AVOCLAP

From Thursday May 14, to Sunday May 17 2026.

At Catalyse

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Let’s play body music !

Description

AVOCLAP… An intriguing name, chosen mainly for the way it rings. What does it mean? You decide! Thinking with the right brain, the left brain? Let’s opt for balance. Did you know that one tool used to achieve this balance is improvisation?

AVCLAP 2026, it’s four days to try out or deepen your knowledge of vocal and physical improvisation. A joyful and friendly atmosphere created by well-known artists and experts from a wide range of backgrounds, languages and cultures all blended together.
Circle song is at the heart of this weekend’s activities. Collectively with our bodies and our voices, our differences, we will create an orchestra and let ourselves be carried away… Envisioning a social paradigm that values sobriety, collaboration and co-leadership, isn’t it what we need, what the world needs?

AVOCLAP… Also means EVOLVING.

The editorial by Noga

Artist speakers

Charles Raszl (BRA)

Gaël Aubrit (FR)

Mattias Wyss & Annie Kummer (CH)

Oskar Boldre (IT)

Sonja Morgenegg (CH)

The programme

The workshops are given in the speaker’s native language. Let go of “thinking” and allow yourself to be carried away! (Rest assured, translation is available…)!

The levels specified for each workshop refer to the theme of each workshop. I.e. an advanced level in yodeling requires practice in yodeling, not in improvisation.

Reserve my spot

Content of the workshops & Circles

Circles

Welcoming circle

Let us start the day with a collective circle song bringing together all performers & participants and with a presentation of all workshops.

Saturday & Sunday 9h00-9h30 (all levels)

Closing circle

Let us close the day together with a circle song shared with all performers and participants.

Saturday & Sunday 18h00-19h00 (all levels)

Circle Flow

An immersive experience bringing together performers and participants. This participatory circle song allows you to dive into a collective, creative and vibrant atmosphere. You have two options: letting yourself being taken by the circle energy by observing and listening or diving into the heart of collective improvisation by taking an active part in the circle.

Saturday 19h30-20h30 (all levels)

Workshops of Charles Raszl

Body music and gesture of Brazilian dances

Through a vocal and body percussion arrangement of a Brazilian song the participants will thus be inspired through an approach in which the body is at the same time a percussive, melodic and harmonic event that dances and brings individual and collective stories.

Sunday 9h45-13h00 (all levels)

From body percussion to circle song

In this workshop we will practice various Brazilian rhythms through body percussion and transcribe them into a melodic framework and overlap the voices to make a counterpoint harmonic, thus creating a Circle Song.

Sunday 14h00-15h30 (all levels)
Sunday 16h00-17h30 (all levels)
The two workshops are complementary. However, it can also be attended separately.

Workshops of Gaël Aubrit

Home circle

Let’s begin our journey by making the circle feel like home! Gently warm up the body and the voice, connect with each other, build trust and safely improvise together. Learn how to better listen, to blend our voices, to stay present even when it gets challenging, and to better hold the circle at the service of the music.

Saturday 9h45-13h00 (all levels)

Complementary patterns

Discover the “fil-tapis-motif” system: three types of vocal patterns that help to improvise balanced arrangements, to change your habits and to develop more consciousness on various pattern characteristics.

Saturday 14h00-15h30 (all levels)

Speed circles

In this workshop we will play several games where we have to improvise patterns very quickly! It is fun, sometimes even exhilarating, and it is a very useful process, both for beginners to stop thinking too much and for advanced improvisers to become more fluent and to captivate their audience.

Saturday 16h00-17h30 (all levels)

Musical transitions

Learn how to better transition from one musical atmosphere to the other when leading a circlesong, by smoothly changing time signature, chords or tonality, without ever stopping the music!

Sunday 9h45-13h00 (advanced)

Suspendu aux lèvres

« Suspendu aux lèvres » is a game with one person soloing and everyone else following their breath, volume and vocal timbre, while holding a single chord. It is a challenging game that requires to be fully present. In this workshop we will explore this game and some of its variations, enjoying the beautiful music and state of presence that may come out of it.

