Lilongwe choir in choral workshops

In effort to spread choral knowledge and uplifting musical experience, Lilongwe Community Choir will conduct workshops for enthusiasts.

The workshops are for individuals both with and without choral knowledge, according to the choir’s director Dan Kauma.

He said: “Our workshops offer keen choral singers the opportunity to delve deeper into some of the choral pilgrimage repertoire. The choral workshop to be held in September shall be open to anybody who has a dream of learning or advancing skill in music theory.

“The workshops will be limited to 50 singers/participants per class which shall be beginner, intermediate and advanced. This means we will have 150 participants in total. The workshops will be held for two days on September 24 and 25 at Madsoc Theatre in Lilongwe.”

Among others, the workshops will offer vocal coaching and breathing.

Kauma said the course will also include vocal warm-up exercises, sight reading in parts, diction, voice balancing and blending, working towards a performance—covering stage work, facial expressions during presentation, singer posture, interaction with the audience and stylistic advice.

Participants will work on two pieces by an international composer as well as any Malawian folk song.

“We want them to experience both sides of music as we aim at imparting singers, especially bands, choirs, soloists with sight reading skills which is a serious challenge among musicians in Malawi. We shall close with a choral presentation of the participants,” said Kauma.

Lilongwe Community Choir started in 2015 as group of people from diverse backgrounds and does both gospel songs and other educative ones for social change and development.