General Information

The seminar staff - Laurie Holloway and his trio, Steve Riddle and his trio will be on duty the whole week to work with singing students. Simon Colam spends the morning doing arrangements for students and in the afternoon takes over from Laurie. The singing teachers will be drawn from Anita Wardell, Sara Colman, Tina May, Rebecca Biggins and Jacqui Dankworth and depends on their professional commitments.

The instrumentalists will be looked after by the Jack Fisher trio and specialist instrumentalist tutor Peter Ripper - this is subject to receiving enough applications.

Gillian Dibden MBE will take students for one on one voice coaching, generally in the afternoon.

Aims of the course

To develop your voice or improve your instrumental skills, to develop your performance skills, to learn about using sound effectively and also improve your confidence both in performance and personally. 

Are you suitable?

This is one of the greatest concerns of potential students. Our seminar is at the top end of high ability and we require students to be of grade 7/8 standard and upwards. If you are thinking of coming for the first time we will need to hear a tape/cd/dvd along with your application. If for any reason this is not possible we would require a personal reference from a music teacher and we may call you in for an audition. Although our preferred age range is 16 - 30 we will consider slightly younger or older students depending on circumstance, ability and need.

Instrumentalists who will benefit most are piano, bass, guitar, drums brass and woodwind. 

This is not an exclusive jazz singer seminar. All types and styles of singer/instrumentalist are welcome. Many singers apply because they want to try other styles and formats.

Course Organisation

At our first gathering on the Monday morning our course director will take you through the timetable for the week ahead. Sessions are broken down into one and a half hours each. On monday however everyone gets together at 9.30 and everyone performs one number. This can take much of the day, certainly the whole morning and gives all our tutors a chance to assess the standard. The singers are broken down into two smaller groups for the rest of the week. Programming is kept flexible so we can cope with any necessary issues however arrival on time for the sessions each day is essential. During the week - usually Wednesday and Thursday - we add an evening session to the programme at which you are invited to perform in public with Laurie and his trio. A normal day is 9am - 5pm.

Breaks

Morning and afternoon breaks for coffee and tea are timetabled and hot and cold drinks are available throughout the day, along with biscuits. Lunch time is up to you. Maidenhead has lots of eating houses or you can stay in with a packed lunch.

Preparation for the Course

We like the singers to bring three contrasting songs for performance in the correct key with plenty of copies for the musicians (not always possible - we know). If you are successful we will send you a list of possible songs to help. A pencil, manuscript paper and a note book are also useful. Instrumentalists will also need to bring a piece or two they might like to develop during the week - but experience has shown that it is not until we get the instrumentalists together that we can work on pieces that will suit the whole "ensemble". If necessary Laurie Holloway will write a score.

Further General Information

It is important to remember that the course is Monday to Saturday. Saturday will be a very late finish. The course is non residential though if you live locally the Desborough School is very easy to get to being less than 800 yards from Maidenhead railway station. If you need accommodation we have built up a register of local B&B contacts, all of which are known to us and whose fees are reasonable. 

The course fee is £300. A deposit of £100 is required on acceptance with the balance to be paid by the first day. We understand that circumstances can change and therefore the deposit will be refunded if ill health or other unforeseen circumstances arise which stops you from attending. 

What happens next?

If you apply we will acknowledge safe receipt - by email if possible. If you are successful we will write to tell you and request the £100 deposit (or confirm a part or full bursary). If required we will put you in touch will potential accommodation.

All contact is via Ray Tapken, Trust Secretary. 72 Inglewood Court, Liebenrood Road, Reading, RG30 2DU. 07790 841 118. Email: a.tapken@sky.com or ray@mhmt.co.uk