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#Intensive is an annual weekend of workshops delivered by exceptional practitioners curated by MDBrunch. This immersive weekend is an opportunity to meet colleagues, peers and allies allowing you to network and socialise with other vocal leaders, whilst also learning and developing your own skills in a safe and welcoming environment. For the first time ever we are hosting it within a hotel conference centre (Hyatt Regency Stratford,) with the offering of the complete package of workshop access and accommodation. We are also very excited to announce our first full day Keynote on the Saturday!
Hyatt Regency Stratford
Accommodation Package
Single Room - £199 per night
Twin Room - £209 per night (£105 per person)
All rooms include breakfast, Wifi and VAT. Rooms will be confirmed on receipt of 50% of total stay now and the balance will be due by 1st Oct 2025. Rooms are standard twins, view room details here.
"MDBrunch are on a constant drive to provide useful, lasting tools for Vocal Leaders at every level"
Craig, MD Young Voices
"MDBrunch continues to be the mainstay of my CPD training [...] my choirs have profited hugely from all I have gained"
Laura, Treblemakers
"The communication, dedication, knowledge and welcoming attitude of the team has allowed for nationwide and worldwide musical connections which can only be developed further.
Thank you MDBrunch."
Mary, Singing It Back
MDBrunch deeply values the fact that MDs invest so much in their communities. #Intensive25 promises to be another action packed weekend empowering vocal leaders through collaboration and learning. We look forward to introducing you to the programme of events below and can't wait to welcome you to the wonderful community of MDBrunch.
PROGRAMME
Friday
Naveen Arles & Mel Field
#WarmUpExchange
10:30 - 11:00
This engaging 30-minute session is designed to not just grow your bank of warmups but simultaneously explore and learn from each other's teaching approaches. Kickstart the day while connecting with each other and go home with several new and exciting warmups.
Naveen Arles
Energising, Bonding and NOT Conducting
11:00 - 13:00
First you have to inspire them and then you have to make sure they're having a good time and then they grow to rely on you. But at what point can you just get out of the way to allow them to continue their growth. They might think the answer should be never but baby steps will allow them to grow in their independence. We will explore techniques that empower them to trust themselves.
Aga Serugo Lugo & Jeremy Haneman
Together Productions' Singing for Our Minds Intro
14:30 - 17:00
Singing For Our Minds is a ground-breaking new training programme for choral leaders from Together Productions that blends practical tips with current research, leadership training, and learning resources to support people who lead singing in any form, to build an inclusive, welcoming atmosphere which positively impacts mental health. The session will include some highlights of the full training and will empower you to maximise wellbeing outcomes in your leadership approach whilst still getting great results with your choir, as well as managing your own wellbeing. All of this will be achieved by workshopping common leadership challenges, as well as exploring topics such as managing group dynamics, embedding the NHS Five ways to Mental Wellbeing into your warm ups, creating authentic safer spaces, mindfulness in rehearsals, performance anxiety, creating inclusive environments and managing the impact of stress. Full details on Singing For Our Minds: https://www.togetherproductions.co.uk/singing-for-our-minds
Ollie Tunmer
Body Percussion/Rhythm Workshop
19:30 - 21:30
This high energy session will explore some of the challenges and creative solutions when combining singing and body percussion. This approach has been developed through collaborations with Emily Barden, Charles Béquignon-MacDougall, Lin Marsh, Lucy Joy Morris / National Youth Choir, Alexander L'Estrange and Joanne Forbes L'Estrange. Participants will gain plenty of ideas to implement straight away!
Saturday
Keynote: Prof Jim Hjernøe - The Instant Sound Playground
An innovative process to play, shape and direct the creative process through
Vocal Painting and The Intelligent Choir philosophy.
Prof. Jim Daus Hjernøe
The Art of Teaching
10:30 - 13:00
Jim explores pedagogical approaches in the teaching space. Managing risk, goal setting, inspiring standards, maintaining focus and energy levels; learning by doing we will investigate several world class processes.
Prof. Jim Daus Hjernøe
The Intelligent Choir
14:30 - 17:00
Utilising the morning's teaching methodologies we will explore Jim's innovative 'The Intelligent Choir' process. Advancing our use of Kodaly and other hand gesture systems to manage the creative process, live. In this exciting fusion of Circle Song, Jazz improvisation and simple creative play Jim is one of the world's leading practitioners of live music creation and all participants will turn into a live creating choir developing some exciting new repertoire together.
Prof. Jim Daus Hjernøe
#SingLive
19:30 - 21:30
Open to all singing interested folk of all standards, Jim will lead the entire room through the process of making new music live. Further demonstrating the power of this phenomenal process even in the situation of working with people who are not 'trained' in it.
Sunday
Naveen Arles & Mel Field
#WarmUpExchange
10:30 - 11:00
This engaging 30-minute warm-up session is designed to kickstart the day for choir directors and musicians, helping them connect with one another while equipping them with practical warm-up activities to use with their own groups.
Juliet Russell
Do Your Sing; A contemporary style and genre toolkit
11:00 - 13:30
In this practical masterclass, we will explore some of the vocal techniques behind some of the biggest tracks of the last few years and related exercises that can help singers lean into stylistic features of genre, increase their creative vocabulary and transform their vocal habits into choices. Developing a deeper understanding of our own vocal habits and increasing our range of expressive choices means that we are not only enhancing our skills as a solo performer, but also as an ensemble member.
