Singing opens doors to other cultures and languages, and it makes you feel good! The combination of world-class artists and passionate singers creates a rare and safe community for all levels of participation. Through close observation and personal experimentation you’ll learn about breathing, phrasing, dynamics, how to make your voice blend, and what makes your voice unique.The workshop is open to everyone.
Differing levels of ability are expected, and the faculty will respond to participant need accordingly. If you’re on the beginning end of the spectrum, you’ll find an ample slate of classes to address your needs; likewise, advanced singers will find plenty to challenge them. If you can’t help singing, or if you’ve always wanted to sing with others but for whatever reason you don’t, you should plan to be at this workshop.
Experience Voice Works
Artistic Director
Pharis Romero
Pharis Romero is a Juno Award-winning folk singer and songwriter, celebrated for her soulful vocals and deep connection to traditional roots music. As Artistic Director of Voice Works, Pharis curates a faculty that emphasizes the craft of singing and storytelling. With a focus on folk, country, and roots traditions, she encourages students to develop their vocal technique and connect deeply with their songs’ stories.
Faculty
Partial list of 2025 Voice Works Faculty - more coming!
Christine Balfa
Christine Balfa is a native Louisiana French speaker, a committed and caring teacher, and a deeply- rooted Cajun musician with a passion for culture and education. As the daughter of Cajun cultural ambassador and National Heritage Fellow Dewey Balfa, she grew up in the center of the renaissance of Cajun and Creole culture. After his passing, she formed the musical group Balfa Toujours and created the non-profit Louisiana Folk Roots, of which she was the founding executive director.…
Dina Blade
Dina Blade is a singer with a deeply relaxed sense of time and swing. She spent her early childhood watching old cartoons with jazz soundtracks and has been enthralled with the music ever since. She has graced stages in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Cuba and Brazil, singing at festivals, jazz clubs, schools, parties and other community events.…
Gail Davies
Gail Davies is one of Nashville’s finest singers, songwriters, and record producers. A pioneering performer, she was the first female in country music to produce her own recordings and has been cited as a major influence by such diverse acts as Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Kathy Mattea, Suzy Bogguss, and Pam Tillis. A gifted, multi-faceted musician with country, bluegrass and blues leanings, Gail has delighted in spreading her creative wings since she scored with her revival of Webb Pierce’s No Love Have I in 1978.…
DaShawn and Wendy Hickman
Wendy and DaShawn Hickman are a married couple of sweetheart musicians, rooted in gospel roots and soulful tradition. They share a home in Mt. Airy, North Carolina.
DaShawn is one of today’s foremost players of Sacred Steel, a blues-gospel tradition started in the Pentecostal-Holiness churches of the 1930s. He grew up hearing the pedal steel in the tiny House of God church his family attended in Mt.…
Laurie Lewis
with George Guthrie (bio coming)
California
fiddle
For nearly four decades, Laurie Lewis has gathered fans and honors for her powerful and emotive voice and her versatile, dynamic songwriting. And she is an inspiration and a ground-breaker – across genres, across geography and across gender barriers. Laurie has shown us how a woman can blend into any part of the classic bluegrass singing trio, and she showed us how a great voice could move fluidly between bluegrass and other types of music.…
Max Malone
A life in music is practically unavoidable when you’re born into a family of musicians. Max Malone was weaned on country music in the rural wilds of Ontario, through both the radio and his mother’s work as a background vocalist on the Tommy Hunter show. By the age of twelve he was performing as a singer and bassist with his family band on a weekly gig in Toronto’s Cabbagetown.…
Emily Miller
Emily Miller is the Artistic Director of the Augusta Heritage Center, the string band director of the college’s Appalachian Ensemble, and a professional singer and fiddle player. At Augusta, Emily works with the director to oversee all programming and helps the theme week coordinators to execute a joint artistic vision. She received her BA in Anthropology-Linguistics from Brown University and her MS in Speech-Language Pathology from Vanderbilt University.…
