen Hayden
Aileen Hayden is the creator of The Big Fat Ass Dance Class®: Improvisational Dance for Ordinary Women and has been teaching improvisational dance for 25 years. She is a drama teacher, yoga teacher and spontaneous goofball -- and she loves to move. Sounding is her long-time friend, and singing is her new frontier.
​
She is our first member of Mmmwhah's Vocal Play Group to lead a Playshop!
​
Monday, Jan 21, 6-8 pm
Circle Singing — Spontaneous A’cappella
with Roy Willey
​
Circle Singing is an improvisational singing and sounding practice, spontaneous and evolving — like a drum circle for voices. Simultaneously an act of community, collaboration and creation, we circle together to make unique, original music, never sung before, never to be sung again.
Every game we’ll play is a’cappella, spontaneous and improvisational. Based on practices developed by Bobby McFerrin, Rhiannon, and their collaborators, this workshop focuses on the forms and techniques to create completely improvised compositions. Rather than “scat” or “freestyle” singing, we’ll learn to improvise entire songs together with musical patterns, textures, harmonies, invented language and other vocal elements.
This practice builds skills in listening, collaboration, creativity, generosity, flexibility, trust, and forgiveness — useful in both music and in life. It’s a very safe, simple, playful, community experience that will free your improvisational voice, sharpen your creative brain, and make you feel great all over!
All voices are welcome. No experience necessary.
About Roy Willey
I've been singing my entire life — in my shower, my car and the privacy of my own living room, afraid to let anyone else hear my voice. It wasn’t until about 10 years ago that I “came out of the shower” and began singing in public. I discovered Circle Singing shortly thereafter, and I soon developed a passion for creating spontaneous music and harmony together with other people. Since then I’ve studied extensively with some of the masters of vocal improvisation, such as Rhiannon and Bobby McFerrin. I’ve been leading Circle Singing groups, small group improvisation, and improvisational singing workshops in the Denver area since 2014.
​
Mondays Jan 28 and Feb 25, 6-7:30 pm
Vocal Play Groups
​
In between playshops and workshops led by some of our wonderful facilitators, we will come together in these "Vocal Play Groups" to practice and hone our skills, and have fun singing and sounding.
All voices are welcome. No experience necessary.
​
Note: These will also be facilitator-training grounds for those participants who may be interested in eventually leading full playshops.
If interested, please email Merlyn with one or more exercises you would like to lead. It's fine to propose exercises we have experienced before or to pull ones from existing sources such as Rhiannon, Yoga of the Voice, books, websites, etc. I'll put together a "playlist" of sorts for each evening to give us a framework to play with, and we'll improvise!
Testimonial:
​
Aileen Hayden | From Newbie to Teacher
​
"I came to Mmmwhah's first summer vocal playshop as a tentative beginner and scared myself good the first time the teacher invited us to sing individually and make up a melody. Eek! And I found my way through and felt Big Joy as I heard my own voice in the room. Wow.
So, then I got curious about how I got from here to there – and realized I have a packet of tools from my years teaching improvisational dance.
At the next Vocal Play Group, Mer invited contributions, and I followed impulse to lead one group experience. Easy acceptance there -- and the group collaborative atmosphere set up by Mer -- had me thirsting for more. So I have now offered to teach a playshop next year.
I’m loving showing up as beginner and leader, all in one. I’m stretching my growing edge as a singer and learning from leaders there -- at the same time that I’m sharing my own love of movement and play.
Mmmwhah! and Mer are showing up as invitations into collaborative play in a unique and easy way - a rare doorway in!
​
Please come to Aileen's vocal playshop "Moving From Fear to Flow" on January 14!
​
Monday, February 4, 6-8 pm
"The Contemplative Voice"
with Amy Biondo
​
Developed specifically and continuing to be refined for our Vocal Playshop series by Mmmwhah! Ensemble member Amy Biondo, "The Contemplative Voice" explores the intersection of mindfulness practices with vocal expression. Through guided meditations and playful exercises, we'll learn to center in the body, listen deeply, explore personal impulse, find sources of inspiration in the environment, explore relationship with others, and connect with open space. We will gain understanding of our own creative process and the unique and authentic contribution that we have to make in the world.
Connecting with deep play, we'll learn what happens when we allow kinesthetic and sonic delight to lead the choices we make. Practices draw from the Dharma Art Tradition of Chogyam Trungpa, the Contemplative Dance tradition of Barbara Dilley, and others. All voices welcome, no prior experience necessary.
