VocalFri Podcast

Dr. P and Sarah address this week's controversial Ian Bostridge performance where he stopped mid song cycle to ask the audience to put down their phones and turn off the flash functions. It was a varied and weaving conversation with two sort of opposite perspectives. In the end, the take home point was, be courteous, consider others, and let's get audience members in seats. Join us.

The #VocalFam is joined by the Sparks and Wiry Cries duo of Martha Guth and Erika Switzer to talk about their joint art song centered project. They share about the importance of diversifying your career as a performing artist and how they both landed in the realm of art song. Also they share about Song Slams. Dr. P and Sarah had the chance to attend the Song Slam in Chicago at NATS National. If on...

NATS President Diana Allan and President-Elect Alexis Davis-Hazell join us to preview the upcoming NATS National Conference in Knoxville from June 28-July 2. Please consider joining us for all the tremendous activities, sessions, and  information this upcoming summer!

Coming off of Dr. P's recent faculty search and interview process Sarah was curious to hear more about what the job search process is like in 2024. Dr. P shares some thoughts on the overall academic music job market (the bleak part), followed by some recommendations for those applying for positions, and finally some hopefulness about why you still might consider pursuing graduate degrees in voice.

One of our VocalFri philosophies has always been not getting caught up on what terminology we use, as long as we can define and describe how we are using those words. We discussed this on an older episode, but we've seen a lot of recent posts regarding terminology and it seemed like a good time to revisit this topic. An interesting, winding conversation.  

Sarah and Dr. P dove into various perspectives of repertoire selection in teaching classical, musical theater, and contemporary styles. Dr. P had revised his graduate repertoire for teaching course last fall and we finally had a chance to break it down. We did some life updates first. Rep discussions begins around the 15:00 minute mark.

#VocalFam we are back! Today's a special episode for a few reasons. First, we start with a pretty big announcement for the podcast. Then, we are joined by esteemed guests Dr. Pasquale Bottalico, Dr. Joshuas Glasner, and Yvonne Redman to discuss their multiple studies investigating how room acoustics impact a singer's experience in a space. Any singer will tell you that they feel differently singin...

VocalFri's 7th Christmas Special! This year's special is a little different. Typically we just cover 1 pop culture happening for our holiday cheer, but this year Sarah and Dr. P finally covered their lean, mean, and green production of Carmen. How could  a small music department present such a large masterwork? Listen and find out, then tune in on Thursday for our two premieres of the Carmen film...

Sarah and Dr. P are back from maternity leave! Well, at least Sarah is; Perna never left. The #VocalFam is joined by longtime friend of the pod Dr. Ian Howell to discuss his new book Advice for Young Musicians which is a perfect last minute holiday gift for any musician in your life. Hear some of our deepest insights ever as we explore not only Ian's book, but the music industry, the career paths...

#VocalFam Theodora Nestorova returns to the pod to tell us more about her work at McGill during her PhD and their new inter- and intra-disciplinary Applied Performance Sciences Hub , housed within the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in  Montreal. Theodora led us in a lively discussion about the need to diversify our possible career directions for singers and musicians. We also got a...

Soprano, Laura Strickling joins the #VocalFam to tell us about her journey into the world of singing of art song. We hear about her multiple collaborations with composers leading up to her new album 40@40 that just dropped. Laura was able to commission 40 composers for 40 new art songs for her 40th birthday. The first 20 songs appear on her recent album, available from all major vendors including...

Old school VocalFri with Dr. P on a soapbox about Functional vs. Task Specific voice training. If you'd like to hear two voice teachers talking about voice teaching, here's your weekly addition! Come join the #VocalFam!

#VocalFam! Season 7 is here! What a better way to kick off a new season than with 3 great guests to discuss the largest ever expansion of the NATS National Student Auditions. NATS has more than doubled the categories that students can now enter for these great audition opportunities. Here more from Alisa Belflower, NATS Vice President for Auditions, Karen Brunssen, NATS Past President and chair of...