Valerie Mindel
Val Mindel is a longtime musician, teacher and workshop leader, known for helping singers achieve the sound they want and have fun doing it. She teaches a wide range of harmony styles from the buzzy sound of American old-time and early country harmony to the weaving harmonies of songs from across the ocean. In the process she addresses such indefinables as tone, ornamentation and lead singing.…
Sarina Partridge
Sarina Partridge is a musician, song-leader, educator and activist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She feels most alive when learning, creating and sharing songs — especially songs that grow out of time spent in wild places. Sarina sings with a wide variety of music projects: community song-leading of her own original songs; harmony-rich original music with folk trio Heartwood; performing and teaching vocal harmony folk music music she’s studied with master teachers around the world; and performing and teaching of Eastern European and Yiddish song – her own musical lineage.…
Dawn Pemberton
Dawn Pemberton has deep musical roots that take her powerful voice from gospel and soul to jazz, funk and world music. She has become a staple of the Vancouver music scene and can often be found tearin’ it up as a vocalist, teacher, facilitator, choir director and “go to girl” for live performances and studio sessions.…
Rachael Price
Rachael grew up in a musical environment in Portland, OR. At an early age Rachael began taking voice lessons and singing in local choirs and discovered that she wanted to sing professionally. She attended Berklee College of Music on scholarship as a vocalist. Rachael graduated with a degree in Professional Music with an emphasis in Songwriting from Berklee in 2010 and has been pursuing music ever since, recording albums and touring nationally.…
Pharis Romero
Artistic Director, Voice Works
Pharis has been singing and playing music her whole life. An early student of classical and country, she grew up performing with her family’s band and learning the songs and stories that made her want to dig deeper. These days she performs mostly with her husband Jason, and is equally at home disappearing into an old-time jam as she is singing on stage or teaching the joy of song and sound.
Melody Walker
Melody Walker is a songwriter, producer, performer, and fervent believer that songs can change the world. Best known for her writing with Molly Tuttle, Sierra Ferrell, Della Mae and her own band Front Country, Melody’s post-pandemic recalibration has found her setting real roots down in her home of Nashville, co-writing with her talented neighbors, and hosting her weekly writers’ round, Writers’ Kitchen.…
Class Descriptions
2025 Class Descriptions
SINGING WITH INTENTION: TECHNIQUE, STORYTELLING, EMOTING - Rachael Price
Learn tools and techniques for breathing, improving tone, and increasing range. We’ll work to elevate the why behind your singing and aim to have you walk away with strengthened confidence in the value of your unique instrument, empowering you to sing with deeper intention and awareness.
VOCAL PLACEMENT WORKSHOP - - Rachael Price
Learn how to increase resonance, enhance emoting/storytelling and free stubborn notes with vocal/tone placement. Hear recorded examples and try it out together!
SING FROM YOUR VALUES - Limit 6 (ADVANCE SIGNUP) - Rachael Price
Find Vocal Identity & Confidence by identifying core values and applying them to your musicality.
WORKING WITH THE “MATURING” VOICE – Laurie Lewis
As we age, we face many changes. Our voices may lose range and suppleness, but we also gain other strengths and tools. We will explore the fine art of working with what we have, exploring what’s new, and maintaining it.
HAZEL AT 100: THE SONGS OF HAZEL DICKENS, 100 YEARS AFTER HER BIRTH - Laurie Lewis
BLUEGRASS TRIOS, STRAIGHT AND CROOKED – Laurie Lewis
We will break down a classic trio of Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, with special attention to Earl’s baritone line, and a song from the Stanley Brothers and one by the Osborne Brothers.
EXPLORING THE GENRES TO KEEP YOUR VOICE ALIVE AND WELL - Gail Davies
This class will be an exploration of different styles from the present and the past. From country to folk to opera, we’ll learn different repertoire with approaches and techniques to strengthen and gain flexibility and healthy habits for your singing.