LEADERS
OLLIE TUNMER
Ollie is the director of ‘Beat Goes On’, a percussion workshop company specialising in STOMP-style Body Percussion and Afro-Brazilian Percussion. They deliver workshops and CPD sessions throughout the UK and internationally.
Ollie is a former cast member of the hit show STOMP and their sister show ‘The Lost & Found Orchestra’. He is also an ex secondary music teacher and combines these to create experiences that are beneficial, memorable and great fun!
MEL FIELD
Mel has always sung and ran an Vocal Ensemble group for 20 years. She has been running primary school choirs for 15 years, giving the choirs wonderful opportunities leading and performing with them at the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall and The O2. With MDBrunch, Mel now leads school outreach programmes and teacher training/CPD. Mel has extensive experience in event organising for major fundraising organisations and now MDBrunch.
AGA SERUGO- LUGO
Aga serugo-Lugo is a vocalist, clarinettist, composer and workshop leader. He sang for the 9 piece Funk band “Gefunkt”, and also extensively composed for the six-piece jazz-fusion group ‘Eclectiv’.
Aga’s interests lie in narrative-based community music-making, focusing on accessibility and inclusivity. This has given him the opportunity to work with, amongst others: Sing-up, The ROH, ENO Baylis, Music in Detention, Create, Turtle Key Arts, Streetwise Opera, Trinity Laban, Mencap, Pegasus Opera, Creative Partnerships, Wigmore Hall and Britten Pears Arts.
JIM DAUS HJERNØE
Jim Daus Hjernøe, a distinguished figure in music and education, is a full professor at the Royal Academy of Music in Denmark (RAMA). As a leader at the RAMA Vocal Center, he has globally transformed vocal music, particularly in Jazz/Pop Choir Directing, impacting teachers, students, and collaborators worldwide. Since 2002, Jim has devoted himself to improvisational vocal art, pioneering the Vocal Painting (VOPA) technique within The Intelligent Choir (TIC) teaching concept. With a philosophy centered on empowering vocal leaders and fostering shared initiative, he aims to create transformative musical experiences.
JEREMY HANEMAN
Jeremy has worked as a conductor and musical director for over 30 years, specialising in working with choirs and opera. He co-founded the Mixed Up Chorus in 2014 along with Holly Jones which is how they met and he has loved working with her ever since! Music and choirs are his life - he was the Community Chorus Director for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden from 2011-2020 and musical director of the 140-voice Royal Opera House Thurrock Community Chorus.
JULIET RUSSELL
Juliet Russell is a music creative, specialising in voice. Her skills as a creative director, performer, vocal arranger and vocal coach have led her to work with Grammy, BAFTA, BRiT, Mercury Prize, Emmy and MTV Europe ward winning artists. Adept at co-creating outstanding, memorable performances, she is the vocal coach on BAFTA winning shows The Voice UK and Michael McIntyre’s Big Show, as well as shows for Netflix and Apple TV.
Book Tickets Below
Who are MDBrunch?
MDBrunch is a skills sharing, training, networking and support organisation for people who make singing happen (MDs). We create a community for these often lonely leaders and also promote the vital health and wellbeing aƯect that 42,000+ choirs in the UK have on their communities. We now deliver teacher training across the UK, singing events from Derry to Manchester, annual high level training programmes for vocal leaders and are involved in consultancy and advocacy work through both sitting on the council of the Association of British Choral Directors (abcd) and our membership of the Singing Network UK. Having grown over the last 8 years MDBrunch is led by two directors:
Naveen Arles BCA FRSA
Founding Director: After 30 years of running vocal groups Nav has conducted on most of the major stages across the UK. Nav’s social justice work has led to being a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and being selected to receive a British Citizens Award. He runs several choirs and youth education projects in London and delivers teacher training and education consultancy around the globe.
Mel Field
Events Director: has been a performer her whole life running youth choirs over the last 15 years. She studies voice with Juliet Russell and has performed on TV with Michael Bublé, toured with Hugh Jackman, Take That and Lulu. Mel has managed many large scale events which have raised both awareness and hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity.
Follow us on: @mdb_uk
Terms and Conditions:
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All sessions will be live hybrid.
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All session recordings will be made available via dropbox between 20 and 30 days after the event finishes. These resources remain the copyright property of MDBrunch and are not shareable.
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All recordings and images/videos recorded by MDBrunch during the event remain the property of MDBrunch and can and will be used in various formats (digital and print media) to publicise and advertise our work. By purchasing a ticket to this event you are tacitly giving MDBrunch permission to use your likeness in any of our publicity campaigns.
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Refunds, if granted, will incur an administration charge (regardless of which type of ticket):
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Within 14 days of purchase, full refund minus £20 charge (if cancelled before 11am on 1st Nov)
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Cancellations within 14 days of the #Intensive weekend will be eligible for a 50% refund.
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Cancellations within 3 days of the #Intensive weekend will not be eligible for any refund.
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ALL refunds will be dealt with within 7 days following the #Intensive weekend.
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Materials bought during #Intensive direct from a workshop leader/organisational partner will not be the responsibility of MDBrunch and any/all queries must be taken up with the vendor directly.
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The Hyatt Hotel is entirely accessible. If there are any further assistance needs, please DO NOT hesitate to get in touch with us.
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There is no free parking at The Hyatt Hotel. Car parks nearby: Stratford International Car Park (International Way - £) or Westfield Shopping Mall Car Parks (£££).
Mel Field
Events Director
mdbrunchuk@gmail.com
www.mdbrunch.uk
@mdb_uk