Dropping this one a bit early #VocalFam! Get ready for Season 7!!!!!!! -Sarah tells us about her NATS Intern Experience -We talk a little bit about planned guests for the upcoming Fall season -Briefly we discuss the current state of the performing arts given developments over the Summer -We quickly cover the Summer Blockbuster season that was. Come join the #VocalFam! Season 7 premiere drops Septe...

Dr. P and Sarah's spoiler ridden review of Guardians of the Galaxy: Mixtape Volume 3 is actually about singing? Mabye? Or was this an episode about being a human? Is this movie about being a human? Join us and find out! But go watch the movie first.

Whoa! This one got a little deep. Sarah, Liz, and Dr. P dive into some heavy discussions for a Friday morning. We all want to do our absolute best for our students, but is there a time you need to realize you are working harder than the student? We also took a strange trip into how we think the profession evaluates our success as voice teachers. Of course we have some recent pop culture news at th...

We were thrilled to be joined by one of today's most promising up and coming researchers in the field of voice, Theodora Nestorova. She shared her journey so far through the world of voice and voice science, and then we all shared a bit of a deep dive on vibrato. Theodora is working on her Interdisciplinary PhD at McGill University and has some really exciting work that she is doing examining vari...

#VocalFam! The guest episode train keeps rolling with a fantastic conversation with Amanda Flynn. ( https://www.amandaflynnvoice.com/ ) We hear Amanda's journey as performer with some musical called Wicked...I've never heard of it...to her work as a Broadway voice coach and Van Lawrence Fellowship awardee. We also got to hear about her own online voice pedagogy courses, and most importantly, her n...

Three longtime #VocalFam join us to preview this summer's upcoming Acoustic Vocal Pedagogy Workshop . Hear from Ken Bozeman, Ian Howell, and Chadley Ballentyne what you can expect in both in-person (July 31-August 4, Ann Arbor Michigan, USA) and online formats for their seminal continuing education program. Read more here . 

#VocalFam you guessed it! Its finally Kangin' time! Join Sarah and Dr. P hanging out down in the Quantum Realm as we unpack Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania! A tiny time was had by all. 

What a treat to have Dana Zenobi with us to tell us about her innovative methods for teaching vocal diction. She has been incorporating spectrograms into her diction classes. A wonderful and creative prospect. Hear more about Dana's journey along the voice world as well. Find out more about her here .

We kick off episode 201 with a preview of the Summer Vocology Institute with distinguished guests Ingo Titze, Lynn Maxfield, and Brian Manternach. Are you considering summer continuing education opportunities? Are you interested in the science, pedagogy, and performance aspects of voice? This is the program for you! Learn all about SVI's history, its "blocks," and its All Star faculty. The deadlin...

#VocalFam we've officially been together for 200 episodes!!! Very hard to believe. Thank you to each of our #VocalFam who sent us shoutouts! Tune in to hear from many favorite guests from the past 5 1/2 years including Ken Bozeman, Joanne Bozeman, Nancy Bos, Heidi Moss Erickson, Carole Blankenship, John Nix, Caitlin Moore, Em2 Connect: Emily Martin and Elizabeth McDonald, Norman Spivey, Mary Saund...

VocalFam, we are joined by our friends Lynn Helding, John Nix, and Allen Henderson to tell us about this summer's inaugural NATS Science-Informed Voice Pedagogy Institute being held at Utah State University from June 25-July 1, 2023. Check out the episode and learn more at nats.org .    

Our January acoustics miniseries rounds out with Dr. Joshua Glasner telling the #VocalFam about Spectral Moments. If you are interested in voice research, whether as a mentor or researcher, or you are interested in voice acoustics, this is one that absolutely should not be missed. Leave it to Dr. Glasner to make a very complex topic, understandable, enjoyable, and entertaining.