About the TWC

We have been singing together since 2002 and currently are about 70 voices strong. We welcome more voices to join us!

Founder and Artistic Director, Karleena Ravenwood

Karleena Ravenwood has sung in numerous community choruses including the Symphony Chorus in Portland, Oregon, the Adirondack Community Chorus, and the Brattleboro Women's Chorus in Vermont. She has studied voice as well as viola, cello, classical guitar. She also plays Native American flutes, African drum and frame drum. She takes as her primary mentor Ysaye Barnwell of Sweet Honey in the Rock, who has shaped Karleena's way of holding the chorus.

Karleena is accustomed to working with people who do not see themselves as singers or performers as well as experienced singers. She enjoys being part of the process of supporting women in finding their voice.

See the Contacts page about contacting Karleena, or more information on her services.

The Music

Karleena's musical selections have included freedom songs from Angola, South Africa, and our own civil rights movement, along with songs from Korea, Ghana, Ireland, Sweden, Mexico, Russia, Ghana, Germany, Iran, Israel, the Mbuti tribe, African-American gospels and spirituals tradition, Native American traditions, the women's spirituality movement, and Christian and Jewish traditions. Ravenwood says her choice of music is first shaped by what moves her. She says, "I like to listen to how the different songs talk to each other and how together they weave an energy pattern for singers and listeners alike."

Tuition

Tuition is $75/adult per series. Girls are free when accompanied by a singing adult. Tuition may be paid in installments. Scholarships are available. Ongoing pro-rated enrollment is available.

We encourage everyone to make some contribution, no matter how small, in the spirit of appropriate energy exchange.

We welcome all singers! Please do not let funding issues discourage you from joining us. Financial assistance levels are shown on the registration form; all that is required is for you to indicate which level you require assistance. No questions or proof of need is required. At the present time, twnety percent of our members are receiving some level of financial assistance. We want your voice to be heard; so please come join us in song!

Vocal Coaching for Vocal Fitness!

Karleena offers vocal coaching for those who would like to increase what she likes to refer to as "vocal intelligence." For some, musical intelligence seems to be innate; for others, it can be learned. If you find yourself having difficulty with finding or maintaining the right pitch, then some work on the side with Karleena will help you to stay in synch with the chorus, as well as increase your ability to hold the correct pitch on your own and enjoy singing yet more!

She also offers rhythmic assistance for those having trouble with holding the beat in the songs we sing in chorus -- especially African songs with complex rhythmic structures. Karleena uses a "core singing" approach that "uses the knowledge and understanding of all the aspects of the energy field to develop personally, musically and artistically..." (Dynamics of the Singing Voice, M. Bunch Dayme, 5th edition, 2009).

Cost: $40.00/hr for private coaching.

And finally, an inspirational quote from Karleena

"The Energy Space We Hold Together—Singing in harmony is wonderful training for living life. Singing in harmony asks you to hold your part in completeness while listening in conscious awareness to others. Disharmony grows from either too much or too little 'ego', let's call it. From either too much or too little sense of oneself. Either, from a sense of self-importance that disregards (doesn't listen) to others, or from so little sense of self that listening to others becomes blocked in the process of trying to find where one is. Both of these, too much or too little sense of self, result in disharmony in the midst of life.

"Harmony arises from holding your own space in conscious awareness and self-responsibility while staying in a willing state of awareness of life as it is around you. Singing in a chorus provides the opportunity to practice holding your part with the support of others singing your part with you. To grow in a harmonic sense of self, it is essential to have the support of others who can reflect back to you the part you have made an intention to hold. When you open yourself to that support, when you come into resonance with those close to you who reflect back to you your intentions in life (your part in the chorus), then it becomes easier to continue to hold your part in the midst of the seemingly complicated structure of the whole of life (the chorus) as it manifests itself in any given moment."