What is the Empowering Song Approach?

As opposed to a conventional, hierarchical approach to teaching, The Empowering Song Approach is an egalitarian two-way street that allows us to meet people where they are—literally and figuratively—to co-create multidisciplinary musical works that express their stories, with the goal of learning from our collaborators at least as much as they learn from us. Using the creative process and the medium of choral music as a conduit for empathy, questioning and story-telling.  Together, we share these works with engaged listeners in an immersive format that invites dialogue and interaction.
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VOICES 21C are the primary ambassadors of the Empowering Song Approach, developed in prisons and expanded upon in war zones and refugee camps. We use the approach at sites of violence and exclusion, where verbal discussion fails.
Click below to access the slide deck from our most recent presentation, "Dreaming a Just and Equitable Choral Future" at the American Choral Directors' Association National Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio (Feb 2023). 

5 Empowering Song Exercises to spark co-creation and improvisation in your ensemble
  1. Transforming Sculpture 
  2. Six Word Memoirs 
  3. Viewpoints List Mini Performance 
  4. Arrangement Challenge 
  5. John Cage Vocal Improvisation Prompts 
Scroll down for full exercise descriptions, suggestions, and variations.
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Following the exercises there are also tips for cultivating an environment of play and consensus based decision making that we hope will aide you in empower your community to exercise their creativity.  

1. Transforming Sculpture (10+ minutes) ​

This movement exercise is inspired by Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, a theatrical form built on the ideas of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Both of these artists and their work are core inspirations to VOICES 21C and the Empowering Song approach. 
Before beginning, make sure volunteers consent to physical touch and close proximity with other individuals
  1. A leader asks a group of volunteers (anywhere from 3-10) to create an abstract group image of a specific word/emotion/theme (ex. pain). Spectators close their eyes (optional). 
           -    Without talking, the performance group should take a few seconds to think, and then assume a stance related to the given word (ex. pain). They can do this independently, or in relation to each other, but they should try not to talk or plan and act spontaneously.
  2. Once the group has finished their image, spectators take it in and respond with what they are seeing/interpreting and/or what they are drawn to. If needed, the leader can navigate the conversation by identifying certain postures or physicalities that connect.
  3. Ask performers to remember the position they found. 
  4. Then, ask for volunteers from the spectators group to silently change the image to a new contrasting prompt by physically adjusting a member of the image into a new pose. You can include facial expressions by modeling and asking for the performer to copy your expression. 
         -    Example prompt: if the first image created was “pain” have the spectators change the image one by one into an image of “promise.” (Leader can help by asking, “does ‘person A’ really look like promise? What still needs to change in their gesture?”
  5. Once the adjustments are finished, spectators take in the second image and respond with what they are seeing/interpreting and/or what they are drawn to. 
  6. Finally, ask the performers to return to the original image and then move in slow motion from the first prompt to the second prompt. Encourage performers to think about the trajectory of emotions that occur from the first prompt to the second. 
  7. Ask for reactions from the spectators.  Consider takeaways and applications for how movement & facial expression can be applied in your performance. 
  8. Applaud all of the participants! 

Variations: 
  • You can keep the prompt words hidden from the spectators and see what interpretations arise from the group images 
  • Add additional prompts to string together 3 or more words 
  • Add a spoken word for participants to say out loud. 

2. Six Word Memoirs (5 min +)

This writing exercise is inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s famous 6 word memoir:
      -“For Sale: baby shoes, never worn."  - a challenge he received to tell a full story in only 6 words. 

We’ve found that this exercise is a great way to engage all members of your ensemble in creating interpretations of repertoire, generating text to introduce or integrate into a piece, and a way to reflect on a season or program theme. 

For this ACDA presentation, we gave V21C members the prompt to create six word memoirs during rehearsal on solutions and lessons like those proposed in “Ella’s Song” by Bernice Johnson Reagon. We then used those responses to create additional full verses through combining statements for our performance.

Some samples:
     -“Independence is a lie. Look around"
     -“Proximity allows relationships and mutual understanding.” 

We have used this practice a lot in creating virtual performances for The Choral Commons. From a concise 6 words, we then have easy textual material we can use as a foundation for melodic improvisations. 

