This section explains the fundamentals of two different and complementary artforms:

Circlesinging and CVI (collaborative vocal improvisation)

Circlesinging

I understand circlesinging  as an artform where a group of people sing together music spontaneously created by a conductor. A circlesong is a choral piece composed and arranged ‘in the moment’,  layering melodies, harmonies and rhythms. Its complexity can be variable and tailor- made to the skills and needs of participants-and the inspiration of the conductor-composer. circlesongs can also be co-created by two or more leaders.

I believe that circlesinging, as a form of group singing, is connected with ancestral ways of music making, that’s why everyone is able to take part regardless of vocal or musical skills. In this community form: ‘circlesongs for everybody’, the parts are usually quite simple, but when woven together the songs can become complex and exciting. This can be a powerful experience for absolute beginners, and even for people who believe they cannot sing. 

Like every artform, circlesinging can be taken to high levels of vocal and musical complexity. One of the beauties of circlesongs is that they can evolve with a group organically and according to the groups’s needs and capacities.  

Since the dawn of humanity, and still now in many tribal communities, people have been singing together to bond, mark events, mourn, gather courage, endure hard work or simply to celebrate. In these singing gatherings everyone can take part, creating songs and musical ‘landscapes’ where the most daring or musically aware people could generate ideas and sing more complex melodies, while the less confident or unskilled could still contribute and play a significant part in the collective sound.

As far as I know, it was Bobby McFerrin who first used the term 'circlesongs’, and brought to the attention of the Western musical world this beautiful art form and community experience. I’d like to express my gratitude to him and to all the singers and teachers that he inspired, and for all the Circlesinging that has unfolded worldwide thanks to his inspiration.

CVI (collaborative vocal improvisation)

I understand CVI as all the ways in which a group of singers - at least two and ideally no more than twelve- come together and create music in-the-moment, each person generating their own sounds and patterns spontaneously and in response to others, sometimes starting from an agreed prompt or idea, sometimes unfolding from the shared silence or from one person breaking into impromptu song. In these forms of collective singing each person  is responsible for their part in the whole. A tapestry of sound or an improvised song are built by multiple voices. As well as creativity and the courage to sing; mutual listening, responsiveness, flexibility and a willingness and capacity to collaborate are a must.

All of these qualities can be cultivated and developed through games and exercises where singers practice developing their own imagination, musicianship, self-confidence and sound in parallel to learning to work as a team and to support each other and help each other develop musical ideas with a sense of architecture. 

In this way, collaborative vocal improvisation can become a form of instant collective composition. Some of the models for CVI can involve a conductor taking responsibility for the overview and shaping of the piece. Sometimes there’s a repertoire of agreed gestures that everybody can use and thus share the conductor’s role. And other times there’s no signals or conductor, everyone is free to follow their impulse and make all the choices in time, and everyone is equally responsible for the collective outcome.