​
About Amy Biondo
Amy Biondo is a vocalist, composer, dancer, meditation instructor, and music educator based in Boulder. She has trained extensively in the contemplative arts with Mark Miller, Art Lande, and Barbara Dilley, and she also holds a Master of Arts degree from Naropa University in Contemplative Psychotherapy.
Amy is a vocalist and percussionist in the band Los Bohemios, playing Afro-Cuban and Mexican folkloric music. She is also a founding member of Vox Libera, a four-voice a cappella ensemble and a vocalist and dancer in the improvisatory Mmmwhah Ensemble. Additionally, Amy teaches contemplative arts and meditation through El Puente Dorado, an organization offering transformational healing retreats in beautiful and sacred places in Mexico, using the powers of meditation, nature, and compassionate support to bring lasting healing and empowerment.
For more info: amybiondo.com
​
Monday, February 18, 6-8 pm
"Heaven, Earth, and Authentic Voice with Mike Cohen
​
Come experience how connecting Heaven and Earth opens your authentic vocal expression in this fun and transformative playshop with Mmmwhah! Vocal expression is an "up and out" phenomenon through the body. Vocal repression is "down and in." Together we will explore how our vocal expression shifts when we first Center, then Connect with the Divine.
​
Along the way you will learn about 3 ways we use language : (i) representational (naming), (ii) generative (creating) and (iii) spiritual (invoking) AND learn how to build Somatic (Body-Centered) Awareness and Shakti (Subtle Energy) Awareness.
This playshop includes exercises utilizing breath, centering/embodiment, visualization, impulse, movement, listening, vocalization and relationship - all for the sake of authentic and empowered vocal expression. Join us for deep exploration, connection, and intimate expression in this fun playshop. All voices welcome; no prior experience necessary.
About Mike Cohen
Mike Cohen, MA is founder of Kirtan Leader Institute. Since 2010 he has trained and apprenticed hundreds of aspiring and emerging Kirtan Leaders across the globe from total beginners to several he has guided to create/release Kirtan albums, play at festivals and tour nationally.
A life-long musician, Mike has released three critically acclaimed albums. For over a decade, Mike has toured North America, offering accessible and potent Kirtan events. Mike now lives in Boulder, CO where he spends 100% of his time sharing Kirtan and training Kirtan Leaders.
For more info: www.MikeCohenKirtan.com
​
Monday, March 4, 6-8 pm
"EnChantMent" with Tina Fields
​
In the EnChantMent playshop, our new circle of community will collectively create a chorus of radiant voices. We will sing simple repetitive chants and harmonious rounds from various traditions across the world that uplift and celebrate the human spirit, along with a few fun and easy-to-sing chorus songs. Songs will be quickly learned via call-and-response. You are welcome even if you think you ‘can’t sing’ -- singing is part of everyone’s birthright, and don’t let those voices rob you of it. As Pete Seeger once said, “Make your own music… if you would save your soul.” Come and help co-create some EnChantMent together.
About Tina Fields
Tina Fields is Professor of Ecopsychology at Naropa University, where she also teaches a singing repertoire class. She has led EnChantMent! groups since 2005, when New College of CA students in her “Music for Social Change” class didn’t want to stop singing after the class was over. She has led singing workshops at numerous adult music & dance camps. Tina also frequently calls contra dances along the Front Range and serves as ceremonial facilitator in wilderness settings. She is a clear presenter with a kind demeanor and what has been called “an infectious sense of humor,” who delights in helping uplift the human spirit through nature connection and group song.
​
Monday, March 18, 6-8 pm
Body Song with Marta Aarli and Merlyn Holmes
Register now>>
$25
Songbird Special! Bring a friend for free (2-for-1)
Email Merlyn to reserve a space (or spaces), and let her know if you'll pay by PayPal, check, or cash.
​
The instrument of the voice lives deep within us. We play the body to set the voice free!
The voice is the only instrument that is hidden, inside our bodies. We play it through a series of invisible processes. The key to opening one’s singing
voice is to unlock the body and let it flow through.
Beginning with breath, embodiment practices, visualization, movement, vocal exercises, internal
and interactive play, we connect these energies within ourselves to allow their free expression. Join us for deep exploration, connection, and intimate expression in this vocal improv playshop.
All voices and all bodies are welcome. No experience necessary.
