Doreen Rao

CME, London 2023 is a cornerstone of professional development in Living Song’s calendar. This year once again, the faculty took us on a journey of personal and professional development like no other. David Brunner our guest conductor and composer from the USA worked along side Mandy Miller to immerse us in best practice through a broad range of repertoire, score study, rehearsal preparation, voice and conducting practicums. We introduced new composers, including Brandon Williams and Lea Morris and immersed ourselves in some choral classics from the likes of Eric Whitacre J.S. Bach and of course, David Brunner himself! Our delegation was made up of highly experienced practitioners, …

Choral Teacher Education. On Wednesday 15th November we held the first of three training days for our London Based CME course. 20 delegates signed up, many of whom were returning to deepen practice, but we also had a good number of new attendees. Jane Wheeler and David Lawrence took delegates through the course outline, ‘Circle of Sound’ voice work, and introduced the repertoire and techniques for score study. The repertoire focus for this year included Laudamus Te by Antonio Vivaldi, arr. Doreen Rao; I Hate Music, A Cycle of Five Kids Songs by Leonard Bernstein, Arr. Robert Page; Odi Odi, a Tamil folk song, arr. Stephen Hatfield; Seoithin Seo, …

The CME East London 2015-16 choral teaching course has come to a close. 18 teachers achieved their level 1, 2 or 3 certification and 4 more are due to complete after one more day of participation. We also celebrated one certification at Artist Teacher level. Dr. Doreen Rao led the fourth and final day, with Simon Werner and Jane Wheeler, contextualising the course into the bigger picture. During much practical work, delegates were reminded of the importance of choosing really great music for young singers and choirs, preparing the music and rehearsals in depth and with care, developing experientially …