Sunday 14h00 à 15h30 (intermediate / advanced)

Improvise in 5 and 7

Enough with 4/4! Let’s dive into the fascinating world of “odd meters”, more specifically 5 and 7. Learn concrete tools that will allow you to identify odd meters, create vocal patterns and solo, until one day you become as comfortable in 5 and 7 as you are in 3 or 4.

Sunday 16h00-17h30 (all levels)

Workshops of Mattias Wyss and Annie Kummer

Human music - Body music (basic)

With Mattias & Annie
Dive with us into a world of music with the whole body! We sing melodies and play rhythms from our original song “Human Music”. We sing, accompany ourselves with body percussion and improvise. We will use our hands to clap, snap and pat… and even meet butterflies 🙂 The inspirations from the song and our playful, improvised body music activities let us celebrate musical encounters, mutual resonance and sound emotions: And it feels like we all are one!

Saturday 9h45-13h00 (beginner / intermediate)

Human music - Body music (extended)

With Mattias & Annie

Dive with us into a world of music with the whole body! We will sing melodies and play rhythms from our original song “Human Music”. We sing, accompany ourselves with body percussion and improvise. We clap, flick, pat and stomp with our hands and feet… The inspirations from the song and our playful, improvised body music activities let us celebrate musical encounters, mutual resonance and sound emotions: And it feels like we all are one!

Sunday 9h45-13h00 (intermediate / advanced)

Lailalalai - Oriental inspired body music (Hands)

With Mattias & Annie
We invite you to a body music journey on a “flying carpet” with our own orient-inspired song “Lailalalai”. Enjoy beautiful harmonies, haunting melodies and odd rhythms. We sing the song, accompany ourselves with body percussion (simpler rhythms, only “hands” or upper body percussion) and improvise over the harmonies.

The workshops “Lailalalai (Hands)” and “Lailalalai (Hands&Feet)” are complementary. However, they can also be attended individually.

Saturday 14h00-15h30 (beginner / intermediate)

Lailalalai - Oriental inspired body music (Hands & feet)

With Mattias and Annie
We invite you to a body music journey on a “flying carpet” with our own orient-inspired song “Lailalalai”. Enjoy beautiful harmonies, haunting melodies and odd rhythms. We will learn the body percussion groove (more challenging rhythm, with “Hands&Feet”), sing the song and improvise over the harmonies.

This workshop is complementary to “Lailalalai (Hands)”. However, it can also be attended separately.

Sunday 14h00-15h30 (intermediate / advanced)

Get started with bodypercussion 1 (Hands)

With Mattias
In this workshop we start into the joyful and playful world of body rhythms. We start with the hands and upper body rhythms (without feet). We will clap, snap, pat and combine the body rhythms with our voices in spontaneous circles and improvisations. Do you have little or no previous experience with body percussion? Then this is the right place for you! No previous knowledge is necessary.

The two workshops “Get started with bodypercussion 1 and 2” are complementary. However, they can also be attended individually.

Saturday 16h00-17h30 (beginner / intermediate)

Get started with bodypercussion 2 (Hands & feet)

With Mattias
In this workshop, we enter the fun and playful world of body rhythms – with hands, feet and everything the body has to offer. We will clap, snap, pat, stomp and combine the body rhythms with our voices in spontaneous circles and improvisations. Do you have little or no previous experience with body percussion? Take up the challenge!

The two workshops “Get started with bodypercussion 1 and 2” are complementary. However, they can also be attended individually.

Sunday 16h00-17h30 (beginner / intermediate)

Workshops of Oskar Boldre

ABC impro

Just get involved, you have nothing to lose! the best way to prepare to improvise is not to prepare at all! we will practice exercises in the form of play, sacred and fun, developing flexibility and the art of contrasting and supporting others. The exercises are part of the method written by Oskar Boldre: Giocando la voce (Voglino Ed., 2021).

Saturday 9h45-13h00 (beginners)

Plastik impro

New tools for your singing increasing dynamism, training in change, emptying out, surprising oneself and developing different ways of giving a solo. We will practice with different exercises focusing on the art of contrast: the ABA defective Band, Rhythmic and Melodic Gifts, Substitutions, Moved Triangle, Sequence for new solos … and synesthetic stimulations such as Olfattimpro, Tattimpro and Tellimpro with the intention of enriching your language, making the best use of vocal timbres as vehicles of emotions. Music exists to be discovered and not just to be repeated.

