What is Vocal Leadership?
Vocal Leadership is the innovative leadership style for groups of people who sing together! We are moving away from ‘directing’ and we embrace ‘co-creation’. The strongest idea of the method is that the responsibility for the process and the music is shared by all singers, in a structured manner. The basis lies in the method ‘The Intelligent Choir‘, which was developed in Denmark by Jim Daus Hjernoe. Since 2015, the full-time master’s degree has been offered at Codarts University of the Arts Rotterdam. From September 2025, all other courses and activities will be offered by the Vocal Leadership Foundation.
At Vocal Leadership, the main subject is taught by different teachers. This involves a combination of working with (your own) sheet music and expanding your comfort zone by working with improvisation and movement. The origins of Vocal Leadership lie in Scandinavian, rhythmic choral music, but as the title shows, the method is style-free. The language of instruction in class alternates between mainly English and sometimes Dutch.
Vocal Leadership Foundation
From autumn 2025 we will offer the Vocal Leadership course and all kinds of activities, spread throughout the country! The collaboration with Codarts for the Master of Music and the Minor of Music maintains strong. The board of the Vocal Leadership foundation consists of Leo Molendijk (chairman), Bertie van Spronsen (secretary) and Driek Heesakkers (treasurer). Together with the core team of teachers and coordinators, they are ready to design all kinds of activities that suit the needs of choir leaders, music teachers, students, singers and vocal coaches. In various places in the country!
For whom is Vocal Leadership?
Vocal Leadership has been created to help vocal leaders, conductors, (music) teachers, singers, (music) students and vocal coaches. The method provides inspiration for working with a cappella groups, large (pop) choirs, vocal groups, classrooms, open singing, chamber choirs and more. Vocal Leadership can be of use in any (vocal) style: classical music, pop and jazz music, improvisation and folk. The roots of the methods can be found in the rhythmic music scene.
Experiences
“Very fun exercises, great teachers and a great atmosphere! I use what I learned at Vocal Leadership almost every day. Immediately usable in practice and a strong boost for your own musical development! Your brain gets completely confused during some exercises, but if you persevere and practice further and eventually succeed, you will burst with fun energy!”
Anja Kwakkestein
“At Vocal Leadership I have learned new ways to teach scores to my choirs that make it easier. The process has been started that my choirs are taking more responsibility in singing, and have a better understanding of what they are doing with rhythms and timbres. Inspiring and liberating! I now look at conducting differently.”
Annemarie van Os
“My golf teacher (sorry) taught me how to chip better. He said, “First two yards beyond the hole; now two meters in front of it. And finally: now in.’ Fascinating. It was like hearing Merel & Peder! Floor Roof exercises are so valuable! Thanks for that insight!”
Leo Aussems
“I have enjoyed conducting for almost thirty years. I never had the feeling that I was lacking in anything, but now that I have done two weekends of Vocal Leadership, everything seems to have been turned upside down. My entire attitude in front of a group is different because of the beautiful non-verbal communication that you learn with Merel when singing, for example. Something different is asked of the choir members, which makes them much more active. And you will receive an infinite amount of baggage that you can start working with straight away. It really is a gift for yourself and the choir members!”
Juliette Damen
“As a novice vocal leader, the full-time Vocal Leadership master’s program really gives me all the tools I need! We have incredibly inspiring teachers from our own country and as a gift we also receive guest lessons from the team from Denmark! All this together means that I can make enormous growth not only professionally, but also personally! I can immediately practice and use everything I learn and there is an eye for individual development! This was (and still is) one of the best courses I could have chosen!”
Marleen Spierings