Schedule
With an All-Access Pass, you'll get admission to a packed weekend of education opportunities, and this year's class offerings showcase a diverse range of topics taught by industry experts from all across the globe.
Recordings of all class sessions will be shared with All-Access Pass holders shortly after the festival, accessible for a limited time.
BOSS 2021 Scholastic Competition
Competition sets by All-Night Yahtzee, from Florida State University; In Full Colour, from the University of Waterloo; On the Vox, from Berklee College of Music; Radius, made up of collegiate members from around the country; and [UNTITLED], from Towson University.
Plus, a featured performance by OneManJamz.
![[UNTITLED]](https://casa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/untitled-300x169.png "untitled")
TikTok On the Clock
Learn how to maximise your engagement and growth on TikTok. Attendees will learn tricks and tips to build strong engagement on this exciting social media app, from someone who built a following of almost 200,000 in under six months.
The Art Of Konnakkol: South Indian VP
Take your rhythmic expression to the next level as you engage with the language and structures of konnakkol VP. You’ll deepen your sense of groove, your understanding of pulse related concepts, and come away with a new array of rhythmic articulations and grooves.
Picking A Song To Arrange
Attendees will learn what it means to pick a great song to arrange while considering the following: your group's strengths; your soloists' strengths; how to arrange that song for voices; and how to truly make an arrangement your own.
Get In The Groove
Join this class to work on your body rhythms – this rhythmical work-out (body percussion and other exercises) will get you out of your head and into the groove. This class is a playful take on improving rhythmical awareness and afterwards the participants will feel physically refreshed.
Online Rehearsal Inspiration PART I
The purpose of this course is to provide vocal ensemble singers and choir leaders with concrete tips and inspiration, to maintain continuity for your group or choir during times of physical distancing. What can we do that becomes possible when we meet online? The acoustic separation of people in a video conference session provides interesting learning opportunities – let’s explore this together.
Arranging 101 – Techniques For The Beginner Arranger
Ever wanted to arrange but you don’t know where to start? Only done a few arrangements and wanting to understand the process better? In this class you’ll learn beginner arranging techniques to help you get started. We’ll cover basic harmony, voice-leading, instrumentation, syllables, story-telling, and more! It’s the perfect start to your arranging career.
Bill Hare Hangs Out
Open Office Hours
Pop in, hang out, and chat with Bill Hare!
Spectrum Singing: How To Sing In All Styles
This class will teach you the basics of how to sing healthfully and sustainably in any style you wish. Special attention will be paid to belt voice techniques and how to sing in contemporary styles.
Online Rehearsal Inspiration PART II
The purpose of this course is to provide vocal ensemble singers and choir leaders with concrete tips and inspiration, to maintain continuity for your group or choir during times of physical distancing. What can we do that becomes possible when we meet online? The acoustic separation of people in a video conference session provides interesting learning opportunities – let’s explore this together.
Beyond Add9: Extending Your Harmonies
Looking for ways to change the harmonic language of your arrangement, but unsure of where to start? This class will introduce harmonic extensions, substitutions, approach chords, and modulations – all in the context of musical moments that support the mood and message of your song.
Dominating Social Media
Managing your group's social media, especially in a pandemic can seem daunting, but I am here to help alleviate this CRITICAL task for your group. Whether its TikTok, Instagram, Youtube, or whatever—after this class you will have an INFINITE amount of content ideas, and know how to better manage your group's social media accounts.
Bass Bassics – Your Throat, Your Mouth, Your Mic
Learn some of the building blocks of healthy singing, plus useful techniques for maximizing and controlling the low end of your voice through mic placement and usage both on stage and in the studio.
In The Edit Bay: Making Your Music Video Pop
Learn about some of the elements and techniques that can help to enhance your video edits to complement the music. Get to know the tools and techniques at your disposal to use on your next video.
Let's Write A Song!
In this class, we'll discuss songwriting theory 101 and apply it by writing a song together (live!). By the end of the class, you'll have hands-on songwriting experience and practical tips to jumpstart your own songs.
Competition: Tips, Tricks, and The Profound Meaning of Creating Art
Define winning for you and your team and get practical tips to achieve your victory. Taught by SingStrong founder and past CASA President, Jonathan Minkoff, this class blazes through a litany of wins that both includes and exceeds trophies. Then hard pivot from the profound to the practical for simple, practical and often-overlooked steps to achieve your success.
What Do I Do With My Hands?
You've got the choreo down. You're emoting brilliantly. But somehow, your hands always do the exact. same. thing. Figuring out how to move your hands on stage is always tricky, but this class will teach you how to to feel and look completely natural and engaged on stage. In this class, participants will learn exercises that help them explore the full range of motion of their upper body, the value of stillness, and how to stay in the moment to deliver a truly organic performance.
Writing Vocal Percussion for a Competitive Set
During this discussion-based class, we will go through the numerous elements at play within a competitive set, and different ways to approach them from a VP perspective. Topics include (but are not limited to); functionality of VP for your group during a competitive performance, optimizing for the best possible score from the judges, maintaining accuracy and stamina, rehearsal techniques, leitmotif, dynamic writing, emotional conveyance, etc.
More Than Virtual Choirs: Alternative Virtual Music Collaborations
This class will give all participants a laundry list of ideas on making music in their rehearsal, online and in real-time. Attendees will learn how they can arrange together, analyze performances together, improvise together, harmonize automatically together, learn together, and increase their social media presence.
BOSS 2021 Pro Concert
An evening of stellar performances by POSTYR, RESOLVE, On'lar, and Vox Populi Project, with a selection of Community Original Shorts throughout.