EXAMINING GOALS AND WAYS TO ATTAIN THEM - Gail Davies
A master-class style class, with performances from the students and feedback from Gail. This class welcomes group performances, and will include how to harmonize and work in a group setting. If time allows, a question-and-answer segment about the music industry from Gail’s perspective as a veteran performer, producer and songwriter.
DOO-WOP WORKSHOP! – Dawn Pemberton
We’ll learn a few doo-wop classics as a group and bop-shoo-wop all over camp. We will immerse ourselves in the style and also experiment with singing these gems in small groups for the full doo-wop experience!
VOCAL CARE 101 – Dawn Pemberton
In this elective we will cover the basics of good vocal hygiene and discuss how technique impacts vocal health. We’ll also explore how great technique leads to greater expression, access to a wider range of vocal tones and colours and stylistic effects. You will have a better understanding of the do’s and don’ts and leave with a few helpful tools and methods to create your own simple warm up and cool down routine. Please feel free to bring your questions!
GET DOWN WITH MOTOWN! – Dawn Pemberton
Detroit, Motor City, Hitsville, USA! The Temptations, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5…and the list goes on! Motown was a monumental musical empire that left the world with an unforgettable legacy. We’ll dig into the rich catalogue of this iconic sound and form our very own Voice Works Motown ensemble…Dust off those wingtips and fluff that chiffon!
VOCAL JAM – Dawn Pemberton
Let’s play and see what our voices can do through collective vocal improvisation! This class will inspire spur of the moment creativity and joyful discovery in action! We'll create spontaneous vocal grooves and vamps, have fun with odd meters, riffs, and explore new tones and colours, and ways of weaving story and song together. If you dig Bobby McFerrin or Rhiannon’s work then you will dig this class.
BEAT BOOT CAMP – Dawn Pemberton
Ready to beef up your rhythm muscles? Rhythm is a fundamental element of music that influences and informs melody and pitch. This class will help strengthen your sense of time and rhythm. Together we will groove and “la la la” our way through co-operative, fun and funky a capella songs, steps and rhythms from around the world. Be in control of the rhythm, be in charge of the beat and watch as your musical world opens up. Guaranteed you will leave energized, inspired and hungry for more. This program is for all levels, no experience is required to have a good time and learn something neW.
GET LIFTED – Dawn Pemberton
Come and experience the joy and richness of singing the soulful and uplifting sacred music of the African American tradition! From spirituals to contemporary gospel music, together we will take a musical journey that is guaranteed to make you stomp your feet, clap your hands (on 2 and 4 of course), and have a feel-good time!
STEP UP ANS SWING! – Dina Blade
Learn some great songs from the swing era (1920s,30s,40s) and get a tool kit of tips to add pizazz to your delivery! We’ll focus on phrasing and that elusive quality called “swing" using fun vocal warmups, rhythm drills, and s(w)inging with and for each other.
BOSSA NOVA SINGING – Dina Blade
Learn classic songs in the seductive bossa nova style with rhythms that capture its essence and make you feel the heat, relax and want to sway like the palm trees.
AROUND THE WORL HARMONY - Sarina Partridge
Let's have an energizing and uplifting singing experience - featuring lush and beautiful music from many singing traditions around the world that I've traveled and studied. Together we will dig into music from Georgia, South Africa, Corsica, the Balkans, Eastern European Jewish folk music... This will be a fun introduction, and no experience or sheet music reading is necessary. We will focus on building a unified ensemble sound, as well as intonation, pronunciation and style. Each day, we'll probably focus on one or two songs so if you drop in for one session or all of them, we'll have a blast! All are welcome!
SONGS TO BUILD COMMUNITY - Sarina Partridge
In this class we will learn original harmony songs I've written for building community: for choirs, community groups, protests, around the table, at bedsides, at the park... songs that get any group singing in harmony together before you know it! Come fill your body up with simple, satisfying songs touching on big themes like the cycles of the seasons, showing up for each other and ourselves and the planet, how to embody and use our powerful voices. All songs will be taught by ear and all voices are welcome!