Saturday 14h00-15h30 (advanced)
Saturday 16h00-17h30 (advanced)
The two workshops are complementary. However, it can also be attended separately.

Workshops of Sonja Morgenegg

Wild yodeling

Breathe – Voice – Body Warm-Up
Playful way to learn Yodel – Basics (Technique)
Learning the technical difference between yodeling and singing
Yodel as a chance to learn loud and relaxed singing style (Twang)
How to accompany yodel with long tones in a simple way (typ. Swiss tonality – Appenzell called «zäuerle”)
Demonstration of different yodel styles in Switzerland and around the world
Learning a simple nature yodel
Learning a simple wild Yodel from Sonja Sonja’s CD
Circle singing with wild yodel and VOPA (Vocal Painting)

Additionally, for the advanced workshops:
Try out of different yodel styles in Switzerland and around the world
Invent own yodel melodies, Yodel Patterns, Jodel Grooves
Combine yodel voice with different modi and rhythms

Saturday 9h45-13h00 (all levels)
Saturday 14h00-15h30 (beginner)
Saturday 16h00-17h30 (intermediate / advanced)
Sunday 9h45-13h00 (intermediate / advanced)
Sunday 14h00-15h30 (beginner)
Sunday 16h00-17h30 (intermediate / advanced)

These workshops are complementary, but they can be attend independently.

Price

Workshop 1h30
1h30 workshop of your choice
Welcoming and closing Circles
CHF 30.-

Workshop 3h
3h workshop of your choice
Welcoming and closing Circles
CHF 60.-

Circle Flow
CHF 20.-

Day Pass Saturday OR Sunday
A full day of workshop (6h)
Welcoming and closing Circles
CHF 100.-

Weekend Pass
A full weekend of workshops (12h)
Circle Flow
Welcoming and closing Circles
CHF 190.-

Passes are individual and not transferable.

Meals

Light breakfast included.
Lunch : at your own expense. Microwave available on site and many dining options in the area.
Refreshments, beverages and snacks for sale on site during the whole weekend.

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The Editorial

Already the second edition of Avoclap, this festival whose name can be unpacked, to better savour its fragrances and flavours.
Vocal improvisation and body percussions: the voice, the body… These instruments, we carry them within us, each and every one of us.
Available always and everywhere – especially when we are connected to ourselves and to others!
An “unplugged” festival, naturally simple, close to the essential.
A festival in the garden of childhood, since we have played these instruments from the very beginning—of time and of our lives.
A festival to blossom, to learn, to create, to receive and to give… to evolve.
A festival celebrating the art of improvising together with the body and the naked voice.

What’s it like? Workshops during the day, with renowned facilitators coming from several regions of Europe.
Friendly meeting spaces, where words and exchange flow naturally, when one has just been carried by the voices of the group, entering together into the flow, here and now, play and joy.
And when evening comes, as a spectator ready to open up once again, still tingling with the emotions of the day, we vibrate with the scheduled performance.

The atmosphere? Full of simplicity, easy-going, kind and generous.
Whatever your level, you come as you are, you find what you’re looking for – even what you never suspected you were seeking – and you leave having moved forward on your path.

The hope? To contribute to growing the community of beings who are sensitive to the power of co-improvisation and circle song, like a nurturing breath toward a more harmonious world.

We’re waiting for you!

Charles Raszl

Charles Raszl est guitariste, chef d’orchestre, interprète, arrangeur, compositeur, éducateur artistique et directeur musical et théâtral. Il est diplômé de l’université fédérale de São Carlos en éducation musicale.

Diplômé du conservatoire classique de guitare, il rejoint le groupe vocal de l’université de São Paulo, où il rencontre Fernando Barba, fondateur des Barbatuques, un groupe de référence pour la percussion corporelle au Brésil, dont Charles est toujours membre aujourd’hui.

