VocalFri Podcast

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 noirs. https://youtu.be/wfgOw29b8vE?feature=shared

Stick around to hear our review of the 3 Doctor Who Christmas specials. Come join the #VocalFam...at Christmas!

Happy Holidays!

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 of musicians, academic music, technology, and life lessons. The book is not only a perfect holiday gift, but this episode is a great listen for your holiday travel. Don't wait until your travelling on December 24th to buy the book. Amazon is fast. Not that fast. Buy the book here.

#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 taste of the LEAP Initiative they have started through the collaborations at APS Hub. 

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 Amazon. Look for a compendium published version of the songs later this winter. Learn more at https://www.laurastrickling.com/ 

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 the Children and Youth categories committee, and Noel Smith, NATS New England Region Governor and chair of the CM categories committee. There has never been a more inclusive time to join NATS or to join the #VocalFam! See you out there in audition land friends. Learn more about the NSA Expansion at https://www.nats.org/national_student_auditions.html

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 September 1 just in time for your Labor Day holiday.

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 the end. A true old school VocalFri!

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 variability in vibrato. Many great things to come and a name to watch! Check it out! Learn more about her at https://www.theodoranestorova.com/