Matthew Johnson
Contributor
Matthew Johnson is a collegiate educator, vocalist, saxophonist, and conductor. He is a member of the music and theatre faculty, Chair of the Performing Arts Department, and Coordinator of Music at Rowan College Burlington County, teaching courses in Music and Theatre-Applied Voice, Voice and Diction, Ear Training, Music Theory Fundamentals, and Music History- as well as courses in education- Historical Foundations of American Education and Music and the Child.
Prior to joining the faculty at RCBC in 2024, he served as the Performing Arts Coordinator at Mercer County Community College in West Windsor, NJ, where he helped oversee programming, curriculum, and advising for music, theatre, dance, and entertainment technology. He maintains a small private voice studio working with performance-career-oriented high school students, musical theatre professionals in the greater Philadelphia region, and gender-affirming voice students interested in vocal masculinization or feminization. Outside of his duties at the college and his voice studio, Matthew also serves as a Digital Faculty Consultant and Subject Matter Expert with McGraw Hill for their higher education music catalog. Before transitioning to higher education, he taught in PK-12th grade for six years, during which he covered all levels of choral, band, general music, and theatre across private, public, and specialized settings, including acute psychiatric and behavioral facilities, serving as a teacher, department head, instructional coach, and curriculum developer.
Education
Matthew holds a Master of Music in Music Education-Performance from West Chester University's Wells School of Music, where he studied voice with Dr. Nicholas Provenzale, music education with Dr. Marci Major, and vocal pedagogy with Prof. Lauren Athey-Janka. His thesis, A Historical and Pedagogical Analysis of Vocal Repertoire: Recital Research and Teaching Strategies, focused on the musical and pedagogical analysis of vocal repertoire and explored teaching strategies for effective studio instruction. Outside his thesis research, he completed other projects on classroom pedagogy for LGBTQIA+ students, vocal pedagogy for Trans, Nonbinary, and Gender non-conforming singers, and teacher preparation for vocal music education students. He completed his undergraduate studies at Seton Hill University, earning a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance with secondary studies in saxophone performance and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education, with secondary studies in music composition and piano. He received the Sister Clementine Oler Memorial Award for Excellence in K-12 Certification in December 2017
Certifications
Matthew has completed continuing education courses and certifications in several vocal pedagogy-related topics. In 2023, he completed training in the Estill Vocal Method- Basic Figure Proficiency, Estill Level 1 Figures for Voice Control, and Level 2 Figures for Six Voice Qualities from Estill International, with sessions led by Dr. Kim Steinhauer. He completed Gender-Affirming Voice and Speech training with Chicago Voice Lab, studying with Liz Jackson Hearns in 2023. In 2025, he attended the summer Contemporary Commercial Music Institute of Shenandoah Conservatory at Shenandoah University, completing all three levels. Matthew also holds a PK-12 Instructional Music Teaching Certification from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, awarded in 2018.
Performance and Ensemble Direction
As a performer, Matthew is an avid recitalist and choral soloist, often performing in the Greater Philadelphia/New Jersey region. His performance and conducting experience includes opera, musical theatre, liturgical music, concert and symphonic choral ensembles, wind ensembles, jazz combos and big bands, and musical theatre pits. Most recently, he served as the music director and vocal coach for Star Catchers Summer Theatre production of The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals.
Presentations and Workshops
Since 2021, Matthew has been an in-demand presenter and workshop clinician on vocal pedagogy, vocal health for professional voice users, musical theatre vocal styles for classically trained teachers/singers, and gender-affirming voice and speech in the music studio and rehearsal. He regularly presents at state-level conferences like the D.C. Music Educators Association, Delaware Fall Arts Conference, the Delaware Thespian Festival, and the New Jersey Thespian Festival, and he also serves as an adjudicator at Thespian Festivals.
Professional Organization Affiliations
Matthew is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, as well as the Eastern Region and New Jersey Chapter of NATS, the National Association for Music Education, the New Jersey Music Educators Association, the Music Teachers National Association, the New Jersey Music Teacher Association, and the The Voice Foundation.