IT MIGHT GET LOUD! – Max Malone
This class will start by finding our individual chest voice range. A natural tendency is to close down and choke off notes as they get louder and higher in pitch. We will focus on physically opening up our throats and chests to fully express the top of our range through warm ups, and gentle exploration of the outer limits.
HARMONY BEYOND BASICS – Max Malone
We will develop skills to create harmonies and counter melodies beyond basic triad based chords. This class will include both a listening and song learning element. We will listen and dissect multiple artists harmonic arrangements to discover what makes them unusual and compelling. We will also learn several songs and harmonies for each including lines for two and three parts. There will be lots of opportunities for this throughout the week. Participants should be able to learn and hold harmonies.
Wendy and DaShawn Hickman – class descriptions coming.
Schedule
Here is how you’ll spend your time:
THE FIRST DAY! Monday, June 23
Check-in starts at 4pm at the Centrum office. Dinner is served at 6pm in the Commons.
SHORT FORT WORDEN TOUR – Find out where classes are held, which buildings we’ll be using, and get a general feel for the Fort Worden campus. The tour ends at the Wheeler Theater in time for orientation. Meet behind 204, we’ll depart at 7:10pm.
An extensive welcome and orientation session begins at 7:30pm in the Wheeler Theater. Bring this book and a pencil, and your badge. We will introduce each of the musicians who are on staff, ask them to sing a little, and to talk about what they’ll be teaching. We’ll also talk about the workshop schedule, bring any fresh information, and try to get your questions answered.
General Schedule - draft
9:30: warm ups
10:00 - 11:50: class session #1 - all faculty teaching concurrently
12:00 - 1:00: lunch
1:00 - 2:00: siesta or practice
2:00 - 3:00: class session #2
3:30 - 4:30: class session #3
4:45 - 5:45: wildcard/ALL CAMP SING/open mic
6:00 - 7:00: dinner
Evenings
Thursday - public performance at 7:30 in the Wheeler Theater featuring all of the Voice Works faculty.
Friday - Honky Tonk Polka Dot Dance at 8pm in the USO
Cost
Workshop tuition includes admission to everything, including great seats at all public performances. Your meal ticket is good for three meals per day.
2025 Costs will be posted soon.
- Adult Tuition: $550
- Additional Family Member (sibling, spouse, child; limit of two): $275
- Youth (under 22): $275
- Canadian Resident: $400 US
- Private dorm room: $300
- All meals: $350
- Lunches only (4): $90
- Airport shuttle (optional): $120 round trip or $60 one way
Centrum has a variety of ways to be able to attend our workshops even if you’re on a budget. If you need financial assistance, Centrum has a robust scholarship program awarded on a first-come, first-served; and as-needed basis. Apply online as you register. Please note that except in rare cases, scholarships are available for tuition only. Centrum requires a $100 deposit of scholarship applicants, which is fully refundable before May 25 if you are unable to attend. If you are interested in volunteering, or a work trade position, please contact Peter McCracken at peter@centrum (dot) org.
Room & Board
Most participants stay in private dormitory rooms at Fort Worden. There are a limited number of double rooms, that is, rooms with two twin beds. If you’d like a double, please request one, and list another registered participant who has signed up for room and board in order to share that room. It is first come, first served.
Meals are served at Fort Worden Commons. The first meal is dinner on June 23; the last meal is breakfast on June 28.
Cancellation/Refund Policy
Cancellation policy:
All but $50 is refundable if cancellation is made on or before May 31, 2025.
FAQ
Scholarships
Apply online as you register. Please note that except in rare cases, scholarships are available for tuition only. Centrum requires a $100 deposit of scholarship applicants, which is fully refundable before May 23 if you are unable to attend. If you are interested in volunteering, or a work trade position, please contact Peter McCracken at peter@centrum (dot) org.