​
​
About Marta Aarli
Marta has been an improvisor for many years, in both movement and sound. She has been influenced by many teachers and styles in music and dance, as well as her contemplative studies and work as a psychotherapist. She finds the art form of Improvisation - practicing deep listening, following spontaneous impulses and being totally in the moment - to be a richly satisfying and spiritual expression. One of the things she loves to play with is the intimate connection between sound and movement, between voice and body. The flow between these elements takes on a life of its own, as we merge, letting sound lead movement, and movement inspire singing. Come explore this field with us...
​
About Merlyn Holmes
Merlyn is the founding Creative Spirit of Mmmwhah! and a longterm dancer, photographer, writer, and lover of embodied practices. She is one of many in our culture who had singing and sounding nearly squashed out of her as a young girl, but who has persisted as a closet singer through the years, and who discovered several years ago that she can best access her full voice when she is moving.
Both teach from a contemplative approach of being, moving, and sounding from the present moment of creative impulse and inspiration. They find joy in the deep connection to self and others that is inherent in this practice and are loving working together to continue to develop and refine this playshop as a series by itself.
Past playshops
Mmmwhah's Fall 2018
Vocal Playshop Series
​
Sign up for the newsletter to stay in the loop and receive direct invites and updates.
Join us for this delightful series with some of Boulder-Denver's best vocal facilitators and a wonderful guest artist from New York City. Impossible to find such a series anywhere else.
Come discover your voice over and over again in myriad ways of expression. And sing to your heart's delight.
All voices welcome. For the shy and the bold. No experience necessary. Tons of experience welcome. For all who feel that tickle in the throat, the voice that wants to come out more... And have fun while we're doing it.
Register soon, as these will likely fill quickly.
-
Mon, Oct 1, The Contemplative Voice with Amy Biondo
-
Mon, Oct 15, Finding the Ground. Learning to Fly with Tom Weiser
-
Mon, Oct 29, Body Song with Marta Aarli & Merlyn Holmes
-
Mon, Nov 5, Vocal Play Group
-
Mon. Nov 19, EnChantMent with Tina Fields
Location & Time: All playshops and play groups will be 6-8pm at the Boulder Circus Center, 4747 26th St. unless otherwise noted.
Voice Healing Workshop, with visiting vocal artist and healer Starsong Elizabeth Tomboulian Sunday, Nov 11, 3-6 pm,
NOTE: At new venue: Bodywork Bistro "Living Arts Center," 3825 Iris Ave, #300 Map>>
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Come find and refine your healing voice for healing others and yourself
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Learn to access, open and spin your own chakras using your own voice
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Develop techniques of overtone singing
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Develop a sacred practice with sound as a healing tool
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Receive a voice healing
See bio below, by Starsong's 2019 Vocal Playshop info>>.
Please register soon as this will likely fill >>
​
Monday, October 1, 6-8 pm
"The Contemplative Voice"
with Amy Biondo
Advance registration through links above.
​
Developed specifically for our Vocal Playshop series by Mmmwhah! Ensemble member Amy Biondo, "The Contemplative Voice" explores the intersection of mindfulness/awareness practices with vocal expression. Through guided meditations and playful exercises, we'll learn to center in the body, listen deeply, explore personal impulse, find sources of inspiration in the environment, explore relationship with others, and connect with open space. We will gain understanding of our own creative process and the unique and authentic contribution that we have to make in the world.
Connecting with deep play, we'll learn what happens when we allow kinesthetic and sonic delight to lead the choices we make. Practices draw from the Dharma Art Tradition of Chogyam Trungpa, the Contemplative Dance tradition of Barbara Dilley, and others. All voices welcome, no prior experience necessary.
​
About Amy Biondo
Amy Biondo is a vocalist, composer, dancer, meditation instructor, and music educator based in Boulder. She has trained extensively in the contemplative arts with Mark Miller, Art Lande, and Barbara Dilley, and she also holds a Master of Arts degree from Naropa University in Contemplative Psychotherapy.
Amy is a vocalist and percussionist in the band Los Bohemios, playing Afro-Cuban and Mexican folkloric music. She is also a founding member of Vox Libera, a four-voice a cappella ensemble and a vocalist and dancer in the improvisatory Mmmwhah Ensemble. Additionally, Amy teaches contemplative arts and meditation through El Puente Dorado, an organization offering transformational healing retreats in beautiful and sacred places in Mexico, using the powers of meditation, nature, and compassionate support to bring lasting healing and empowerment.
For more info: amybiondo.com
​
Monday, October 15, 6-8 pm
"Finding the Ground, Learning to Fly"
with Tom Weiser
​
There’s something delicious about forming a vocal community, learning how to lean on one another and find the support of the group. And there’s something exhilarating about witnessing someone launch themselves off that ground and soar into individual expression.
