The vocal workshop that was initiated by Sibel Köse in Gordion Academy in Ankara in 1999 was carried on to Istanbul in the following years. The period of time when joint workshops with Randy Esen were organised in Hayart the art establishment of Kemer Country ve Golf Club was followed by organising her individual workshops. Since 2006 jazz vocal workshops are organised regularly coordinated by Simla Ongan.

The aim of organising these workshops is to proliferate jazz music and education in Turkey, to create the atmosphere to welcome people who are willing to sing and who are interested in jazz music. We are gathering groups of people who share their interest on singing jazz and in those groups and together we are listening, singing and communicating.

We meet once every week to gather and share information amongst our group, to practice singing, to have experinece with active participation, to support every participant to build up a practicing regiment with information and material and to organise final concerts where participants are sharing their efforts and their experience with the audience. The general framework of our practices are our weekly singing sessions accompanied by our piano player, group sessions of different topics, the presentations of our guests, ensembles with the trio to prepare for the final concert and finally performing to audience in Nardis Jazz Club.

The content of the practices are based on jazz standards. We share our knowledge on the songs, we analyse the lyrics. We try to improve our vocal techniques, articulation, pronounciation and phrasing experimenting. We experiment as well on expressing our emotions, opening up our hearts to each other through songs. We concentrate on the criteria of interpreting a song. We choose songs and work on them. Sometimes we have guests who are sharing their experinces and wisdom with us through their presentations. We analyse practise material and go through some of the exercises of sources. We listen to music, learn the jazz jargon, share stories. We play with styles and grooves. We discuss on what to pay attention to while performing together. Finally we end up every season presenting all these efforts in our performance.

Without any limitatons participants of all levels are welcome to sessions.The essential qualifications are to love jazz, be willing and courageous to sing and to have the intention for growth.

Past Workshops

1989 – 1991 Participating in Jazz Studios, Faculty of Music and Performing Arts, Bilkent University (ensembles and individual sessions with Krzesimir Debski and Janusz Szprot)

1990 Participating at the Jazz Vocal Summer School organised by Polish Jazz Society – Zwierzyniec / Poland
Instructors: Deborah Brown, Rachel Gould

1992 18th International Meeting of Jazz Vocalists - Zamosc / Poland Awarded 1st Prize

1996 Participating at the Jazz Vocal Summer School organised by Polish Jazz Society – Pulawy / Poland
Instructors: Eli Wright, Joe Lee Wilson
Individual voice lessons from Ayşe Sezerman and Randy Esen.

1999 – 2001 Initiating Jazz Vocal Workshops at Gordion Academy – Ankara

2002 – 2004 Organising workshops with Randy Esen at Hayart art establishment of Kemer Country & Golf Club, individual workshop organisations

2006 – 2009 Workshop – İstanbul

2006 – 2009 Instructor at the Jazz Summer School organised by Polish Jazz Society – Pulawy / Poland

2008 9th SAJE (South African Jazz Educators’) International Conference - Capetown, Durban / South Africa
Concerts and performances with Kamil Erdem (Yıldız Technical University, İstanbul, Turkey), workshops, concerts and performances with Gloria Cooper (Long Island University, New York, USA), Darius Brubeck (London, UK), Mike Rossi (University of Cape Town, South Africa), Jim Repa (Boston, USA)., Mageshen Naidoo (University of Kwazulu-Natan, Durban, South Africa), Bob Sinicrope (Milton Academy, Boston, USA), Ruben Alvarez (Northwestern University, Roosevelt University, Columbia College, ABD) and Kamil Erdem ((Yıldız Technical University, İstanbul, Turkey)