In the final part of this series, I’m going to suggest a different way a cappella festivals can frame their workshops to better accommodate groups who want to experience more than one masterclass during the day.

Before you read on, please read part 1 and part 2: 

Method 3 - The Masterclass Method

Most a cappella festivals offer masterclasses. 

These are one-hour classes with a specific instructor who observes the group’s performance and critiques its set. Masterclasses are invaluable for groups, as they are designed to specifically target one group’s weakest or strongest area. 

It’s a group’s best chance to get personalized feedback that only applies to it.

I began thinking: was there a way we could amplify this type of education? What if, instead of students attending random workshops, a full a cappella group could be taken through a day’s worth of workshops, designed specifically for it? What if the group could essentially take nothing but masterclasses?

Here’s how it would work: Let’s take the fictional a cappella group (umm… what’s a dumb name for a group…) “The Jens and Joes Went Doo-Doo.”

The “Jens and Joes Went Doo-Doo” sign up for the (umm… what’s a dumb name for a festival…) Festival of A cappella Roundtables and Trainings. (or F.A.R.T.) 

They are assigned a designated schedule where they will see 1-3 instructors throughout the day who will work on specific aspects of their performance, from choreography to group sound and teach them how to arrange, record, etc. 

The group stays together until the concert at night, where they showcase what they’ve learned from their instructors.

 To pull this off, these are the modifications a festival would need:

A. Festivals would need to hire LOTS of instructors, depending on how many groups are allowed to register.

B. Festivals would most likely have to place a limit on the number of groups that can register.

C. Groups would most likely be assigned one classroom during the day and instructors would rotate in and out of the classroom.

What are your ideas? Do you think the a cappella festival model is fine as it is? Do you think there is room for improvement?

By Marc Silverberg