In practice: Consider giving each member a sticky note and a place to have them displayed in your rehearsal space so that others can view. 
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You can find many examples of 6 word memoirs here.

3. Viewpoints List Mini Performance (20+ mins) ​

This exercise is inspired by Viewpoints, a theatre philosophy developed by Anne Bogart and Tina Landau translated into a technique for training performers, building ensemble, and creating movement for the stage. It can be helpful to familiarize your folks with Viewpoints language to help give them a palette of options to consider. This exercise is one that will take more time to develop a vocabulary with. 

In this exercise, small groups are given a challenge to create a mini performance (anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 mins) that incorporates all of the items on a list generated by a leader. This can be an abstract performance with no real message or you can challenge your groups to relate their performance to a specific word, theme, or story that you are exploring. 

Steps: 
  1. Generate a list of 4-6 “items” that will need to be incorporated into a mini performance.  Such as: 
    1. A unique percussion sound using a found object 
    2. Repeat a melody 4 times with variation (can be tempo, dynamic, articulation, notes, rhythms, etc.) 
    3. The color purple 
    4. Two contrasting I Am ____ statements. 
    5. The shape of a triangle 
    6. A moment when everyone freezes. 
    7. A sudden, loud noise
    8. A moment of humor

The prompts on your list should leave room for lots of interpretation. For example, the shape of a triangle could be realized in a huge number of ways. Participants could walk in a triangle shape, or make the symbol with their fingers, trace imaginary triangles in the air, sing a phrase in the shape of a triangle, etc. 
  1. Divide your ensemble into smaller groups of anywhere from 3-6 people per group and separate them into different corners of the room, or different spaces. (More than 6 people in a group can begin to find it difficult to incorporate everyone’s voices.)
  2. Give members a short period of time (5-10 minutes) to construct their performance encouraging members to get up and TRY ideas often and talk/plan as minimally as possible. 
  3. Once the time is up, bring everyone back together and have the groups present for one another. If members did not finish planning or trying out their performance, encourage them to improvise and share what they came up with anyway. There are no wrong answers here and the goal is to exercise your creativity, collaboration, and problem solving skills. 
  4. Applaud all groups and contributions rigorously! 
  5. Debrief what the process felt like and what they interpreted or enjoyed from others’ performances. These performances, especially when tied to a theme or concert text, can become foundations for stagings and other performative ideas. And they can open us up to new emotional experiences of the music when tied to our pieces. ​

4. Arrangement Challenge (20+ mins) ​

Empower your members to create their own arrangements for use in performance or not! We’ve used this approach to create arrangements of concert pieces and to make musical transitions that bridge two pieces in a program. 

Steps: 
  1. Take a melody from your repertoire, from the Justice Choir Songbook, the Poor People’s Campaign Movement Songbook, or another source and teach it to your full ensemble. 
  2. Divide your choir into 2 or more small groups. 
  3. Develop or share values for group collaboration such as those outlined below in the section titled, “Tips for establishing an environment of play.” 
  4. Send people into corners of the room, a hallway, or alternate spaces to work collaboratively for 10 or more minutes utilizing some of the suggestions outlined below to build their own arrangement of the given source. 
    1. Call and response 
    2. Looping/circle singing
    3. Aleatoric singing 
    4. Ostinato 
    5. Body percussion 
    6. Speaking or whispering text 
  5. Consider giving everyone the same section of the source or breaking up verses or sections to different groups, giving some groups similar prompts, etc. 
  6. Bring all groups back together and have them share their ideas to each other (consider audio or video recording this). 
  7. Reflect on the presentations and what you might want to keep, expand upon, edit, etc. 

If you’d like to spread this out over multiple interactions, have a group member record the ideas you try at the end of your group development time and revisit the recording(s) as a starting place for the next sessions.
examples from VOICES 21C: "O Ignis Spiritus" | Hildegard von Bingen

5. John Cage Vocal Improvisation Prompts

We’ve found these exercises help to release ourselves from our inner critic, foster spontaneity, expose our creativity, while also being silly and fun. Once you’ve played with these, you can easily solicit prompts from your members and create your own prompts related to a piece or theme you are working with. This exercise has helped us create variety in our vocal textures when we begin improvising. 