Il se déplace en Europe, en Asie, en Amérique du Nord, en Amérique du Sud et au Brésil et intervient dans divers festivals de Body Music (comme l’IBMF-International Body Music Festival, PDF / France / Paris, MC Uruguay, RMW Finland et Festival et Body Rhythm Festival de Hambourg) apportant son enseignement, fruit d’une recherche sur les techniques traditionnelles de body music et de danse brésiliennes. Il est directeur artistique du Collettivo Rosario en Italie depuis 2019 et du CorpInFesta Body Music and Dance Festival.

Gaël Aubrit

Gaël a découvert Bobby McFerrin en 2010, suite à quoi l’improvisation a cappella s’est installée au centre de sa vie et n’a plus cessé de le passionner. En 2012 il a co-fondé le projet Chant Pour Tous, inspirant la naissance d’une centaine de cercles réguliers de chant improvisé gratuits et ouverts à tous en Europe. Cette vision d’une pratique simple, accessible et populaire a toujours cohabité avec le désir de développer et affiner la dimension artistique des circlesongs et de la co-improvisation. Il a ainsi collecté et modelé des outils d’apprentissage à l’intention de personnes prêtes à s’investir pour aller plus loin musicalement. Il a dirigé un cursus de formation en co-improvisation sur trois ans, formé des chanteurs de tous niveaux, ainsi que des professeurs ou facilitateurs d’impro vocale, des musiciens intervenants en milieu scolaire et autres professionnels de la musique. En 2019 il a rejoint les intervenants du stage annuel de Circlesongs de Bobby McFerrin aux Etats-Unis. Il est en lien avec de nombreux collègues et structures en France et à l’étranger dans le but de contribuer autant que possible au développement communautaire, pédagogique, artistique et populaire de ces merveilleuses pratiques.

Mattias Wyss & Annie Kummer

Mattias est un enseignant spécialisé, professeur principal et musicien scolaire avec une grande passion pour la musique corporelle et une vaste expérience avec divers ensembles de musique corporelle (dont clapappella et RAMAJE) Il est également animateur d’ateliers de percussion corporelle. Il chante avec sa femme Annie Kummer dans le groupe « clapappella » et en duo avec laquelle ils animent des ateliers de musique corporelle et d’improvisation vocale pour les couples/duos.

Annie a une expérience variée dans l’enseignement que ce soit dans l’improvisation (théâtre, musique, danse), la modération (festivals, événements, congrès) et le chant (chœur, groupe, ensemble). Elle est maître de conférences à l’université, développeur organisationnel et leader en théâtre centré sur les thèmes. Elle chante avec son mari Mattias Wyss dans « clapappella » et en duo avec lequel elle organise des ateliers de musique corporelle et d’improvisation vocale pour les couples/duos.

Oskar Boldre

Autodidacte, vocaliste, multi-instrumentiste, directeur de chœurs, compositeur et enseignant, Oskar a rencontré McFerrin pour la première fois en 1992. Depuis 1996, il dirige régulièrement des circle songs et des groupes d’improvisation en Suisse et en Italie. En 1997, il a fondé les chœurs Ancore d’Aria et Goccia di Voci. En 2014, il a créé l’école d’improvisation vocale et gestuelle et écrit la méthode GLV – Giocando La Voce. Il est également actif en tant que soliste et avec le quatuor Vocalia.

Sonja Morgenegg

Sonja Morgenegg a étudié le chant jazz à l’école de jazz de Saint-Gall. Elle a ensuite suivi diverses formations aux États-Unis (Co-Pilot Rhiannon) et en Allemagne dans les domaines de la respiration, du corps, de la voix, de l’improvisation et du théâtre. Depuis 2008, elle travaille en tant que coach vocal, yodleuse et chanteuse indépendante. Le jodel libre a accompagné la chanteuse depuis son enfance et a permis à l’artiste d’atteindre un nouveau niveau, plus libre, grâce à l’improvisation vocale. Depuis 2016, elle se consacre intensivement au yodel naturel suisse. Sonja Morgenegg voyage régulièrement avec l’auteure à succès Daniela Schwegler (Traumalp, Hüttenwartinnen, Landluft, Uferlos, Grünkraft) en tant qu’artiste solo et yodleuse improvisée. L’artiste célèbre l’improvisation libre avec la formation Triado.ch. Avec “Sooon”, elle combine toutes ses compétences en matière d’improvisation, de yodel, de musique du monde et de composition www.sooon.li. En 2023, l’artiste sort un autre album solo “Wildjodel”, qui contient 18 yodels composés de manière sauvage et qui constituent la base de ses cours de yodel sauvage.

