Workshops for 7th to 12th grades:

A printable copy of our 12-page School Notes is chock-full of ideas and details.

THE POSTCARD PROJECT

The class looks at war from a civilian perspective. What would you do if the Nazis occupied your town—resist, collaborate, hide, run away, ignore them? Each student writes a postcard to a friend recounting a specific event they "experienced" during the war. Use as much French as your skill level allows.

EXPLICATION DE TEXTE

Text analysis is especially effective as a workshop before attending Claudia's show. Dissect one or two of the songs in a classic textual analysis à la française. The examination looks at historical content and context, back-stories of the songs' interpreters, analysis of poetic form, grammar, musical construction, characters, and story lines.

SONG CIRCLES and CRITICS CIRCLES

Each student takes an assignment: historian, music critic, theatre critic, news journalist, People magazine interviewer, even restaurant critic. They follow the show with their specific role in mind. Critics' circles meet in a huddle after the show to discuss the program. Each circle of historians, music critics, interviewers, etc. prepares comments and questions to report when everyone comes back together, with words and illustrations, white board, poster paper, notepads and tablets at hand. A more extensive workshop (based on greater familiarity with the specific songs in the show) allows the students to divide into "song circles." There is one group per song and one person per role. Having critically examined the song and lyrics ahead of time (from prior recordings and hearing the current performance), each student comes to the group with notes needed to perform their specific job.

MASTER CLASSES

Master ClassMaster classes are great opportunities for theatre and music students to strengthen their interpretative abilities in song. Claudia works with students 8th grade and up on their arias, art songs, Broadway tunes, and more. Guidelines for a Master Class are a good place to start the process.
Video clips of our work with young singers can be found here.

CREATE YOUR OWN CABARET

Cabaret is an art form that, at its best, uses song to get straight to the heart, whether with biting sarcasm, romantic charm or realistic recounting of life's many stories. With Claudia's guidance, a group of students will create their own Cabaret! For the single workshop, Claudia and her pianist share the elements of "putting your act together." This can be done as a group or class effort. Students can sing, recite poetry, write, direct, emcee, play in the band, create publicity posters, be in the audience, or any combination. Extended residencies allow Claudia and the students to work together over the course of several weeks to create their own cabaret show.