In this playshop, we’ll explore techniques that enable a group to create a ground of support for one another. We’ll also explore how individuals can use that ground to launch into flight and return to the ground.
About Tom Weiser
Tom Weiser has been practicing and leading vocal improv since 2000. Tom studied with Bobby McFerrin, Rhiannon, David Darling, Art Lande, and Mark Miller. He was trained as an improv facilitator in the Music For People program. Tom currently performs around Boulder with his own Jazz Quartet and as a member of Vox Libera, a vocal improv quartet.
For more info: tomweiser.com
Photo by Jack Sasson
​
Monday, October 29, 6-8 pm
Body Song with Marta Aarli and Merlyn Holmes
$25
​
The instrument of the voice lives deep within us. We play the body to set the voice free!
The voice is the only instrument that is hidden, inside our bodies. We play it through a series of invisible processes. The key to opening one’s singing
voice is to unlock the body and let it flow through.
Beginning with breath, embodiment practices, visualization, movement, vocal exercises, internal
and interactive play, we connect these energies within ourselves to allow their free expression. Join us for deep exploration, connection, and intimate expression in this vocal improv playshop.
All voices and all bodies are welcome. No experience necessary.
​
About Marta Aarli
Marta has been an improvisor for many years, in both movement and sound. She has been influenced by many teachers and styles in music and dance, as well as her contemplative studies and work as a psychotherapist. She finds the art form of Improvisation - practicing deep listening, following spontaneous impulses and being totally in the moment - to be a richly satisfying and spiritual expression. One of the things she loves to play with is the intimate connection between sound and movement, between voice and body. The flow between these elements takes on a life of its own, as we merge, letting sound lead movement, and movement inspire singing. Come explore this field with us...
​
About Merlyn Holmes
Merlyn is the founding Creative Spirit of Mmmwhah! and a longterm dancer, photographer, writer, and lover of embodied practices. She is one of many in our culture who had singing and sounding nearly squashed out of her as a young girl, but who has persisted as a closet singer through the years, and who discovered several years ago that she can best access her full voice when she is moving.
Both teach from a contemplative approach of being, moving, and sounding from the present moment of creative impulse and inspiration. They find joy in the deep connection to self and others that is inherent in this practice.
​
Monday, Nov 5, 6-8 pm
Vocal Play Group
​
In between playshops and workshops led by some of our wonderful facilitators, we will come together in these "Vocal Play Groups" to practice and hone our skills, and have fun singing and sounding.
All voices are welcome. No experience necessary.
​
Note: These will also be facilitator-training grounds for those participants who may be interested in eventually leading full playshops.
​
If interested, please email Merlyn with one or more exercises you would like to lead. It's fine to propose exercises we have experienced before or to pull ones from existing sources such as Rhiannon, Yoga of the Voice, books, websites, etc. I'll put together a "playlist" of sorts for each evening to give us a framework to play with, and we'll improvise!
Testimonial:
​
Aileen Hayden | From Newbie to Teacher
​
"I came to Mmmwhah's first summer vocal playshop as a tentative beginner and scared myself good the first time the teacher invited us to sing individually and make up a melody. Eek! And I found my way through and felt Big Joy as I heard my own voice in the room. Wow.
So, then I got curious about how I got from here to there – and realized I have a packet of tools from my years teaching improvisational dance.
At the next Vocal Play Group, Mer invited contributions, and I followed impulse to lead one group experience. Easy acceptance there -- and the group collaborative atmosphere set up by Mer -- had me thirsting for more. So I have now offered to teach a playshop next year.
I’m loving showing up as beginner and leader, all in one. I’m stretching my growing edge as a singer and learning from leaders there -- at the same time that I’m sharing my own love of movement and play.
Mmmwhah! and Mer are showing up as invitations into collaborative play in a unique and easy way - a rare doorway in!
​
Please come to Aileen's vocal playshop "Moving From Fear to Flow" on January 14!
​
Monday, November 19, 6-8 pm
"EnChantMent" with Tina Fields
​
In the EnChantMent playshop, our new circle of community will collectively create a chorus of radiant voices. We will sing simple repetitive chants and harmonious rounds from various traditions across the world that uplift and celebrate the human spirit, along with a few fun and easy-to-sing chorus songs. Songs will be quickly learned via call-and-response. You are welcome even if you think you ‘can’t sing’ -- singing is part of everyone’s birthright, and don’t let those voices rob you of it. As Pete Seeger once said, “Make your own music… if you would save your soul.” Come and help co-create some EnChantMent together.