Room & Board
Most participants stay in private dormitory rooms at Fort Worden. There are a limited number of double rooms, that is, rooms with two twin beds. If you’d like a double, please request one, and list another registered participant who has signed up for room and board in order to share that room. It is first come, first served.
Meals are served at Fort Worden Commons. The first meal is dinner on June 23; the last meal is breakfast on June 28.
Cancellation policy:
All but $50 is refundable if cancellation is made on or before May 31, 2025. No refunds are available after May 31.
Voice Works shuttle schedule:
Arrive – Monday, June 23, 2025, pick-up at SeaTac airport, 2:30pm, Pacific Time.
Depart – Saturday, June 28, 2025, depart Centrum at Port Townsend, 9am, Pacific Time.
If you have any more questions about Voice Works, please contact Peter McCracken at 360-385-3102, x127, or peter@centrum (dot) org.
Kids & Teens
Most of our workshops are family events, and we welcome musicians of all ages and abilities to participate.
If you are under 18, you must be accompanied by a registered adult. Please register the adult first, as you will need a confirmation number.
PERFORMANCES
VOICE WORKS EVENTS
Wheeler Theater Vocal Showcase
Thursday, June 26, 7:30 p.m., The Wheeler Theater
Tickets: $30
Honky Tonk Polka Dot Dance
Friday, June 27, 8 p.m., USO Building
Tickets $15 (sold at the door only)
...with a beer garden and a nice wooden dance floor!
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS
Past Faculty
Nikki Dee
Past Faculty
Nikki Dee is an award-winning vocalist and transformational vocal coach based in Honolulu. Her renowned Deeva Method takes the mystery and confusion out of vocal technique, making vocal power, confidence, and healing accessible to singers and speakers around the world.
Queen Esther
One of country and Americana music’s most fascinating artists, Queen Esther’s range stretches far and wide creatively. Bold and outspoken, sweet and generous in spirit, her music shines a light on violence against Black Americans, her passion for country music, and the myths that have haunted the South since long before the Civil War. She’s a vocalist, songwriter, lyricist, musician, solo performer, playwright, librettist, essayist, actor, TED speaker and producer.…
Rich Hill
Rich Hill is from Wyoming. He began learning Gaelic when he was seven years old from a Scottish immigrant who had come to the Rocky Mountains. He met a “new family,” the Gaels of Vancouver, in 1989. He has been heavily immersed in Gaelic since that time, teaching and singing in Scottish Gaelic. He is a founder of Slighe nan Gaidheal and Féis Seattle, and is also well-known in Seattle’s early music scene.
Mara Kaye
Faculty
Referred to by Jazz Lives as “one of New York’s great gifts to the world,” blues and jazz vocalist Mara Kaye is “like some lost pocket of the blues that had never been explored in the old days, all wrapped up in a ball of 21st-century Brooklyn-bred attitude.” For over a decade she has traveled internationally and throughout the US, sharing legendary stages with champions of the genre, singing beloved songs of the past with a deep passion and respect for its original storytellers.
Bridge Hill Kennedy
Faculty
Dr. Kennedy (he/him/his), attended his first Sacred Harp singing in June of 2002. This life changing event came about when he was invited to accompany his sister-in-law to a singing for a commissioned painting (“All Day Singing and Dinner on the Grounds” by Bethanne Hill, 2003, commissioned by Max Berueffy).
Caleb Klauder
Faculty
Raised on Orcas Island, WA, then on to college and the 30 years to follow in Oregon, and then back to Washington again, Caleb is a true north-westerner. Yet
his maternal family roots lay in East Tennessee. These deep family roots contribute to his music through old memories, bringing you the strong singing and spirited attitude that gives his music a cutting and sweet edge. Caleb has written many songs, some that are performed by others and some that are becoming standards at jam sessions in the bluegrass scenes across the US, Canada, and in Europe.
Grace Love
Faculty
Singer songwriter Grace Love is the Olympic Peninsula’s shining jewel of grit, beauty and power – think Etta James and Betty Wright meet Mahalia Jackson. She grew up in Tacoma, just a stone’s throw from Seattle, which infused her R&B melodies with fortitude and grunge.
