VOCAL IMPROVISATION
INTERMEDIATE/EXPERIENCED

A DEEPER DIVE IN THE WORLD OF COLLABORATIVE VOCAL IMPROVISATION
2-day workshop with Alessio Castellacci
12-13 May, 2025 | Berlin

This is an advanced workshop for participants who are already familiar with singing and improvising, for voicers who feel confident working with pitch and rhythm, and for any musician who wishes to explore the deeper aspects of voice improvisation and vocal instant composition.
Over two days, we will explore Collaborative Vocal Improvisation in a small group of 8-10 people, balancing technique work with free explorations and ensemble journeys of spontaneous vocal pieces. Each participant will have the opportunity to receive individual coaching, and to experiment new approaches to find their unique signature of vocal improv.

Collaborative Vocal Improvisation (CVI), is an art form - inspired by the work of Bobby McFerrin and Rhiannon a.o. - in which the music is co-created by the participants in real time through organised melodic/rhythmic patterns, starting from a common sonic vocabulary, a shared set of intentions, a guiding image or an agreed upon score. For me CVI is - at its core - the art of making choices by responding in a creative, connected, authentic way to the ever changing flow of the present moment. It is a contemplative and playful practice of resilience, of surrender to the impulses of imagination, of trust in the connection with the others, of allowing a more kaleidoscopic sense of identity.

Some of the practices / singing games we’ll explore during the 2-day:
- different ensemble formats (solo, duet, trios, quintets)
- techniques to generate different types of vocal patterns - the basic components of CVI (melodies, rhythms, intuitive harmonizations)
- moving in between structured forms and more open, fluid forms
- improvising from language (invented language, somatic language)
- sound storytelling as a lens to develop a collective mind for musical cohesiveness
- image/theme based improvisation
- channeling songs of the moment
- enhancing emerging songs through body engagement

Overall, the exercises will be a space for each participant to tune in with their music sensitivity, to refine their singing vocabulary and strengthen the trust in their musicianship. We will practice how to be at service of the music of the moment, and to be in a gentle dialogue with the judgments or limiting believes that impedes our experience of musical flow. My approach to CVI is inspired by the work of teachings of Rhiannon, Guillermo Rozenthuler, Roger Treece and to the seminal work of Bobby McFerrin.

DATES : 12-13 May, 2025
SCHEDULE : Mon, Tue (10:00 - 15:00)
LIMITED NUMBER OF 10 PARTICIPANTS
(ONLY 5 PLACES LEFT)

FEE: 150€

WHERE: Heilkunst Initiative
Kunstquartier Bethanien | Mariannenpl. 2a (Kreuzberg)

TO APPLY PLEASE WRITE ALESSIO AT: info@the-world-is-sound.com

Alessio Castellacci

>> Alessio Castellacci is a teacher of voice embodiment based in Berlin. He studied Developmental Psychology (La Sapienza University - Italy) and Choreography (Artez Institute – the Netherlands). He has worked since 2007 as a contemporary dancer and a sound composer for various choreographers in Europe, a.o. Maria F. Scaroni, Peter Pleyer, Dani Brown & Marta Navaridas, Morgan Nardi/Ludica, Piccoli Production, Eszter Gal, Jeremy Wade, Sasha Waltz Kinder Tanz Company/Gabriel Galindez Cruz, Tino Sehgal, Kareth Schaffer, Zwoisy Mears Clarke, Ru Chen/Cloud Gate Company (Taiwan), Hyoung Min Kim (Berlin/Seoul). 
Since 2008 he has been dedicated to exploring the expressive possibilities of the human voice, and has since developed a pedagogical approach for voice & movement improvisation. Seminal experiences in his understanding of the voice-movement-mind integration have been his studies with the extended vocal techniques pioneer Meredith Monk; with Vocal Dance originator Patricia Bardi; with ethnomusicologist Mark Van Tongeren; with sound healer Amit Carmeli (The Music School Of Life) whose work has a profound impact on his relationship to voice, breath, and consciousness.
For the last 17 years Alessio has been teaching regularly workshops in different venues in Europe (he has taught a.o. at Tanzhaus Zurich, Improspeckje Festival Zagreb, Altart Praha, Wasp Bucharest, Ials Rome, Kontakt Festival Budapest, Tanzfabrik Berlin, SMASH Berlin, NOW! Festival Berlin, ROAR Berlin, Dans Centrum Syd Malmö, Proda Oslo, Skolen for Samtidsdans Oslo, Dance Atelier Reykjavik, K3 Hamburg, Hzt Berlin, Choreography BA Rejkyavik, Dance BA Copenhagen, BARD College Berlin, University of Osnabrück and many others.
From 2012 to 2021 he has curated the educational program SMASH - now continued as ROAR Berlin - a yearly program for movement art. In 2017 he initiated with choreographer Jule Flierl the performance series From Breath to Matter, in which different artists are invited to share work around the topic of vocal dance and its political implications. Since 2017 Alessio runs with voice artist and teacher Irena Z. Tomazin The World is Sound (TWIS), a platform for sound and voice practices based in Berlin. Alessio is a certified Estill Figure Proficiency (EFP) practitioner of the Estill Voice Technique, and a certified IFS (Internal Family System) Level 1 Practitioner.

(photos ⓒ Florence Freitag)