About Tina Fields
Tina Fields is Professor of Ecopsychology at Naropa University, where she also teaches a singing repertoire class. She has led EnChantMent! groups since 2005, when New College of CA students in her “Music for Social Change” class didn’t want to stop singing after the class was over. She has led singing workshops at numerous adult music & dance camps. Tina also frequently calls contra dances along the Front Range and serves as ceremonial facilitator in wilderness settings. She is a clear presenter with a kind demeanor and what has been called “an infectious sense of humor,” who delights in helping uplift the human spirit through nature connection and group song.
​
Sneak Peek: Spring 2019
"Om<------>Ah: Opening the heart, mind and voice"
with Starsong Elizabeth Tomboulian
Date: TBD, Spring 2019
​
Reclaim your gifts as a Messenger of the Divine. Begin with opening and energetic clearing the Golden Bowl, the sinuses that encircle the pineal and pituitary glands. As each one is an expression of Source, and therefore sacred, we each have the capacity to connect directly to that energy—no intercessor needed. Activate your inner receiver/transmitter!
Find keys to placement and integrating perceptions of fragments — high voice (falsetto) and low voice — into one voice — your own unique voice with many colors, timbres, vibrancies, and straight tones. It’s easier than you might have been told. You were given one voice with many expressions.
Leave with tools to continue to develop and tune-up your voice like a fast car with an automatic transmission with many gears. Integrate your sounds into one voice that flows easily across the passagio (the “break”) from above or below with a nicely blended sound of your choosing.
This is a safe space for experimenting with your unique sound possibilities and claiming and expanding your vocal territory.
If you are a dancer, come and translate the teachings into movements, with opening, suspension, sustain, and flow. As music is sounds and silences, dance is movement and stillness.
About Starsong Elizabeth Tomboulian
Visiting Boulder from New York City with a voice that has been described as a "multi-octave set of singing bowls," Elizabeth Tomboulian has been an Energy Medicine practitioner since 2006 and a lifelong musician and composer whose specialties are jazz, improvisation, and South American music. She practices and teachers at Edgar Cayce NY Center, where she also served on the Board of Trustees. As a healer, she teaches Quantum Sound Healing workshops with techniques she learned from Jonathan Goldman, Rhiannon, and Judith Kehealani Lynne in Hawaii, plus elements she developed on her own in the last 13 years.
Starsong is her Elder Medicine Name, dreamed in Rights of Passage to Elderhood Ceremony.
​
Other Colorado Events:
Nov 10, 2018: Concert: Love Needs Love Concert @ Ceraso Gallery & Studio, Lafayette
​
Nov 11, 2018: Voice Healing Workshop with Mmmwhah!, Boulder (see above)
​
Private sessions:
Elizabeth Tomboulian has a few hours available for private sessions in the Boulder-Denver region while she is visiting.
Wandering Minstrel Special: 34% off=$99/hr. Reserve now:
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Quantum Sound Energy Healing
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Quantum Energetics Structured Therapy™
-
Akashic Records Readings
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Voice lessons
​
For more info: Quantumstarsong.com
Contact (201) 679-504
Mmmwhah's Second Vocal Playshop Series began July 30th, 2018!
Join us for this delightful series with some of Boulder-Denver's best vocal improvisers and facilitators, with completely different styles to share.
Impossible to find such a series anywhere else.
Come discover your voice over and over again in myriad ways of expression. And sing to your heart's delight.
All voices welcome. For the shy and the bold. No experience necessary. Tons of experience welcome. For all who feel that tickle in the throat, the voice that wants to come out more... And have fun while we're doing it.
Register soon, as these will likely fill quickly.
-
Mon, July 30 Singing Circle
-
Mon, Aug 13 Vocal Play Group
-
Mon, Aug 27 The Singing Body
-
Wed, Sept 5 Singing Yoga: Freeing the Voice
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Mon, Sept 17 Vocal Play Group​
All will be 6-8pm at the Boulder Circus Center, 4747 26th St. unless otherwise noted.
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Monday, July 30, 6-8 pm
Circle Singing — Spontaneous A’cappella
with Roy Willey
Drop-in $20. Advance registration through links above.
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Circle Singing is an improvisational singing and sounding practice, spontaneous and evolving — like a drum circle for voices. Simultaneously an act of community, collaboration and creation, we circle together to make unique, original music, never sung before, never to be sung again.
