LA/AF was held on the campus of UCLA. My first time there. It is beautiful! My first class was with Julia Hoffman, the president of the Contemporary A Cappella Society (CASA). She is a licensed psychologist, so she taught the “Group Dynamics” class. Now most of the attendees and singing groups were from colleges, just like they were at SoJam, so it was nice to see that we had moved past a bunch of their group issues (i.e. inappropriate inter-group relationships, “I Want All the Solos,” being a distraction in rehearsal, etc., ad nauseum). My takeaways from the class had more to do with group motivation than conflict resolution.  John got some great tips from Amy Malkoff in her class on Electronic Press Kits.

Then we attended an improv class with Moira Smiley that was very “organic and evocative,” which, apparently is the highest compliment an a cappella singer can receive. She gave us some great exercises for groups to do in rehearsal that get us out of our comfort zones and develop all kinds of different sounds the voice can make. Really fun.

We networked a bunch at lunch. Said ‘Hi’ to all the aca-big dogs, and some of them had either heard of us from the Mouth Off Show or remembered us from SoJam. Very Cool! We also reconnected with some of our fellow Contemporary A Cappella League (CAL) people and groups. It’s nice to know that others are in the same boat as we!

Went to a class called, “Solo Like a Rock Star,” taught by George Hoffman, husband to Julia, and in the all-male aca-rock band, Hookslide, based in L.A.  John attended Sing to WIN!, a class on preparing for competitions, with Julia Hoffman, Amy Malkoff and Dave Brown, which was of particular interest to us now that we’ll be competing in just a little over a month.  Again, some great advice and reminders from both sessions.

Next was a class facilitated by Amy Engelhardt, of The Bobs. This was basically a master class for any group that wanted to sing. I REALLY wish all of CV could have been there for that! The groups got some good stage time and some practical advice as well as encouragement.

During the last session, John went to a workshop with Tony Huerta and Charlie Forkish on making the most of your sound equipment in a live concert setting. Tony is the international touring Production Manager for Take Six and live sound engineer for M-pact and Face. Yeah, he knew his stuff. John ate it up. I was clueless when he was describing it to me.  My last class was with Mister Tim, who excels in marketing for aca-groups, and performs in a few himself. So valuable in learning more about how to better market an aca-group, getting and keeping fans, posters, business cards, venues, equipment, etc. We WILL be putting these into practice. ASAP.

The concert that night featured a UCLA group, Bruin Harmony, that did very well.

THEN CAME SONOS.

SONOS is the new sound of a cappella. Go hear their stuff. It’s not all covers like most groups do. It’s not jazz. It’s not rock. It’s a sound unique to them, which is very cool. Now they do “cheat” by using pedals to put some really cool effects on their voices, but they use them well. Seeing them perform was my highlight of the weekend.

m-pact closed the concert, and they were great, too. The “Jingle Bells” that CV sings is their arrangement. But John and I had to leave before it was over to catch the midnight flight out of L.A. to arrive in Dallas by a little after 5:00 a.m. to drive to Tyler to get to Glenwood to change clothes, freshen up and be at praise team practice by 8:00 a.m. I am fully aware of the lack of sanity on our part. But it was SO worth it!

We missed the rest of CV terribly! The weekend was amazing, but it would have been 10x better had we all been there together! I really hope we can all go next year!

Dude. That just happened.

From the very beginning, Peder put us at ease. Not that we were nervous or anything—I mean, it’s not like he’s in the world’s best a cappella group … oh, wait. We got to work with PEDER KARLSSON! We’re talking celebrity status here. But like I said, he was so warm and friendly that we were able to connect immediately.

To begin, Peder asked us our goals for the group. This, I believe, gave him a better idea of where we are currently as a group and where we see ourselves in the future.

Building on that foundation he began addressing the 4-5 topics that we had chosen from the list of suggestions he had given us prior to the session. With a few simple exercises focusing on listening for tempo, dynamics and timbre, he helped us naturally and significantly improve our intonation and phrasing issues. We plan to use this very full “toolbox of resources” to improve our entire repertoire!

Another thing Peder encouraged each of us to do was to take turns leading. Whether it was counting off or changing the dynamics or whatever, we each took ownership for that part of the session. He mentioned that the members of TRG take turns directing their rehearsals. We plan on following their example as it demands that we share the rehearsal planning responsibility, and ensures that at least one out of five rehearsals will go perfectly.

We asked to sing one of our originals, and Peder graciously indulged us. Not only that, but he also gave his opinion and critique of the song.

Peder is an active listener and was able to pick up on things that we, because we were singing, were not able to hear. He gave us very practical criticism in an amazingly positive and encouraging way. What a gift! He was also very complimentary, but in an extremely true sense. Nothing felt fake or insincere, but always thoughtful and genuine.

Thanks so much to Peder for sharing his expertise and time. It was truly an honor!

_____________

Technical Setup:

* We met in a small room with a projector hanging from the ceiling and a screen on the wall.
* Computer: 15″ Macbook Pro (late 2008 model), Mac OS X 10.6.2 and Skype, plugged into the wired network, connected to the projector with a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adaptor and a VGA cable.
* Video: We set up the computer on a lectern at the bottom center of the projector screen and used the built-in iSight camera. We stood about eight feet away.
* Audio input: Five wireless Audio-Technica microphones into Yamaha MG166CX mixer, out Aux 2 into a Griffin iMic USB audio interface, then into the computer.
* Audio output (to hear Peder): Desktop speakers plugged into the computer. (We also used our Sennheiser in-ear monitors to hear ourselves.)

This setup worked great for us, but if we were to do it again, we might feed Peder’s voice into our in-ear monitors instead of using the desktop speakers, just to avoid any potential feedback issues.