What would you consider to be the main focus of your career, or your “specialty”?

I have loved musical theatre as long as I can remember but I think it was that moment when Mary Martin flew out over my head as Peter Pan that really sealed the deal. I was eight years old.

How did you discover your calling for your speciality? How did it start?

Looking back on my career, it seems like a series of happy accidents. Doors opened and I walked through them. I grew up in 1950’s Morristown, New Jersey with four siblings in a household full of music. I played the piano by ear and sang incessantly. My mother encouraged me to join the church choir, enrolled me in piano lessons and, by the time I was 13, classical voice lessons, which I continued through college. I began to gravitate to musicals early on, singing along with Peter Pan, Camelot, and My Fair Lady. Julie Andrews and Mary Martin were my very first mentors!

Although they supported my musical inclinations, by the time I was ready to think about career aspirations, a performing career was definitely off the table. I was encouraged to pursue a “sensible” career, like teaching. I had always been good at languages and graduated from college with a French major and a fellowship for study abroad. I chose the Middlebury language program in Vermont which began with two months of French “immersion” and continued at the Sorbonne in Paris. While in Paris I had the serendipitous opportunity to audition for the renowned baritone Pierre Bernac who taught many international students. I sang “Après un rêve” and he invited me to join his studio where I took one private lesson and one master class weekly. The memory of his kindness and grace as a teacher have stayed with me all these years.

After returning to the U.S. I got a job teaching French at a professional children’s school for young performers near Lincoln Center in Manhattan. It wasn’t long before I realized I wanted to do what they were doing!

I began studying musical theatre song performance and Shakespeare scene study at the Herbert Berghof Studio in New York’s West Village. Within a year, I was cast as Guenevere in a production of Camelot, then My Fair Lady, and I was on my way. Before long, teaching began quite organically when friends asked me to help them with their auditions. I had absolutely no formal pedagogical training, but somehow possessed an intuitive sense of what was needed. And I loved it.

By the late 1980’s I was married and raising two boys in Rockland County, New York. Teaching was my primary vocation by now. I taught private lessons at my home, commuted to the Paul Gavert Studio (now the Voice Studio) in midtown Manhattan where I became part of a group of passionate colleagues and began to experience the benefits of “peer mentoring.” My first academic teaching was in the musical theatre program at Hartt College in Connecticut.

In 1999, the call came from Penn State offering me a position as the first musical theatre voice “specialist” in their fledgling BFA program. Walking through that door was the best decision I ever made. We uprooted the family and moved to State College. This was the opportunity of a lifetime for me to share in a rich and open learning environment with generous colleagues. I realize now I had been “incubating” an approach to teaching musical theatre singers for years, but this was the moment I began to formalize a pedagogy.

What do you love the most about your work?

The joy of watching a student light up with a new vocal discovery. Seeing a student reach deep within themselves to find the heart of a lyric and trust their voices to express it in a profoundly original way.

In your opinion, what qualities do you feel make an "excellent" Vocal Pedagogue?

I admire teachers who are learning on the job constantly, who have confidence and humility in equal measure, who care deeply about every student regardless of their level of ability.

Can you speak to the importance of having mentors? How have mentors influenced your life/career? Can you tell us about some of your mentors?

Offering mentorship to younger teachers reminds me of so many theatre practitioners who helped me along the way. Because of the collaborative nature of musical theatre, my mentors have been directors, acting teachers, movement specialists, music directors, fellow voice teachers and performers, and of course, students.

When I began to teach, I modeled sounds. It is still for me a very efficient way to get results. When I was first experimenting with musical theatre timbres like belting, I relied almost exclusively on imitation. I had the mixed soprano set-up naturally, and thanks to imitating Julie Andrews in those early years. Elite female belters like Barbara Streisand and longtime friend, Broadway actress Alix Korey, were my go-to role models for a flexible, floated belt that integrated effortlessly with other timbres.

My colleague and friend Joan Melton has been a source of continuing inspiration to me from the moment I met her when she came to interview me for her book, Singing in Musical Theatre. The flash of insight that prompted her to write the book One Voice is foundational to my teaching.

Acting teacher/director Peter Flint who headed up the BFA Musical Theatre program at Hartt, was a kind of “spiritual guide” to anyone who came into contact with him. I was inspired by his humanity, humor, and deep respect for his students.

My director husband Bob Barton has been a source of artistic inspiration from the moment we met, challenging me to grow as a performer and teacher.

I am grateful for Aaron Frankel, my first acting teacher, for encouraging me every step of the way even as I began to teach. Aaron had an unfailing ability to bring out the best in his students by getting them to trust themselves.

Michael Shurtleff was a director/teacher/playwright who had a profound influence on the way I think about acting a song. Classes in his Corner Loft studio were a real adventure! I have always valued the Twelve Guideposts from his book Audition.

I am grateful to Joan Lader and my beloved friend Marianne Challis for introducing me to the work of Jo Estill and her idea of multiple voice qualities.

At Penn State, we held a “Voice Forum” class every Friday afternoon when we all taught each other’s students. I cannot overstate the value this experience had for me. Every one of those colleagues was and remains a cherished mentor. I am indebted to my colleague and co-writer Norman Spivey for introducing me to the mysteries of academia, and for providing a shining example of collegiality, inspired teaching, and service to the profession.

Last but not least, my students are teaching me in every lesson as they reveal what is working and what isn’t.

Building Blocks - Questions About Ten Key Areas of Voice

The below topics cover ten key areas of voice. In regard to each topic, what are the most influential tips, insights, or research findings that you would like to share with our audience?

Breathing

The body knows how to breathe. Learning to sustain long phrases, spoken or sung, by maintaining the inhaled gesture, can be taught in a variety of kinesthetic ways.

The Larynx

Laryngeal height should be flexible to facilitate a variety of timbres.

The Vocal Folds

Variable glottic closure can be trained to enhance stylistic possibilities and character choices. Breathy tones, for example, are sometimes the right choice for the moment. Amplification has greatly increased the audible range of tonal options.

Acoustics/Resonance

Singers can be encouraged to “choreograph” a profusion of contrasting vowel shapes intentionally to create a wide variety of sustainable timbres. Musical theatre singing has no “tonal ideal.”

Vocal Registration

Registration is a non-linear concept. Laryngeal and acoustic coordination are interactive. Mixed registration involves fine-tuning the balance between the action of muscle and ligament and can be achieved through a process of experimentation and self-discovery.

Vocal Health

Hydrate, hydrate. Eight shows a week is a tall order! Performers need to know their limits and develop strategies to monitor and equalize effort on and off stage.

Vocal Style

With a few occasional exceptions, intelligibility of the lyric is always prioritized. Training for multiple genres requires a voice that can “speak” freely throughout the entire range on a continuum between treble and bass. This gives actors a virtually unlimited palette of vocal choices. Speaking and singing are paired functions in technical training for musical theatre.

Posture & Body Alignment

Posture is a dynamic concept. Even in stillness, actors need to be free to move.

Teaching Methods/Communicating complex ideas about singing

Talk less, listen more. Get to know what works best for each student through observation and experimentation.

Final Thoughts (Words of Wisdom, Recommended Books, or Resources)

No voice teacher has to know everything. It takes a village to train a successful musical theatre performer.