L'édito

Déjà la seconde édition d’Avoclap, ce festival dont le nom se décortique, pour en mieux goûter les parfums et les saveurs. Improvisation vocale et body percussions : la voix, le corps… Ces instruments, nous les avons en nous, chacun.e de nous. Disponibles toujours et partout – surtout lorsque l’on est connecté à soi et aux autres ! Festival « unplugged », naturellement sobre, proche de l’essentiel. Festival au jardin de l’enfance, puisque nous avons joué de ces instruments dès l’origine, des temps et de notre vie. Festival pour s’épanouir, pour apprendre, pour créer, pour recevoir et donner… pour évoluer. Festival célébrant l’art d’improviser ensemble avec le corps et à voix nue.

Cela se passe comment ? Des ateliers en journée, avec des intervenants reconnus venant de plusieurs régions d’Europe. Des espaces de rencontre conviviaux, où la parole et l’échange coulent de source, quand on vient de se laisser porter par les voix du groupe, d’entrer ensemble dans le flow, ici et maintenant, jeux et joie. Et quand vient le soir, spectateur prêt à s’ouvrir encore, tout frémissant des émotions de la journée, on vibre face à la performance programmée.

L’ambiance ?  Toute en simplicité, bon enfant, bienveillante et généreuse. Quel que soit son niveau, on vient avec ce que l’on est, on trouve ce que l’on cherche – ce que l’on était loin de soupçonner chercher même, et l’on repart en ayant avancé sur le chemin.

L’espoir ? Contribuer à développer la communauté des êtres sensibles au pouvoir de la co-improvisation et du circle song, comme un souffle bienfaisant vers un monde plus en harmonie.

On vous attend !

Sonja Morgenegg

Sonja Morgenegg studied jazz singing at the St. Gallen Jazz School. This was followed by various further training courses in the USA (Co-Pilot Rhiannon) and Germany in the areas of breathing, body, voice, improvisation and theater. She has been working as a freelance voice coach, yodeler and singer since 2008. Free yodeling has accompanied the singer since her childhood and has gained a new, freer level for the artist through vocal improvisation. She has been intensively involved with Swiss natural yodeling since 2016. Sonja Morgenegg regularly travels with bestselling author Daniela Schwegler (Traumalp, Hüttenwartinnen, Landluft, Uferlos, Grünkraft) as a solo artist and improvisational yodeller. The artist celebrates free improvisation with the formation Triado.ch. With “Sooon”, she combines all her skills in improvisation, yodeling, world music and composition www.sooon.li. In 2023, the artist released another solo album “Wildjodel”, which contains 18 wildly composed yodels that form the basis of her wild yodeling courses.

Oskar Boldre

Autodidact, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist choirs director, composer and teacher, first met McFerrin in 1992. He has been conducting Circlesongs and improvisation groups regularly in Switzerland and Italy since 1996. In 1997 he founded the choirs Ancore d’Aria and Goccia di Voci. In 2014 he founded the school of vocal and movement improvisation and wrote the GLV method – Giocando La Voce; active as a soloist and with the Vocalia quartet.

Mattias Wyss & Annie Kummer

Mattias is a special needs teacher, head teacher and school musician with a great passion for body music and diverse experience with various body music ensembles (e.g. clapappella and RAMAJE) and as a body percussion workshop leader. He sings together with his wife Annie Kummer in «clapappella» and as a duo and organises workshops on body music and vocal improvisation for couples/duos.

Annie has diverse (teaching) experience in improvisation (theatre, music, dance), moderation (festivals, events, congresses) and singing (choir, band, ensemble). She is a university lecturer, organisational developer and leader in theme-centred theatre. She sings with her husband Mattias Wyss in «clapappella» and as a duo, and organises workshops on body music and vocal improv for couples/duos.