The Story of POSTYR
Learn how Tine Fris, Line Groth, Lucas Tuan Minh Hoang, Anders Hornshøj Laugesen and Kristoffer Fynbo Thorning came together to form POSTYR, and the journey they've gone through since.
Singing From Scratch: Inside Co.operative
We’re Co.operative: thirteen singers creating a collaborative album of original music this year…over the internet. We’ll talk about our evolving process, what we’re learning, and strategies you can apply to your own collaborations.
Singing With Swagger, Virtual Edition
Swagger (verb): to hold one’s self in a confident manner — As a soloist, regardless of what type of song you’re singing, it’s important to be the most confident person in the room. All eyes are on you and it’s your job to control the audience and take us on a journey with whatever message you’re trying to deliver, NOW with the added difficulty of singing to a camera and through a computer to reach our audiences.
This class will need participants to sing, so please come prepared with a verse and a chorus (if you are using a mic, please make sure all audio equipment/sound set-up is prepared beforehand, otherwise a normal laptop microphone is fine). We will analyze and discuss the performances of the participants and of some video performances of other groups/singers. By the end of the class you will learn how to take the stage (or video) and command audiences through authentic emotional expression and how to do it with swagger.
A Personal Approach To Vocal Music Through Live Electronics
How can we combine the voice and electronic music into a personal idea of vocal music?
Rebel Bit's members Lorenzo Subrizi (arranger/singer) and Andrea Trona (Sound Designer) will give you a window into how they create the group unique sound. We'll talk about our live set and how it has evolved over the years with suggestions about arrangements, technologies and sounds we use.
Beyond Competition: Finding Our Broader Purpose
Centered around group identity, self worth, and using art to create a better world, this class will explore what groups can offer to their communities and themselves outside of the competitive a cappella arena.
In order to better assist those with accessibility needs, please fill out this form in advance if you need any class accomodations.
Living In R&B, Soul, and Funk
All music, from classical to funk has groove! In this class we’ll explore three things: 1. How to sell or accentuate a melody through rhythm, 2. How to use rhythm to build tension and urgency, and 3. How to make the audience move!
Songwriting 102
You: "I already wrote this song... can you help me make it even better?"
Me: "Dood! That's what I do!"
Bring a work in progress (you have to play your song in some form - live or recorded) and preferably have a lyric pdf or word doc we can look at. This is an open session, but feedback will be limited to 5 participants or as many as time allows. Sign Up!
Hidden Hip-Hop: How Beatboxing Became Vocal Percussion
This class will prepare students to bring an anti-racist beatbox/vocal percussion pedagogy to their a cappella groups by examining the historical relationship between vocal percussion, contemporary a cappella music, and hip hop. Alongside practical beatboxing exercises, arrangement techniques, and recording/performance tips, this class will examine the cultural context within which vocal percussion music developed separate identities rooted in authenticity and cultural appropriation.
Ask Deke: High School Arranging
Q: Do you have any suggestions on how a high schooler might get started in learning to arrange music for a capella?
A: For starters, I highly recommend studying music theory, as a knowledge of the technical aspects of counterpoint and 4 part writing are so very helpful.
Beyond that, this blog I wrote long ago remains a good first step, as it trains young writers to answer big questions before little ones.
That process is the first step in my book “A Cappella Arranging”, which even though it sounds like a sales pitch remains the one and only publication on the topic.
Also know that it’s possible to arrange by ear (using a program like Garage Band or Pro Tools to overdub your voice) in addition to or in place of traditional music notation (programs like Finale, Sibelius and MuseScore). Either way, the principles are the same and the above resources are the best first steps.
If you get stuck, feel free to send in any more specific questions. Go get ‘em!
Feelings Sunday With Emily Flanders
Open Office Hours
Pop in, hang out, and chat with Emily Flanders!
Entrepreneurship For Acaheads
This class is for those who want to know more about what it takes to run an a cappella-based business. We'll cover the basics about musician entrepreneurship in areas like live sound, arranging, and forming your own vocal band.
Singing With Soul – Telling Your Story A Cappella
You hear a song and think, “that would sound great a cappella!” but how do you translate a song that hits you in the heart while staying true to the message in the music? We’ll explore techniques to frame your arrangement with storytelling at the center using sound, harmony, and texture as the backdrop; for singers, share your soul by telling a story with your performance using lyrics to drive musical decisions.
Click, Clap, Doo – DIY Audio Production for Groups
Learn and discuss best practices for self-tracking, editing, and mixing DIY recording projects for groups (especially groups of 12 or more) when you can't meet in person. We will cover the ins and outs of each stage of the production process. This class is specifically focused on audio.
RARB: From Head To Words
When listening to a cappella, what do you hear and how would you describe it to others? This class will explore your aesthetic and subjectivity through exercises in critical listening and writing.
Post-Pandemic Planning
This open discussion session is an opportunity for you to bring your group's current position, future opportunities, and potential challenges to like-minded folks in similar situations. With attention to a cappella, higher education, and post-pandemic reopening, the goal of this session is to use our combined knowledge, experiences, and ideas to start creating realistic plans to return to "normal operations."
Singing for the Lyric: A Guide to Text Painting
Learn tips on how to go from singing notes to making MUSIC. This course will focus on text painting and musicality in order to tell the story you want to convey through your music.
The Human MPC
Make beats by using your own voice as a unique drum kit! Through a workflow inspired by the legendary Akai MPC, you can quickly and easily sample your voice, shape the sample, and make an arrangement in your own digital audio workstation.
