MAUD HAMON-LOISANCE, France

The body in the service of the voice

To get the best sound from the choir, singers have to be connected with their body and to each other. It is essential to work on the body to find a good balance, a good tone, a good ear and a good energy. In our daily life as conductors with children, teenagers, youths or beginner adult singers, we encounter people who are inhibited, stressed, shy, ill at ease, or sometimes full of energy and very dissipated.

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In my work with non-professional singers for 13 years, I’ve tried plenty of exercises to make people feel comfortable with themselves and to help them focus. I have been inspired in my practice by pantomime, theatre, improvisation, dance, taïchi, yoga… Many different approaches that allow connecting the body and its movement using expressivity, breathing and listening, without being in a cerebral way of singing.  These physical techniques have informed the way we use the singing voice within the choir.

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I’ve noticed that the way every singer deals with his own interiority can change the sound of the group. It is a process that I would like to share through exercises, explanations and questioning. 

Maud Hamon-Loisance, born in 1984, studied singing, orchestra, and choir conducting at Lyon Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique in Lyon with B. Têtu, N. Corti and at HochschulefürMusik Hans Eisler in Berlin with J.P. Weigle. She obtained her Master’s degree in 2010. Her passion for small ensemble vocal music prompted her to create and direct Epsilon, a professional vocal group with which she has been performing 16th-century vocal music for the past 10 years, re-exploring it in an inventive fashion, always ready to go off the beaten path to seek new avenues for interpreting this repertoire.

 

Maud has conducted children’s and student choirs', and taught choral conducting at the Conservatoire of Grenoble, where she was appointed choirs Maud has conducted children’s and student professor of choral studies in September 2011. At the 2014 Guido d’Arezzo competition, she was awarded the second prize with female choir Métaphores, as well as the prize for best conductor. Also awarded at the 5th International Conductor’s Competition in Ljubljana (Slovenia), she has been invited as a conductor, lecturer or a juror at special international events in various countries including Germany, Italy, Estonia, Norway and Turkey. She has been a member of the Music Commission of the European Choral Association-EuropaCantat from 2012 to 2015.