Every game we’ll play is a’cappella, spontaneous and improvisational. Based on practices developed by Bobby McFerrin, Rhiannon, and their collaborators, this workshop focuses on the forms and techniques to create completely improvised compositions. Rather than “scat” or “freestyle” singing, we’ll learn to improvise entire songs together with musical patterns, textures, harmonies, invented language and other vocal elements.
This practice builds skills in listening, collaboration, creativity, generosity, flexibility, trust, and forgiveness — useful in both music and in life. It’s a very safe, simple, playful, community experience that will free your improvisational voice, sharpen your creative brain, and make you feel great all over!
All voices are welcome. No experience necessary.
About Roy Willey
I've been singing my entire life — in my shower, my car and the privacy of my own living room, afraid to let anyone else hear my voice. It wasn’t until about 10 years ago that I “came out of the shower” and began singing in public. I discovered Circle Singing shortly thereafter, and I soon developed a passion for creating spontaneous music and harmony together with other people. Since then I’ve studied extensively with some of the masters of vocal improvisation, such as Rhiannon and Bobby McFerrin. I’ve been leading Circle Singing groups, small group improvisation, and improvisational singing workshops in the Denver area since 2014.
For more info: roywilley.net
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Monday, Aug 13, 6-8 pm
Vocal Play Group
Drop-in $15 / $10 for those who will be facilitating. Advance registration through links above.
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In between playshops and workshops led by some of our wonderful facilitators, we will come together in these "Vocal Play Groups" to practice and hone our skills, and have fun singing and sounding.
All voices are welcome. No experience necessary.
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Note: These will also be facilitator-training grounds for those participants who may be interested in eventually leading full playshops.
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$10 Drop-in for participants who will lead one or more selected exercises during this evening. If interested, please email Merlyn with one or more exercises you would like to lead. It's fine to propose exercises we have experienced before or to pull ones from existing sources such as Rhiannon, Yoga of the Voice, books, websites, etc. I'll put together a "playlist" of sorts for each evening to give us a framework to play with.
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Monday, August 27, 6-8 pm
The Singing Body with Marta Aarli and Merlyn Holmes
Drop-in $25. Advance registration through links above.
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A playshop combining vocal sound and movement - games and improvisation that develop our voices and bodies, to express ourselves and interact with each another.
All voices and all bodies are welcome. No experience necessary.
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About Marta Aarli
Marta has been a singer for decades, studying Classical, Jazz, and Middle Eastern. Her dance experience includes, Modern, African, and Middle Eastern. The art form of Improvisation stands out as her most free, genuine, and spiritual expression.
One of the things she has discovered is the intimate play between sound and movement, between voice and body. The flow between these elements takes on a life of its own, as we merge, letting sound lead movement, and movement inspire singing. Come explore this field with us...
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About Merlyn Holmes
Merlyn is the founding Creative Spirit of Mmmwhah! and a longterm dancer, photographer, writer, and lover of embodied practices. She is one of many in our culture who had singing and sounding nearly squashed out of her as a young girl, but who has persisted as a closet singer through the years, and who discovered several years ago that she can best access her full voice when she is moving.
Both teach from a contemplative approach of being, moving, and sounding from the present moment of creative impulse and inspiration. They find joy in the deep connection to self and others that is inherent in this practice.
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Wednesday, Sept 5, 6-8 pm
Singing Yoga: Freeing the Voice with Ashlynn Manning
Drop-in $25. Advance registration through links above.
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“The singing voice is a vehicle connecting us with the flow of life that gushes through our being at full force.” - Silvia Nakkach
Yoga (“to yoke together” mind, body, and spirit) — as a practice of the voice.
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Our voice is the gateway between the mind and the heart. When it is open and free, the heart and mind can work as one.
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In this playshop we will let our voices work on us from the inside out. We will let ourselves be sung, and let go of the singing. Through meditative sounding, harmonic toning, chanting, embodied movement and playful explorations of sound, we will allow the vital energy of our voices to melt away the ego and send us into flight.
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Through these practices, the voice becomes lubricated, warm, and more available. You will take away tools for home practice that can increase tone, clarity, and volume of the singing voice, and lead to more joyful and expressive singing.
All voices are welcome. No experience necessary.
