Nicoline Snaas

All The Way In 2010-2011
RhiannonMusic is excited to announce the third year of Rhiannon’s mastery level program All the Way In. This third year will be held in Europe. The first two were in various locations of North America. Rhiannon feels it is time to bring this experience to the wonderful singers around Europe.
We invite you to join Rhiannon for All The Way In, a course taught as a series of three 7 day sessions between July 2010 and June 2011. Each session will be taught in a different location. We will take a deep dive into the treasure of vocal improvisation. Students must be committed to the whole series. Singers will be able to develop strong relationships with one another and with Rhiannon, as well as having the assurance that each session will reach further into the skills and spirit of improvisation. A very important goal of this course is develop alliances and projects that could continue after these sessions.
This course is for up to 16 advanced singers with a deep and daily commitment to their voices, musical lives and to building community with song. Admission is by permission from Rhiannon. In some cases a telephone audition may be requested of applicants.
All applicants are asked to provide the following:
1. Describe where and when you have worked with Rhiannon in the past, if you have.
2. If you have a website, please give us a link to it.
3. If you do not have a website, send a photo of yourself if you can.
4. A sample of your singing would be appreciated – either on your website or as an mp3 file.
5. Write a letter of request to enter the program detailing your particular interest in this work, your special skills, and noting how you plan to use this work in your own life.

Each of the three sessions is 7 days long. We will work for 5 to 6 hours each day. There will be guest teachers, collaborators and performances throughout the course.
Between sessions there will be assignments and periodic check-ins through conference calls and blogging/emails.
Rhiannon will have “co-pilots”, senior students of her work, who are also strong teachers in their own countries, to participate and collaborate with her and with you. They are available for private work and will be part of all the sessions.
They each bring special qualities that I imagine you will find very helpful and inspiring. They are:
Nicoline Snaas—Amsterdam, Holland www.nicolinesnaas.nl info@nicolinesnaas.nl
Johanna Seiler—Berlin, Germany www.johannaseiler.com to@johannaseiler.com

Tuition for the course is 2300 EU early enrollment/ 2800 EU after April 1, for the three sessions. Singers will be responsible for all living expenses (approximately 100 EU a day) and travel to each location. A 1000 EU deposit will be due upon acceptance, with the balance due December 1, 2010.
The Sessions:
Session I, July 4 to 10, 2010 (arrive July 3 and depart July 11)
Il Poderino, Tuscany, Italy
Vocal River Exercises--Skill and Spirit

Our focus will be exercises that have been developed by Rhiannon over the 35 years of her teaching. These include: Crossing the Circle, Three Face Front, Orchestra, Band, Shape Shifting, Jump Shift, Rain, Home, Circle Singing and Cards among others. Rhiannon will explain the process of each exercise, we will work with them in various configurations, receive and give feedback and examine the influence of these exercises on the rest of our singing lives including how each of us might teach or use them in our own circumstances. We will study song form, singing over changes and interpreting lyrics as we examine the connections of those forms to Vocal River Exercises. The intention is to develop musical skill and intuitive wisdom working hand in hand.

Session II, December 28, 2010 to January 3, 2011 (arrive Dec. 27 and depart January 4)
Mediterranean island (to be announced)
Song of Place--Giving Back to Community, to Nature and to the Circle
The focus will be on our connection to the power of sound. This has different meaning for each singer so we will begin by acknowledging those differences, working on our own healing, on one another and then if appropriate we will extend out to the community. We will continue using the Vocal River exercises to deepen our understanding of the value of this work in professional and personal contexts. We will also work in a form called Walking Song which involves being in nature and learning to sing the songs that we find there. We will have inspirational guests who have worked in this realm of the power of sound in their own lives.

Session III, June, 2011 (dates to be determined)
Rome, Italy or Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Collaboration and Performance--Sharing
We will give our focus to rehearsal and performance with one another and with local artists. Singers, instrumentalists, dancers, actors, art and photographs will all be possible collaborative partners as we study how to enter this realm of sharing creative space and realize the potential for staying in that authentic, ceremonial, poetic time while working in new situations with an audience and/or partners.

