BISHOP'S RANCH SINGING RETREAT
September 16 -21, 2012

Dear singers,

Would you like to treat yourself to a week's singing retreat of harmony singing and listening- no cares, no dishes, no office, no driving, and no distractions?

This summer, September 16 -21, 2012, I'm offering the 3rd annual 5-night, 6-day singing retreat in beautiful Sonoma Valley, heart of the wine country, at the Bishop's Ranch. The cost for teaching, food and lodging is $975. ($170 surcharge - single occupancy) for lodging, prize-winning food and instruction.

This will be a relaxed week with plenty of time each day for learning, rehearsing and performing music, exploring your voice and being in your body. There will be chill time for swimming, movement, connection, walking in the countryside, reading, conversing, spending time alone, eating and good old community singing every evening. The music is accessible to all, no audition, vocal or note-reading expertise necessary, just the desire to come together in a beautiful place to sing, porch-sit, feel the gentle evening wind, eat fresh food and let your thoughts roam.

We will prepare a varied music both choral and solo duets, trios and quartets. Our repertoire may include film scores, world traditional, classical, sea chantey, southern gospel, chant, pop and improvisational. Arrangers may include Northern Harmony, Elise Witt, Moira Smiley, Peter Amidon, Malcolm Dalglish, Faure, Becky Reardon, and Ysaye Barnwell.

We will rehearse and sing in Harrison House, a lovely family-style home and in the Bishop's Ranch resonant mission-style chapel. A swimming pool, hiking trails and Adirondack chairs under the sun by day and stars by night are on site. Healdsburg is 5 miles from us and we are surrounded by the wine country's vineyards, vistas and wine tasting.

I urge you to call me with questions: (510) 652-1298 or write me at: lacarley@gmail.com. If you'd like to read about me and/or listen to my recordings, you can do so by going to Recordings and Lauren Carley - Joy of Singing.

I can also put you in touch with past singing retreat participants, with whom you may talk about songs, teaching and general feel of our retreats.

Below, you'll find a blurb about Bishop's Ranch and my bio.

"Bishop's Ranch is about two hours north of San Francisco. The Ranch is high on a ridge overlooking the Russian River Valley at Healdsburg. Participants occupy rooms in buildings on the grounds. The Ranch's 240 acres of pastures, woodlands, and nearby country roads offer opportunities for walking and solitude. There is a large swimming pool."

Lauren Carley, mezzo-soprano, performs with her ensembles Polyhymnia and Schola Adventus, and tours her original cabaret featuring the music of Kurt Weill. Ms. Carley teaches the Joy of Singing for UC Berkeley's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, maintains a private voice studio, teaches Sight Singing 101 for Singers, conducts Bay Area community choruses, and leads the Joy of Singing in Sacred Spaces vocal workshop each summer in Italy. Past appointments include Vocal/Choral Director for the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music, Oakland Youth Chorus choral conductor, Guest Professor in Drama at Colorado College, Adjunct Professor of Voice at New York University and the American Musical and Dramatic Academy Vocal Faculty.

Lauren Carley has years of teaching and performing experience

Lauren Carley provides teaching and performance support for opening your voice to the world and ownership of your stage, from the boardroom to the back yard, the elementary school classroom to the Metropolitan Opera.

Lauren teaches young through older adults who want to bring voice back into their life, students embarking on voice-over careers, young professionals, bookkeepers, architects, writers, elementary school music teachers, conservatory students, nuclear medicine technicians, editors, burlesque dancer/singers, clowns, and actors.

If you have come to learn how to nurture and grow a powerful, nuanced, sensual voice, then you have come to the right place.

Lauren works with:

Willing and motivated singers—beginning, intermediate and advanced
Leaders from all walks of life who want to be more comfortable in front of groups
Performers who want to focus their skills or prepare repertory
Choral groups who want special coaching to improve their performance

Lauren can help you:

Gain confidence in your voice to gain confidence in your life and work
Learn the secrets of vocal range and expressiveness
Reclaim the strength and sensuality of your voice
Savor the joy of singing and speaking
Experience the magic of joining your voice with others

Lauren has taught and performed all over the country. Find out more about her story…

Hear Lauren talk about how rediscovering your voice can enliven your body…

Hear Lauren talk about how gaining confidence in your voice can increase confidence in other parts of your life…

Hear a track from Lauren’s CDs…