About Ashlynn Manning
Ashlynn is the only child of professional singers and grew up with music. She studied voice at Walnut Hill School and Oberlin Conservatory, where she performed live vocal improvisations with jazz a cappella ensemble, the Offbeats. Living in Brooklyn for close to a decade, she composed, produced, and performed comedic electronic pop in a duo called Suspicious Package. In 2014, she attended a Yoga of the Voice intensive with master teacher Silvia Nakkach, whose book Free Your Voice has been a bible for her personal vocal practice.
Ashlynn is a mover and a kids yoga teacher, and believes fiercely that music and movement are our birthrights. She will be teaching voice this fall at The Lesson Studio in Boulder. Hear her around town with gypsy swing string band Chez Coucou!
For more info: chezcoucouswing.com
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Monday, Sept 17, 6-8 pm
Vocal Play Group
Drop-in $15 / $10 for those who will be facilitating. Advance registration through links above.
​
In between playshops and workshops led by some of our wonderful facilitators, we will come together in these "Vocal Play Groups" to practice and hone our skills, and have fun singing and sounding.
All voices are welcome. No experience necessary.
​
Note: These will also be facilitator-training grounds for those participants who may be interested in eventually leading full playshops.
​
$10 Drop-in for participants who will lead one or more selected exercises during this evening. If interested, please email Merlyn with one or more exercises you would like to lead. It's fine to propose exercises we have experienced before or to pull ones from existing sources such as Rhiannon, Yoga of the Voice, books, websites, etc. I'll put together a "playlist" of sorts for each evening to give us a framework to play with.
About Mmmwhah's First Vocal Improvisation Playshop Series
We launched this delightful series in Spring of 2018 with five of Boulder-Denver's best vocal improvisers and facilitators, with five completely different styles to share.
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Wednesday, May 2, 6-7:30 pm with Eve Pollak Maisonpierre: "Awaken Your Voice"
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Monday, May 14, 6-7:30 pm with Roy Willey:
"Circle Singing — Spontaneous A'cappella"
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Monday, May 21, 6-7:30 pm with Sarah Townes:
"Vocal Improvisation from the Heart"
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Wednesday, June 6, 6-7:30 pm with Tom Weiser:
"Finding the Ground, Learning to Fly"
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Tuesday, June 12, 6-9pm (3hrs) with Elena Camerin Young: "Fearless Singer"
REGISTRATION
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Full Series: 5 sessions (9 hours total): $100
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Punch cards. Create your mix from four 1-1/2 hour and one 3-hour workshops​
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7-1/2 hours: $90
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6 hours: $80
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4-1/2 hours: $70
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Single Sessions:
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$25 per 1-1/2 hour session
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$50 per 3-hour session
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RSVP to Merlyn listing which sessions you want to attend and how you will pay.
Cash, Checks, or PayPal accepted.
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Send checks to 4691 16th St, Boulder, CO 80304. Make checks payable to "Merlyn Holmes dba Mmmwhah!"
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Or PayPal.me/MerlynHolmes
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Wednesday, May 2, 6-7:30 pm
"Awaken Your Voice"
with Eve Pollak Maisonpierre
Boulder Circus Center "Workshop," 4747 26th St.
Advance registration through links above.
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Improvisation in sound and movement is a healing practice where you'll learn to go beyond thinking...to trust and follow your own creative impulses...to firmly tell your inner critic to step aside... and to celebrate moments of growth and delight!
Together, from a place of deep listening, we'll explore our non-verbal vocal expression. We will take time to share our joys and our edges.
Creative improvisation may be scary and uncomfortable at times. For most of us, it's much more comfortable to simply talk. Still, it's through daring to play and creatively express ourselves, that our aliveness and joy can emerge. And then, it can ripple out into our whole lives. If you’re longing to connect with your own inner wisdom and knowing, then come and play!
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About Eve Pollak Maisonpierre
Eve creates a safe, non-judgmental space where participants can explore and expand their Voice and sense of Self. Her passion is to help people embody and embrace their authentic voice. Eve’s credentials, which include an MA in Vocal Performance and Certification in Voice Movement Therapy and Hakomi Mindfulness Based Psychotherapy, as well as her own healing journey beyond trauma, bring depth, humor and compassion to her work.
For more info: movingvoice.com
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Monday, May 14, 6-7:30 pm
Circle Singing — Spontaneous A’cappella
with Roy Willey
Boulder Circus Center, "Workshop" Studio, 4747 26th St.
Advance registration through links above.
​
Circle Singing is an improvisational singing and sounding practice, spontaneous and evolving — like a drum circle for voices. Simultaneously an act of community, collaboration and creation, we circle together to make unique, original music, never sung before, never to be sung again.
