The Island Folk Choir
The Island Folk Choir are a community of singers who are drawn together by a love of folk songs and harmony singing. I am proud to have been running this choir, in its various permutations for nearly 20 years!
What I think is really special about this choir is the way that it has always felt like an incredbly safe space. Tears and laughter are equally welcome and it is a space to be where you are and how you are, I think it developed like this through my own need for safe spaces, where I could be myself, let my guard down a little and take the mask off. I try to maintain this sense of safety as much as I can, the world feels very different to how it did when the choir began!
We sing songs from the British Isles and beyond, with a focus on honouring the song and the storytelling that is important to the tradition. I choose arrangements that best help us to honour the song or I arrange them myself.
Space for improvisation and or sound bathing is embedded into sessions, an opportunity to connect deeply with your own voice and with the techniques I share with you as well as leaning in to the sound of the whole choir.
Here are a couple of videos.
The choir perform semi-regularly at local community events - wassails/harvest fairs/festivals...and sometimes with our in house ceilidh band All At Sea.
The choir is entirely open access and everything is taught by ear, we are cultivating a community in which we believe in singing as a birthright of all and try to create as many opportunities for singing with a wider community as possible.
Sessions are on a Tuesday evening in East Bristol.
"Sorrel is an imaginative and compassionate teacher! She is great at encouraging less confident singers and helps us to listen well as well, I particularly enjoy the effects of good listening on our overall sound, it's so great to be part of a wonderful resonant music."
What happens at an Island Folk session/rehearsal?
We will start with a warm up, this can involve some physical movement to warm up the body and help the nervous system move into the space. We will then include some breath work to switch on the breathing muscles and remember to use our whole bodies for breathing, bringing the breath down into the body, which is great for nervous system soothing and grounding.
We then engage in voice warm ups, bringing as much ease into the voice as possible and looking at techniques for opening and easing the voice as it reaches higher into the range. We work on developing resonance and voice awareness.
Often we will then do a short circle song, a little improvised moment lead by the leader to get into our voices and musical bodies. There are opportunities to extend your improvisation or to stay right in your comfort zone, choose your own improv. adventure!
After this roughly 20 minutes of warm up we will tackle one of the songs we are currently wortking on. This can be anything from a simple 2/3 part sea shanty to an epic four part song. We tend to work towards events, busking/performances etc. I like to have a focus!
We always have a half time break with biscuits and tea and sometimes home made goodies.
After the break there is time to work on a couple more songs and then have a good soundbath, another improvised moment, where you take your voice on its own little journey, alongside the other singers. I lead this gently and try to ensure that everyone can be in a comfort zone.