VocalFri Podcast

As promised VocalFri's season 4 official finale with our reviews of BOTH Black Widow & Loki. For those of you who like time codes, we do Black Widow first, then get into Loki around the 20 minute mark. Welcome to the Multiverse!

Lynn Helding joins the #VocalFam to talk all about learning and the "how" of voice teaching featured in her book The Musician's Mind. This is a must have book and a must listen podcast. The content today was rich and deep. Definitely one that has a wealth of wisdom for all of us! Seriously, go get the book (well, after you listen to this episode)!

Wrapping out season 4's Plural Publishing author spotlights, VocalFri is joined by Angelika Nair to tell us about her brand new book The Tongue as a Gateway to Voice, Resonance, Style, and Intelligibility. We hear about Dr. Nair's journey as a singer that led to interest in the tongue and how that led her to ultrasound technology. The book is a rich resource and one that the #VocalFam should not miss. Get your copy today!

Sarah and Dr. P are joined by #VocalFam Chadley Ballantyne for the 4th time, but first as a featured guest. We get to hear Chadley's journey coming up as a young teacher with 70 clients a week(!), meeting Ken Bozeman and their work together, we walk through how Chadley come to the famous Weird R exercise, and advertise the upcoming NEC Acoustic Vocal Pedagogy Workshop where Chadley is on the faculty. We also talk discuss Chadley's important contribution to the workshop on vibrotactile sensations and their implications for pedagogic practice. 

Our spoiler filled review of The Falcon and the Winter Solider (Season 1...there have to be multiple seasons of this show, right?). Who took the mantle as the new Captain America? Did Bucky finish his book? Why did we all hate U.S. Agent from the start? These answers and more! But first, Dr. P sheds some light at the end of the pandemic tunnel hope.

The epic saga concludes! Now You're a Voice Teacher Part 5 is ALL ABOUT NATS! VocalFri is joined by NATS President Carole Blankenship and Executive Director Allen Henderson to tell us why you should JOIN NATS, now that you're a voice teacher! From Journal of Singing and Live Learning Center to mentoring opportunities, networking, and professional development, there has never been a more important time for a voice teacher to join and get involved in the NATS community. No better way to celebrate VocalFri's 150 (!!!) episode then with our NATSCast partner organization leaders.

The saga continues with Part 4! Sarah and Dr. P are joined by #VocalFam Ian Howell and Yvonne Redman to discuss the performing artist turned voice teacher. Both of these incredible colleagues had significant performing careers and have also both become important voices in the voice pedagogy and teaching community. We get to hear about their path of transitioning from performing to teaching, what challenges or surprises they faced, and their walk through continuing education. We touch on communicating with colleagues and teaching master classes. Another episode in our NOT TO BE MISSED spring series!

Our spring series, Now You're a Voice Teacher continues with Part 3, "The Independent Studio Teacher." Y'all! If you are an indie teacher, or even if you have other employment but teach privately, THIS IS THE EPISODE FOR YOU! Studio owners Rebecca Pieper and Leigh Usilton both join VocalFri for the first time and bring an incredible array of wisdom to this episode. We talk about finding your ideal client, finding out who YOU are as a voice teacher, continuing education, networking, finding a community with other voice teachers, and business ownership. I've said it each episode through the series, but THIS IS NOT TO BE MISSED!

Our spring series "Now You're a Voice Teacher" continues with Part Deux! Returning guests Loraine Sims and John Nix join Dr. P and Sarah to add wisdom about becoming a voice teacher in an academic setting. We talk about advice for young teachers in general (piano, cough, cough), great insight for teaching during your graduate studies, and wisdom for teaching assistants. We also cover some lovely notes of mentorship for new faculty as well. If you wish to teach within the academy or do a graduate degree that involves singing, this episode is not to be missed! 

And if you stick around, you might just hear a mea culpa from Dr. P regarding the DCEU...#SnyderCut

VocalFri's spring series for new voice teachers begins! For the inaugural episode of this very special series on teacher mentoring for new voice teachers of all ages, we brought in great members of the #VocalFam Dr. Shannon Coates and Dr. Kari Ragan! Both are experienced singers and teachers, but we wanted to kick off the series with these terrific colleagues because they dedicate a great deal of their professional work to training and mentoring voice teachers. VocalFam if you are new to voice teaching, or if you've been doing it for decades, this is an episode you MUST hear! Be sure to check out each of their websites to check out their offered services. Here we gooooooooo!