NEW HARMONY
VOCAL MUSIC EXPLORATION
NEW SOUNDS WITH CAT MAHATTA
Session Four
NEW HARMONY
A Creative Approach to Group Singing
¿Hybrid? — Tuesday, March 5
6:30-8:30pm
Limited to 20 participants each
120 minutes
In NEW HARMONY, participants will learn standard harmony, dissonance, and counterpoint as well as create their own polyphony. We will do experimental harmonic exercises and compose a group chant. Participants will be better able to hold the complexity of harmony while also holding their part with confidence.
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VOCAL MUSIC EXPLORATION is a month-long introduction to vocal music spread across four sessions. Exploring topics like vocal technique, performance, and group singing, the course is designed for artists and creatives seeking to ground their work in somatic experience — no previous experience is required and all levels will benefit and deepen their practice.
The series will begin with foundational breathwork, intonation, placement, and projection exercises and build up to playful improvisation, harmonization, and group composition activities. Though the sessions build off of each other, participants will easily be able to drop in and experience individual sessions.
Upon completing the sessions, participants will experience the physical and mental health benefits of a regular singing practice and feel confident expressing themselves honestly, creatively, and sustainably.
They will have the opportunity to expand their practice by learning to accompany themselves in the companion course COMPOSING FOR SYNTHESIZERS, or by attending subsequent courses including VOCAL MOVEMENT and INTRO TO PRODUCTION, where they can learn how to record and add instruments to their compositions.
Tickets start at $35 per session, financial aid is available.
This course is part of the NEW SOUNDS workshop series organized with support from WORKING GROUP Z.
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Session Three
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CAT MAHATTA is a queer non-binary Punjabi-Irish-American music magician, writer, filmmaker, educator, and dancer. They have dedicated their career to repurposing their rigorous formal music education in service of political and creative liberation. After years of playing various instruments in a wild variety of bands, Cat started an eponymous celestial solo synth pop performance art project. Their music has been featured in the series “Undocumented Tales,” Amplifier art campaign animations, Practical Records and shesaid.so compilations, and a number of independent films. Their own films have been shown at Failed Films Festival, Cinema Diverse Palm Springs LGBTQ+ Film Festival, My Smutty Valentine, and the East Village Queer Film Festival, where they won “Best Music Video.” They’ve created immersive art experiences for BAMPFA, Santa Cruz MAH, PAM, Portland MoMA, and numerous galleries across the country. Mahatta holds degrees in Spanish and Vocal Performance from Denison University and studied audio production, engineering, and mixing at Women’s Audio Mission in San Francisco.
NAVEL is a nonprofit arts and culture organization that provides infrastructure for projects and organizations which cultivate kinship economies. Centering the leadership of QT/BIPOC artists and cultural workers, we work together to build community wealth and cultivate more just and collaborative worlds. Operating from our shared home in Downtown Los Angeles, we leverage our resources to build capacity for and invest in cultural projects supporting economic liberation and self-determination.