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Why sing?

 So here we are,  now in the THIRD academic year of pandemic adaptations.  And yet, despite all expectations, my studio is full and people are still singing.     Maybe the pandemic has done us a favor by reminding us that singing is what we need for so many more reasons beyond "the career".   I often think about how singing is part  of the human condition: we do it naturally as babies, we use song to teach children.  The oppressed sing for comfort, protesters sing to share their message.  We sing in times of upset and times of joy.  Every culture around the world has its own forms of vocal expression which explore rhythm, and SOUND.  It's what we do.  One question I get asked a lot as a teacher is "Why should my child take voice lessons?", often followed by, "Are they good enough to 'make it'?". I understand that parents and students considering college paths and futures want to think about "return on investment", but...
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Recent posts

New book on the block!

A wonderful new anthology has just been released (one that many of us have been hoping to see for some time)!   
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Repertoire for Students Part 3: Instead of this, try that.....

A recent discussion among teachers dipped into the perennial question: should teens and developing singers be encouraged to sing core 18th and 19th century operatic repertoire before their technique is fully developed?  There is no one-size-fits-all answer - there are a handful of exceptional students who are ready to start building their operatic chops as teens, but  in general I personally come down on the side of "no".   I encourage these keen students to become familiar with the  dramatic stage works they love and  maybe even play around singing them for fun, but as performance and audition pieces?  "Not yet....".  They don't love me when I steer them away from O Mio Babbino Caro or Queen of the Night but, if they continue as serious singers, their 30-something selves will thank me for not letting them build youthful insufficiencies into what becomes their mature bread-and-butter repertoire!    Beyond Handel and the 24/26/28, this st...
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Repertoire for Students: Guest Blog, Laura Woolbright Mashburn

For this post I'm delighted to pass the baton (keyboard?) to my dear friend and colleague Laura Woolbright Mashburn . Laura is a wonderful singer and teacher with seemingly bottomless knowledge about repertoire:  whenever I feel "stuck", I ping her for a quick Facebook chat and instantly have a dozen suggestions to consider (many of them "new to me" selections)!  So much repertoire out there to explore ... :)
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Repertoire for Students, Part 2: Beyond "the Yellow Book"

In Part 1 , I shared some of the rationales that I use when selecting repertoire for students; this post explores some specific sources of repertoire for developing classical singers. ( "The Yellow Book" of course refers to the ubiquitous "24 Italian Songs & Arias of the 17th and 18th Centuries" that seems to be a rite of passage for every classical singer!)
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Repertoire for students, Part 1

As mentioned in yesterday's quick update , teaching now dominates my life, and the thoughts below have been percolating for a while (and, in fact, are why I resurrected the blog!).  I often hear new teachers asking questions about choosing repertoire for younger or developing singers, which prompted me to jot down a few notes that guide my own thinking as I choose pieces for my students at all ages and stages of development.    
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The march of time.....................

Eight years since the last post.  EIGHT YEARS.  Not quite sure how that has happened, but here we are!   My old blog summary, which I've just updated:  "Musings on my life as a busy opera singer, voice teacher, photographer and mom - not necessarily in that order! I consider myself immensely fortunate to have carved out a way of doing all of these things which mean so much to me - it may sometimes get a little crazy, but it's always worth it. Welcome to the madhouse!" I'm still fortunate, and I'm still doing all these things in one way or another, but life has sure changed a lot since then. We've come out the other side of a major recession. The beautiful 12 year old in the  sidebar photo is graduating from college and moving on to grad school (note to self, update photo!).  Both of my parents passed away in 2019, after 5 complicated, traumatic years of steep decline.  I was appointed Voice Department Chair of a conservatory Preparatory division a...
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