Every game we’ll play is a’cappella, spontaneous and improvisational. Based on practices developed by Bobby McFerrin, Rhiannon, and their collaborators, this workshop focuses on the forms and techniques to create completely improvised compositions. Rather than “scat” or “freestyle” singing, we’ll learn to improvise entire songs together with musical patterns, textures, harmonies, invented language and other vocal elements.
This practice builds skills in listening, collaboration, creativity, generosity, flexibility, trust, and forgiveness — useful in both music and in life. It’s a very safe, simple, playful, community experience that will free your improvisational voice, sharpen your creative brain, and make you feel great all over!
All voices are welcome. No experience necessary.
About Roy Willey
I've been singing my entire life — in my shower, my car and the privacy of my own living room, afraid to let anyone else hear my voice. It wasn’t until about 10 years ago that I “came out of the shower” and began singing in public. I discovered Circle Singing shortly thereafter, and I soon developed a passion for creating spontaneous music and harmony together with other people. Since then I’ve studied extensively with some of the masters of vocal improvisation, such as Rhiannon and Bobby McFerrin. I’ve been leading Circle Singing groups, small group improvisation, and improvisational singing workshops in the Denver area since 2014.
For more info: roywilley.net
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Monday, May 21, 6-7:30 pm
"Vocal Improvisation from the Heart"
with Sarah Townes
Note: Changed to Boulder Circus Center, 4747 26th
Advance registration through links above.
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Improv is natural! Do we rehearse what we say? No, we speak from the heart to what is happening in and around us. Singing can be just the same with a little practice and some structure to guide the way. Come play some fun games, and sing some nice familiar songs, and learn to morph them into something fresh and new each time we sing.
All material is welcome, singers can also bring pieces of original music to play with as well.
Come have some fun and learn to sing in the most natural way which is by being YOU, fresh in the moment and ever-changing.
About Sarah Townes
Sarah Townes has been teaching singing... forever. Well at least since she opened her first Boulder Voiceworks studio on Pearl street in the year 2000. She trained with Divy Nelson and Casey Collins, enjoys performing and has a couple albums out the latest of which can be found on ITunes, and she absolutely. loves. singing. and teaching.
For more info: sarahtownes.com
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Wednesday, June 6, 6-7:30 pm
"Finding the Ground, Learning to Fly"
with Tom Weiser
Boulder Circus Center "Workshop," 4747 26th St.
Advance registration through links above.
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There’s something delicious about forming a vocal community, learning how to lean on one another and find the support of the group. And there’s something exhilarating about witnessing someone launch themselves off that ground and soar into individual expression.
In this playshop, we’ll explore techniques that enable a group to create a ground of support for one another. We’ll also explore how individuals can use that ground to launch into flight and return to the ground.
About Tom Weiser
Tom Weiser has been practicing and leading vocal improv since 2000. Tom studied with Bobby McFerrin, Rhiannon, David Darling, Art Lande, and Mark Miller. He was trained as an improv facilitator in the Music For People program. Tom currently performs around Boulder with his own Jazz Quartet and as a member of Vox Libera, a vocal improv quartet.
For more info: tomweiser.com
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Tuesday, June 12 , 6-9 pm
"Fearless Singer"
with Elena Camerin Young
Boulder Circus Center, "Workshop," 4747 26th St.
Advance registration through links above.
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In this finale for the series, we will spend three hours exploring the human voice. Human voice is the most adaptable, versatile, evocative and dynamic instrument. Through the knowledge of our instrument we can say much and achieve a deeper consciousness of our expressive capability, diving into the amazing width of our vocal range and finding inspiration from all the elements that compose our lives, in a kitchen as in a art space or looking at a tree.
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During our exploration we will uncover these elements:
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relaxation
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breathing practice
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warm up practice
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discovering our voice through songs, sounds, exercises
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exercises in duets
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group exercises
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questions and needs
About Elena Camerin Young
Born in Venice, Elena Camerin Young is very active as a singer and composer, working with several groups and with her own projects in clubs and theaters in Italy and US. In July 2004 she won the Best Student Award at the Michele Hendricks' Vocal Jazz Workshop in Spoleto, with the Spoleto Arts Symposia. She lived in New York City from 2008 to 2015 where she was part of the underground jazz scene.
Nowadays Elena lives in Boulder, where she sings regularly with her own projects and in other bands. She has been teaching voice, music ensemble and vocal ensemble since 1996 and has been very active in particular in teaching students with special needs.
For more info: elenacamerinyoung.com