{"id":3264,"date":"2014-05-29T02:09:59","date_gmt":"2014-05-29T06:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.webdesign.jessica-lily.com\/elisewitt\/?p=2088"},"modified":"2014-05-29T02:09:59","modified_gmt":"2014-05-29T06:09:59","slug":"ajc-impromptu-glorious-chorus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elisewitt.com\/web\/ajc-impromptu-glorious-chorus\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Journal Constitution | Impromptu Glorious Chorus\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
Pine Lake Woman Taps Into Our Talents<\/strong><\/h5>\n
Performer says \u2018we\u2019re all born with a voice,\u2019 encourages us to sing<\/strong><\/h5>\n

By H.M. Cauley for the AJC<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo by Jessica\u00a0Lily
Elise Witt leads an Impromptu Glorious Chorus\u2122
at Decatur\u2019s Shambhala Center on Church Street.
Witt has conducted singing groups for more than 30 years.<\/p><\/div>\n

Friends may have told you to save your singing for the shower, but that\u2019s only because you haven\u2019t met Elise Witt. The Pine Lake resident is a veteran singer, songwriter and performer who pooh-poohs the notion of no vocal ability and can coax a song out of anybody.<\/p>\n

\u201cEighty percent of our population has been told that they\u2019re tone deaf, not musical or just shouldn\u2019t sing, and I find that really disturbing and sad,\u201d said Witt. \u201cWe\u2019re all born with a voice. It just may not be Aretha Franklin\u2019s or Luciano Pavarotti\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more than 30 years, Witt has conducted singing sessions that tap into the hidden talents of folks who just want to unleash their inner American Idol \u2013 but don\u2019t want to do it alone. Her classes focus on the power of combined voices.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the same workshop, we might have someone who\u2019s a professional singer, someone who thinks they can\u2019t sing and someone who sings for fun. And they all sing together, creating something none of them could do alone.\u201d said Witt. \u201cIndividuals do learn a lot about their own voices, and in addition they learn about singing in a group. It\u2019s the old adage, \u2018the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Witt, who was born in Switzerland and speaks five languages fluently, never set out to be a voice teacher. When she arrived in Georgia in 1977, as a founding member of Theatrical Outfit, one of her jobs was to teach the other members about singing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reminded us that before we had radio and TV, the way we communicated was with songs and stories,\u201d said Witt. \u201cIn our Western culture, we\u2019ve lost that connection, and my classes and workshops are all about finding that again.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Witt moved on from the theater, she kept singing. For 20 years, she was part of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Chamber Chorus under its famous director Robert Shaw, and she studied with noted improvisational singers Rhiannon and Bobby McFerrin, as well as masters of African and African American vocal music Dr. Ysaye Barnwell (of Sweet Honey in the Rock) and Dr. Fred Onovwerosuoke (founder of the African Music Arts).<\/p>\n

Witt has also shared her expertise and enthusiasm in ongoing classes at the Rising Phoenix T\u2019ai Chi Studio in the Little Five Points Community Center in Atlanta, as well as around the country when she tours her Global, Local & Homemade Songs\u2122. Last year, she launched the Impromptu Glorious Chorus\u2122 at Decatur\u2019s Shambhala Center. For two hours, anywhere from 30 to 45 people gather to learn a \u201cwild variety\u201d of songs with harmony, improvisation, and a little vocal technique tossed in for good measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all sit in the same circle and make beautiful music together,\u201d she said. \u201cI find it so powerful. Singing can heal us, move us, inspire us. That\u2019s the magic when you sing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about Witt\u2019s singing classes, workshops, and concerts go to her website www.EliseWitt.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution<\/p>\n

Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2011<\/p>\n

Metro Section<\/p>\n

Real people, inspiring stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pine Lake Woman Taps Into Our Talents Performer says \u2018we\u2019re all born with a voice,\u2019 encourages us to sing By H.M. Cauley for the AJC   Friends may have told … Read More about Atlanta Journal Constitution | Impromptu Glorious Chorus\u2122<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-blog","entry"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"square-entry-image":false,"vertical-entry-image":false,"horizontal-entry-image":false,"mailpoet_newsletter_max":false,"woocommerce_thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_single":false,"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Jessica Lily","author_link":"https:\/\/elisewitt.com\/web\/author\/jessica\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Pine Lake Woman Taps Into Our Talents Performer says \u2018we\u2019re all born with a voice,\u2019 encourages us to sing By H.M. Cauley for the AJC   Friends may have told ... Read More about Atlanta Journal Constitution | Impromptu Glorious Chorus\u2122","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elisewitt.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elisewitt.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elisewitt.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elisewitt.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elisewitt.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/elisewitt.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elisewitt.com\/web\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elisewitt.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elisewitt.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elisewitt.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}