Voice | Christina Dietz | All Levels | Period 3 | Week 3 (July 20-25, 2025)
Blues is a music born from a people who were determined to survive. It is a music of resistance, resilience, emotion and power. In this vocal workshop you will learn a little somatics to process that truth. We will also do a little yoga, some pointed vocal warm ups/songs and explore what it means to sing how best suits you. As singers, it is important to remember that everything has a pulse; a heart (no matter how unorthodox). Everything around you is vibrating with its own built in rhythm section and we have a unique ability to effect that. For this class I ask that you rifle through your brain, pick a memory that is so strong you can still experience the emotion within it, then… sing.
About the Instructor
Briar is a singer of vintage jazz, blues and original music. By blending a powerful voice with stories about the history and origins of her music, she shines a light on singers and tales that have been forgotten by the country that created them. Raised in the small community of Chimacum, Washington, Briar uses her music to help explore her unique background as a black woman from the rural Pacific Northwest.
Whether belting Bessie Smith numbers or crooning original songs about Sherlock Holmes, her performances are defined by her combination of grace and playfulness, elegance crossed with down-home bravado.
In addition to her regular engagements as a singer and ukulele player, Briar teaches music for Seattle JazzEd, is a leader of the Rhapsody Project, and is currently pursuing a degree in Environmental Science from Olympic University.