Guillermo Rozenthuler: Circle Singing & Vocal Improvisation

About the leader
Guillermo Rozenthuler is one of the UK’s best-known facilitators of Collaborative Vocal Improvisation (CVI) and circlesinging—internationally experienced, highly musical, and brilliantly inclusive. He’s especially admired for bringing large groups into improvisation with structure and warmth, even when people are brand new to it.

https://www.guillermorozenthuler.com

Guillermo is a vocal artist, educator, and group facilitator who created The Singing Village—a living methodology that nurtures the art of spontaneous singing. His work invites people to rediscover their innate musicality and discover their voices and bodies as instruments of expression, play, and presence. Guillermo’s vision is to inspire musicians, choir leaders, therapists, and facilitators to weave this vocal practice into their own work, cultivating spaces where authentic expression and collaboration can flourish.

What we’ll do on the day
We’ll create spontaneous vocal music together—layering grooves, harmonies, textures and simple cue-based forms. You’ll learn practical “how it works” tools you can carry into choir life (and you’ll likely leave with a few instant-choir warmups you’ll want to keep using).

Who it’s for
Perfect for curious singers who want to explore creativity and freedom in a supportive environment—no improvisation experience required.

CVI (Collaborative Vocal Improvisation) encompasses the various ways a small group of singers can come together to create spontaneous music. Each person intuitively contributes with their own sounds and patterns, responding to others in real time.

This is an opportunity for participants to connect and make fresh music in the moment, reimagining the voices of our ancestors, and exploring how they might have made music together.

It’s also a chance to expand their ability to collaborate and create music from nothing. CVI introduces singers to different ways to create and develop patterns, rhythms, and harmonies together, as well as explore solo expression, responsiveness and deep listening.

Circlesinging is a form of a cappella singing in which one person creates all the parts and leads a group in spontaneous choral music.

The parts are typically simple, shifting and changing like a living tapestry of sound. Circlesongs, which draw from a collective pool of rhythms and melodies worldwide, have their roots in ancestral music traditions and were popularized by the great Bobby McFerrin.

Circlesongs are an invitation for people to sing, move, and resonate together. The circle creates an open community where everyone is welcome and all voices are valued.

Both forms of spontaneous collective song offer beginners a fun and accessible introduction to vocal improvisation, a chance to explore their voices in a supportive and creative environment.

If participants are already confident with their voices or their improvisational skills, the workshops introduce new tools for collaborative improvisation and circlesinging, as well as more advanced musical elements such as polyrhythms, different forms of polyphony and modes.

These workshops encourage discovery and freedom in musical creativity, nurturing new ways to interact and listen. The body and the voice become the playground for exploration.

The Stonegate Singers are a busy community choir based in York UK. Recent performance include concerts around York, and events such as the Stonegate Singers Ceilidh Night, together with the brilliant folk band The House Devils. The Stonegate Singers have performed live on the BBC, and as part of community events such as The Great Get Together in Rowntree Park. In August 2017, we performed in the Creswell Crags limestone gorge as part of Refugium, a new mixed media piece by director Jon Hughes.