Gaël Aubrit

Gaël fell in love with vocal improvisation and circlesongs through meeting Bobby Mcferrin in 2010. He dedicates most of his life to spreading and refining this particular art form. Initially passionate about songwriting and musical composition, he graduated from the ENM Villeurbanne with a State certificate in musical studies (DEM) in singing. He then became a certified teacher of Allan Wright’s « Le Chanteur Moderne », a science-based vocal technique approach that he taught in private lessons and in various music schools in his hometown Lyon, France, specializing in voice therapy for singers. In 2012 he co-founded « chant pour tous »: vocal improvisation events that are free and open to everyone, with the intention of spreading vocal improvisation to a larger audience. 12 years later, more than 50 chant pour tous circles are happening every month all over France, Belgium, Switzerland, Réunion, Italy and other countries. Gaël’s philosophy tends to bring together a simple, accessible and popular way to practice music with the desire to develop and refine the artistic dimension of circlesongs and co-improvisation. He has thus collected and modelled learning tools for people who wanted to broaden their musical skills. He has directed a three-year training course for co-improvisation; he trained singers of all levels as well as teachers and improv singing facilitators, and other music professionals. From 2019, he joined the teachers’ team in Bobby McFerrin’s Circlesongs workshop in the USA. He has been building connections with a lot of fellow singers and music and cultural organisations in France and abroad in order to develop as much as possible the community of improvised singing alongside the wonderful educational, artistic and popular experience it offers.

Charles Raszl

Charles Raszl is guitarist, conductor, performer, arranger, composer, art educator and musical and theatrical director. He graduated from the Federal University of São Carlos in Music Education.

After completing the Classical Conservatory of Guitar, he joins the vocal group of the University of Sao Paulo, where he meets Fernando Barba, founder of Barbatuques, a reference group for body percussion in Brazil of which Charles is still a member today.

He moves to Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Brazil through various Body Music festivals (such as the IBMF-International Body Music Festival, PDF / France / Paris, MC Uruguay, RMW Finland and Festival and Body Rhythm Festival of Hamburg) bringing his teaching , the result of research into traditional Brazilian body music and dance techniques. He has been artistic director of Collettivo Rosario in Italy since 2019 and also of the CorpInFesta Body Music and Dance Festival.

Offrir un bon cadeau

Vous souhaitez faire plaisir à un proche et cherchez une idée de cadeau originale et personnalisée, choisissez un bon cadeau Catalyse !

Avec nos cours de chant et de théâtre adaptés aux différentes envies et tranches d’âge, vous pourrez faire découvrir une activité ludique et vocale à l’un de vos proches. Notre équipe est à votre écoute pour vous conseiller.

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Chèques créatifs

Catalyse attribue des bourses pour aider certains élèves à financer leur parcours musical. L’attribution se fait selon des critères sociaux et financiers. Les demandes de bourses sont obligatoirement formulées par l’intermédiaire du formulaire d’inscription au cours, puis d’un dossier à compléter.

Nos chèques créatifs sont financés grâce à la générosité d’une fondation privée désirant rester anonyme.

Option musique au collège

Les élèves qui suivent l’option musique parmi les disciplines communes en 1ère et 2ème année de collège peuvent obtenir une prise en charge des cours suivis à Catalyse à concurrence d’environ CHF 1’400.- / an (se renseigner auprès de l’administration du collège concerné).

Calendrier 2024/25

Ré-ouverture du secrétariat – Lundi 19 août 2024
Rentrée – Lundi 09 septembre 2024
Vacances d’automne – Du lundi 21 octobre au dimanche 27 octobre 2024
Vacances de Noël – Du lundi 23 décembre 2024 au dimanche 5 janvier 2025
Vacances de Février – Du lundi 24 février au dimanche 2 mars 2025
Vacances de Pâques – Du vendredi 18 avril au dimanche 4 mai 2025
Ascension – Jeudi 29 mai 2025
Pentecôte – Lundi 9 juin 2025
Vacances d’été – À partir du lundi 23 juin 2025