Feedback from All the Way In singers:
"ATWI really became a home for me. I have felt the love and support of Rhiannon and each person in the group since we began. To take such intimate musical risks while being held by this group has profoundly marked my life process. And it's all good."
Celeste Niehaus, Louisville CO
"All The Way In has been a major landmark in my learning about this craft called improvisational singing. The sharing of knowledge, tools and unique perspectives by the participants is a valuable adjunct to the course materials themselves. I have made lifelong friends with whom I am sure to collaborate, in the future. I highly recommend this course to anyone who is serious about vocal improvisation."
Emile Hassan Dyer, Los Angeles CA
"For me, All the Way In was a commitment I made to myself to dive fully into my own life. To take risk, to trust, to be challenged, to be supportive and be supported, to grow, to let go, to listen more deeply, to connect and above all to SING! Rhiannon, the co-pilots and the amazing group of singers I was blessed to be a part of were the cornerstone of this tremendously important year in my life. Because of my experience through All the Way In, I am more committed than ever to teaching vocal improvisation. Thank you Rhiannon!"
Rebekka Goldsmith, Seattle WA
"Rhiannon can so easily and lovingly bring me to my edges - that wonderful place that I sometimes dare not go - in music making and living. ATWI was a supportive, challenging, wonderful group experience where I felt myself grow stronger in myself, and felt my voice seek out and explore new territory too. At the end of these three weeks I have returned home to life and work as a music educator with a renewed commitment to music, deeper attention to my own process, the continuing support of my ATWI colleagues, and a feeling of "new beginnings". THANKS from me and all the people I live and work with!!! "
Becky Graber, Brattleboro VT elementary school and college music teacher, musical theatre director, and choral conductor
"So many times as a singer, as a seeker, I have felt alone. ALL THE WAY IN brought me into a circle of singers whose styles might vary from mine, but whose soul songs resonated and opened my heart and voice in ways I could not have imagined! Rhiannon's open and steady guidance allowed us all to venture into new territory and come back shining with new ideas and deeper groundings in fundamentals. The journey has just begun. I am so grateful to Rhiannon for creating and improvising and holding the sacred space that ATWI is..."
Patti Schaffner, Gary IN
"The effect of All the Way In for me has been profound. I clearly see how improvisation is slipping into every aspect of my life, from performance to teaching to my everyday moving about in the world. Working for a whole year with the same people gave me a sense of responsibility and inspiration to continue to develop all the elements we explore - melody, harmony, rhythm, counterpoint, language, and deep listening. Since we began, in addition to expanding my musical vocabulary, I have started an improv group, started a critical feedback writers group, and started weaving improvisation into my world of song. I am so thankful for this opportunity to really dive All the Way In, and know that it informs and will inform my life for all time."
Elise Witt, Pine Lake GA, Singer, Songwriter, Educator, Recording Artist, Community Activist
"This course has deeply changed my life and my music. I now celebrate Improvising everyday. It has made me live incredible adventures. As a singer and teacher, I grew stronger, more confident, blossoming in sound and movement in a sacred environment of loving energy, being surrounded by a group of amazing singers who became my family. Loving the feeling of jumping into the poetic universe of the unknown has now a sense of trust and gratitude. Rhiannon has given me the power of finding the essence of the music that exists in me."
Katia Leonardo, OPorto, Portugal
"My year in ATWI was transformative. Not only did I grow by miles in vocal ability, ATWI brought new energy, clarity and focus to my artistic process and identity. The breadth and depth of experience and skill among the singers in the program was a huge bonus on top of the generous and masterful teaching and guidance we received form Rhiannon and her assistants."
Germaine Ingram, Philadelphia PA
"Rhiannon's All the Way In is not for the faint of heart. Prepare yourself to dance with the darkness and let in the light. This transformative course invites your fullest commitment to explore new depths and new horizons of vocal expression. Your course mates will become friends for life."
Cherilynn Morrow, Atlanta GA