The below prompts are excerpted from, “Everything we do is music: cross curricular experiments in sound based on the music of John Cage” by Barry Russell. 

  • Sing spiky repeated notes on the same pitch using sounds like la, doo, dat, dit. Start slowly, get faster and slow down again. Pause and start on a different note.
  • Sing a long smooth note which gets louder followed by a sudden loud sound (punctuation). Leave a gap before your next note.
  • Sing single short sounds using suitable single syllables. Mix Loud and soft sounds. Leave long gaps between sounds.
  • Make a trill or a siren sound. On cue, all fall off to your lowest note finishing with a last gasp of breath.
  • Combine any of the previous prompts to create a complex texture 

Additionally, Gunnar Eriksson wrote two books of Kor. ad lib which are collections of choral improvisation techniques for choir utilizing folk melodies. These are great ways to experiment with shifting and developing tonal landscape. The green book is linked here, and there is a blue one. English translations are in the back. 

Tips for establishing an environment of play: 

  • Everyone has something valuable to share
    • Encourage your groups to actively make sure that everyone contributes something to the process. No voice should sit out of the work. 
  • The spirit of Yes, AND  
    • Build on each other's ideas instead of shutting them down. 
    • You may not use all of every person’s ideas, but you might utilize a certain movement or action. 
  • There are no wrong answers.
    • Literally. Even an answer that doesn’t seem like it fits, try it and see what happens. It may lead to another answer. 
  • Talk less, try more (sung to the tune of “talk less, smile more.”) 
    • The biggest hurdle is when a group spends 9 out of 10 minutes talking and then tries to put it together in 1 minute. When they get up and try it, they often find themselves making micro and macro adjustments that likely could have happened even without talking. ​

How do we make sure all voices are heard in decision making?

  • "I Am Complete" activity: 
    • This is a check-in exercise for your ensemble. At the end of a session, especially if it ended up being intense, this is a great way to check in socially and emotionally. 
    • You will go around the circle and each person can either “say, I am complete” or “I am not complete, and …” or “I am not complete, but I will be complete when I follow up with …”. 
      • Saying “I am complete” means that you can walk away from the session and you are not holding onto anything. You feel supported by everyone in the room and there are no outstanding questions for each other interpersonally. 
      • Saying “I am not complete” means that you need to settle something with everyone. This opens up space for a conversation in the whole ensemble. You should then work to support that person in getting to a place where they can feel complete or know how to follow up on it. 
      • Saying “I am not complete, but I will be complete when…” is a way for someone to say that they have a specific thing they need to accomplish, but they recognize that it might only be between two people, not something for the whole ensemble. 
    • This exercise can take TIME. If you do this, do not plan to rush it, otherwise it does not honor the intention of allowing each person to speak. 
      • We suggest using this practice regularly so that when a more difficult situation arises, the practice and language are already in place. ​

Books on Empowering Song

Empowering Song: Music Education from the Margins
de Quadros, A. & Amrein, E. (2022). Empowering Song: Music Education from the Margins. Routledge.

​https://www.routledge.com/Empowering-Song-Music-Education-from-the-Margins/Quadros-Amrein/p/book/9780367562496
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My Body Was Left On the Street - Music Education and Displacement
Vu, K. T., & de Quadros, A. (Eds.). (2020). My Body Was Left on The Street - Music Education and Displacement. Brill.

https://brill.com/view/title/56226?fbclid=IwAR2k4vc4KRaD5ur8EIYKO53I7pdswrmZBlpbo-T5uoF5K5vjtS_kf2sBaPM&result=1&rskey=XSqOg1

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Freedom Dreaming: The Arts for Hope and Activism with Dr. André de Quadros

Dr. André de Quadros, VOICES 21C artistic director, makes a case for dreaming big and connecting the arts in the struggle for a better world. 

The discussion will explore the theme of Civil Rights, Human Rights, and Social Responsibility. The goal is to inspire respectful exchange of ideas among the Montgomery College community and the larger Montgomery County community, advancing the kinds of meaningful conversations that are ever-more important.
​We are a 501c3 and contributions are tax deductible.
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