Laurel Murphy is a Vancouver-born singer, improviser and teacher.  Improvisation has been a constant thread that runs through all aspects of Laurel’s work.

A long-time student of Rhiannon (of Bobby McFerrin’s “Gimme5” and “Voicestra”) Laurel began her studies in vocal improvisation in 1992, working regularly with Rhiannon over the years.  In 1997, Laurel started teaching classes inspired by Rhiannon’s approach.  Laurel was a “co-pilot” at Rhiannon’s inaugural  “All the Way In” program for singers in 2008 and has continued to be involved in the ever-growing international community. She is also a founding member of the WELL VOCAL, a website for vocal improvisers around the world.

Through the years, Laurel has collaborated with singers, dancers and poets. She created the performance series “Blank Space” as a monthly ‘open studio’ for improvised vocal explorations and spontaneous collaboration with artists of complementary disciplines.

Most recently, she was part of  “The Murmuration Project”, an exciting new art form conceived of and directed by Rhiannon and Margie Gillis. Laurel was invited to travel with a group of 15 singers to Denmark in May of 2024 where they presented at the Aarhus Vocal Festival. It’s a unique, inspiring and powerful kind of work, requiring skills in vocal improvisation and movment and Laurel hopes to introduce the concept to the Vancouver community.

Other projects include spontaneous choral composition (SongRise), solo performance with loopers and electronics, interdisciplinary and collaboration, teaching and an ongoing exploration of the healing properties of sound. Laurel has contributed regularly at Callanish Healing Retreats since 2004 and was recently a guest facilitator at Bobby McFerrin’s Circle Songs gathering at Omega Institute.

A graduate of the VCC jazz and contemporary music program, Laurel has always had a deep love of jazz and the beautiful melodies of the Great American Songbook. She has performed at a variety of venues in Vancouver over the years and in 2016, released “When I Was a Bird“ (iTunes, Spotify) a jazz interpretation of Canadian folk classics as well as standards. Her current projects include soundscapes for relaxation,  improvised voice and piano and looper compositions.

Other recordings she has appeared on include background vocals for children’s singer/advocate, Raffi, spontaneous compositions with a 17 voice choir and Rhiannon’s teaching CD “Flight” which she co-produced and appeared as a guest singer.

Daughter of musical parents who first met in a church choir, Laurel began singing at a young age. She grew up listening to everything from Joni Mitchell to Puccini, Led Zepellin to Nat King Cole and Glenn Miller.

Inspired by Bobby McFerrin’s circle singing concept, Laurel produced two pivotal events in Vancouver in 1995 and 1999. “SongRise” featured a 5-hour continuous improvised choral creation for New Year’s eve. Led by Rhiannon, Laurel and 6 other conductors, each event brought together 200 singers and 1400 audience members in a celebration of spontaneous voice. The events helped to launch many vocal improv offerings in Vancouver over the years, including the SongRise Improv Choir which continues 30 years later.

Laurel has been influenced by her studies with masters of a variety of disciplines: Gillian Hunt, ARCT (vocal technique), Bobby McFerrin (improvised voice), Richard Armstrong (voice), Ruth Zaporah (movement/sound/narrative), Margie Gillis (movement), Natalie Goldberg (writing), Pat Moffit-Cook (Vedic chant), Stewart Cubley (painting).  In 2020 she completed Levels 1, 2 and 3 of Jeanie LoVetri’s  “Somatic Voiceworks” program for teachers of voice, and “Soul Ingredients” with Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin.