Singing together celebrates our community connectedness. In this region hundreds of people regularly express themselves through singing and music. VOICE & CO. is a series of workshops that will bring together local and visiting singers and choir directors with our community in the spirit of song. The collective inspiration and works from the workshops will gain flight on the last day of the festival.

BANDMOUTH: A lip-to-lung global vocal adventure with Mal Webb
Around the world and into your gob, vocal explorer and songwriter Mal Webb takes you on a lip-to-lung journey through the physics, physiology and phrivolity of all the sounds a face can make. Sideways yodeling, beat box/mouth drums/vocal percussion, harmonics/throat singing, mic technique, uvular fluttering, advanced clapping, vocal distortion (without hurting) and Inuit panting (way beyond Rolf Harris) are all explored on the way to being a band with your voice and the lead singer too.
Saturday 16 March, 11am
Castlemaine Primary School

THE WRITE STUFF with Casey Bennetto
In this workshop, Casey Bennetto leads participants through the funhouse that is modern songwriting in action. Where do we begin? How do we proceed? What lies at the heart of every great song? The group will attempt to fashion a new song collaboratively during the session, disturbed at random (and hopefully brief) intervals by the host spouting off about technique and intent and the impossibility of collaboration in songwriting.
Saturday 16 March, 2pm
Castlemaine Primary School

ALL OF WHAT WE ARE with Penny Larkins and Carl Pannuzzo
Working with our voices with respect to the physical space in which we sing and how we are feeling in a particular moment, participants will create a ‘Song of Now’. Three different sonic spaces will be our inspiration and all the sounds we can make will be our palette. All experience levels are necessary so that we can showcase a vibrant tapestry of sound representative of a slice of festival going public.
Sunday 17 March, 11am
Phee Broadway Theatre Foyer

SONGS OF SUDAN with Ajak Kwai
Ajak Kwai is the rare voice of a Sudanese woman in Australia. She has a haunting melodic voice that is distinctly African and to listen to her is to experience the continent in all its colors, rhythms and mystery. In her workshop, Ajak will take participants on a journey of beautiful traditional Sudanese women’s songs that can be sung by everyone. She will also share some of her own songs that fuse her African roots with grassroots Australian music.
Sunday 17 March, 2pm
Castlemaine Market Building

STORY AND SONG with Anne Conway
Bendigo-based Indigenous vocalist and guitarist Anne Conway was inducted into the Tamworth Hall of Fame in 1997. Her music has a strong Aboriginal heritage component and encompasses many genres. She is particularly adept at storytelling through her music and she loves singing about Australia and its people. In this intimate workshop, Anne will share stories and songs including those from her work with Aboriginal elders.
Monday 18 March, 7pm
Castlemaine Primary School

FOUNDATIONS with Scott Sanders
Local musician, choir director and composer, Scott Sanders will lead participants through a workshop introducing, and developing vocal techniques, abilities and sounds that form the foundation of speech and singing. By focusing on the fundamental elements of phonetics and exploring specific regions of the voice system, new meaning and music is created by the group by identifying, isolating and redefining the basic palette of human vocal communication.
No music reading or previous vocal experience required.
Tuesday 19 March, 7pm
Castlemaine Primary School

ONE VOICE with Stephen Taberner
Melbourne-based choir-leading guru and spookmeister Stephen Taberner comes to Castlemaine for a one-off journey into the latest things that are turning him on… body and vocal percussion tidbits, secret ditties from the Spooky Men’s Chorale and infernally funky songs. Stephen has an absurdly eclectic musical pedigree, and promises to ransack every musical area to give you a zingling tingling feeling that will linger long after the workshop has finished.
Saturday 23 March, 10am
Castlemaine Market Building

TALKIN’ HIP HOP with Jesse Lavery and Wade Kongas
Hip-hop is a grassroots movement that originated in New York in 1973. Now, 40 years later, two central Victorian hip-hop practitioners are presenting a chance to learn how to write a hip-hop/rap song. Jesse Lavery and Wade Kongas will take you on an illuminating introduction covering techniques of storytelling and writing, including some of the history of rap and hip-hop. Come along and learn how to harness your individual self-expression through this vibrant, all-embracing and passionate musical art form. This workshop will take place as part of the Generating Y youth day.
Saturday 23 March, 11am
Ray Bradfield Room

FUNKY HARMONIES with Maggie & Elsie Rigby
A workshop of songs written by Maggie & Elsie Rigby designed to give participants a chance to sing their hearts out. Songs reflect Maggie and Elsie’s infectious love of harmonies, and are in four or five parts, full of energy and beautiful melody, a bit wacky, sometimes spine tingling, and lots of fun! This workshop will take place as part of the Generating Y youth day.
Saturday 23 March, 1pm
Castlemaine Market Building

Participants will be invited to perform with workshop groups and leaders at the Festival Finale on Sunday 23 March

All ages welcome, children must be accompanied by an adult.