Khari Wendell McClelland
Faculty
Khari Wendell McClelland is a diversely talented and ever-evolving artist. Originally from Detroit, Khari has become a darling on the Canadian music scene with reviewers lauding his performances as a clever mix of soul and gospel. Khari’s songwriting crosses genres and generations, joyfully invoking the spirit of his ancestors who straddled the US-Canadian border in efforts to escape slavery and discrimination.
Karla Mundy
Karla Mundy is a vibrant, soulful and diverse vocalist, pianist, arranger and choir leader. She grew up outside Calgary, Alberta and from a young age, was extremely passionate about piano, singing and dancing. She studied piano from the age of seven onwards, sang at all times and was introduced to many styles of music through her study of jazz, modern, flamenco, African and Latin dance as a teenager.…
Johnny Nicholas
Blues Songs
Time is a river and you can never step in the same river twice. It’s all gonna change, but what came before shapes what comes after. There are certain people who seem to be in both places at once. Johnny Nicholas has played music and rambled with some of the most original and artistically powerful individuals of the American 20th century.
Karin Plato
Canadian vocalist and composer Karin Plato came to jazz almost by accident. The music she heard in her formative years was the rock and pop music of the day and the classical music she studied from a young age. She didn’t get the “jazz bug” until she was in her early 30’s and that’s when her music career really began when she made the move from central Canada to the West Coast.
Pharis Romero
Artistic Director, Voice Works
Pharis has been singing and playing music her whole life. An early student of classical and country, she grew up performing with her family’s band and learning the songs and stories that made her want to dig deeper. These days she performs mostly with her husband Jason, and is equally at home disappearing into an old-time jam as she is singing on stage or teaching the joy of song and sound.
The Chapin Sisters
The Chapin Sisters carry on a proud family musical legacy: Father Tom Chapin is a Grammy-winning singer/songwriter, legendary late uncle Harry Chapin was an artist and activist best known for his #1 hit “Cat’s in the Cradle”, and grandfather Jim Chapin literally wrote the book on how to play the drumkit. For nearly 20 years these masters of blood harmony have garnered critical acclaim by forging a distinctive musical imprint by blending dynamically complex vocal harmonies and folk-influenced melodies with dark, wryly sarcastic lyrical content.…
Moira Smiley
Faculty
Her clarion voice and joyous, embodied performances have carried Moira and her songs around the planet and inspired millions of harmony singers to sing her songs. She’s immersed herself in early American, Irish and East European vocal traditions and seeks to honor the many powerful, cultural roles of singing beyond stage and microphone
Miss Tess
Miss Tess has always been known for creating an eclectic array of vintage blues, country, and jazz sounds. Currently residing in Nashville, she finds no shortage of inspiration in the roots scene there. However varied Tess’ music can be, front and center sits her voice that has been described as “alternately seductive and sexy, and a pure joy to listen to” (Pop Matters).…
Yoseff Tucker
Yoseff’s early life exposure to traditional bluegrass and American roots music came courtesy of his grandfather who moved to Central California from the Ozarks in the early 20th century. His first guitar came to him while he was still in diapers and an appreciation for music laid a great foundation in his life.
Eli West
Faculty
It’s always illuminating to ask an artist how they understand music, but Eli West’s perspective is nothing short of ground-breaking. A trained designer, he sees music architecturally, visualizing his compositions spatially. It’s a highly unusual way to think about music, tied to his verdant natural world of the Pacific Northwest.
Reeb Willms
Faculty
Reeb Willms has been singing and playing guitar since 2001 and is widely regarded as one of the best rhythm guitar players in old time music. She hails from the windswept Central Washington farmlands of Douglas County, and was heavily influenced as a child by her musical father and uncles, who performed locally as the Willms Brothers. Her warm, tender vocals and driving rhythms are a living testament to this musical tradition, which she brought to the stage in her early 20s.
