Voice

"I teach 'the art of singing' from the vantage point of a long career as a performer, recording artist, and teacher. What a joy all three facets have been! This extraordinary universal language of song is truly a marvel of creative forces merging in the human voice, via tonal colors, rhythm, text, and the soul of a singer. My aim is to assist students in cultivating these unique forces in their voices and to help them dip down into the depths of their emotional expression. This beautiful language of music defies all boundaries, and meeting each student at their current juncture is an exciting challenge."

“My formal training and education is in opera and classical music, but professionally, I have been performing as a pop/rock singer-songwriter. When I started to develop hoarseness from singing pop so often, I realized how strange that was for someone with a master’s degree in vocal performance. Singers are born with a gift, but not one necessarily made for performing five hours a night. Vocal health is of utmost importance. I had to figure that out for myself the hard way, and it forced me to learn new techniques. I’m passionate about nurturing that in these young singers.”

"I teach lessons for the Voice Department where I focus on vocal technique, assuring that students are singing in a healthy manner. The students are aware of my philosophy for warm ups: the more relaxed and flexible your vocal mechanisms are inwardly, the better your voice will produce outwardly.  If you maintain your voice, keeping it warmed up using proper technique, your voice will be one of great longevity. I tell the students to treat their voices just as an athlete would treat their bodies before a game or a race. You wouldn't just wake up one day and say, 'I want to run a 26-mile marathon!' You have to properly prepare for it."

"My first love is working with multiple voices, and in India I have a group, over 250 members now, called Artists Unlimited. The whole concept of circle singing is something that is so very powerful. Circle singing is a concept that as far as I know Bobby McFerrin introduced to the world. It's very organic. He assigns a part to the bass singers, and another interlocking part to the sopranos, and something else for the altos, and something else for the tenors, and maybe he would improvise over it. It's a very dynamic form of composition; it's always improvised. One of the students started a circle singing group at Berklee. You have to really surrender to the moment. I think in all music that's what we're trying to encourage our students to do, to surrender and be totally present in the moment. And I feel that circle singing is a very noncompetitive, nonhostile, supportive, healing, and liberating space to just give yourself to and then see what happens."