Workshops
Put more tools in your music-making toolbox with the Getting Music series of workshops with Amado. Classes available in the basic building blocks of music, intermediate/advanced musical structures, and the basics of circlesinging and vocal improvisation. More classes coming soon! More about Workshops >
Circlesinging
Amado regularly co-leads community circlesinging events: In DC with his partners in the group VoiceExchange, and in Roanoke with Star City Circlesinging. Amado learned Circlesinging and related forms of Vocal/Choral Improvisation directly from its sources—Bobby McFerrin and members of Bobby’s group Voicestra—and passes on what he’s learned in workshops and singing events, held in-person or over Zoom. More about Circlesinging >
The Daily Song Project: One hour, alone with a looping app on an iPad. No preconceived ideas at the start of the hour—just finding the sounds that are right for that time, and following them, layer after layer. Within the hour, a finished song—with all of its imperfections intact. Five days a week, nearly every week for two years; thereafter, whenever the demands of graduate studies in music allow the time. At nearly 400 songs and growing, Amado’s Daily Song Project is a testament to the power of a daily practice. More about the Daily Song Project >
Composed Works
Amado has composed pieces for: choir (accompanied and a cappella); solo voice and piano; voices and winds; voices, piano, and contrabass; and solo piano. He’s conversant in both chamber music and colloquial styles. More about Amado’s compositions >
Vocal Performance: Jazz, Blues, and more
Amado is a dynamic soloist with an extensive repertoire of jazz and blues standards. Whether in an intimate duo setting with a pianist or guitarist, or fronting a 4-piece electric band or 24-piece jazz orchestra, he brings a funky sensibility which is somehow not-at-all at odds with his sonorous lyric baritone. More about Amado’s performance history >
Music is a human birthright; everyone should be free to spontaneously lift their voice. Its purpose is to deepen what can be said in words, or to express the ineffable. Done right, it also creates connection between people, even as it moves ours hearts, minds, or hips. And since music occurs in time, it loses some of its potency if the music-makers aren’t fully in the here-and-now. So let’s make some music—right here, right now.
Amado