To me singing and acting have always been inseparable. This philosophy has both saved me and gotten me into trouble. Acting a song well got me through times when my voice was less than ideal and people noticed less because I was entertaining and emotional if nothing else. It is also one of the great joys of singing for me- expressing emotions that I cannot put into words, trying on different characters and feelings= fun!

The lesson/session forces me to face my fears, confront obstacles and make positive, profound changes- no procrastinating allowed!

Watching my mother slowly fade away is like being slowly tortured with a thousand tiny cuts, most not particularly painful at first until you look down and they seem to be everywhere. It is a cumulative pain, a dull ache that never quite leaves you.

So, a start on who am I? and what do I do?

I sing AND teach singing.

I am musical AND theatrical.

I love to sing AND teach equally. Furthermore, I sing as I teach and I teach how and what I sing.

I’ve been thinking a great deal lately about who I am as an artist/singer/teacher and how to clearly and succinctly convey that to the world via my personal “brand.”

In March of 1998, my life changed forever. This was when I first met Cornelius Reid, the man who profoundly changed my singing voice, the way I sang, the way I thought about singing, the way I taught, the way I thought about and viewed the world, musically and otherwise, gave me a career, a profession and a new passion.

I am especially proud of one of my students this week and I feel it necessary to brag about her publicly. However, I also want to tell her story (even as it continues to unfold) because I believe she is a perfect example of the extraordinary vocal transformation that can happen using Cornelius Reid’s vocal techniques and philosophies (as he taught them to me).

I’m still a little in shock. Last night was a first for me after 30 years doing theatre: it was the final dress rehearsal for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (for which I am the vocal director) and the actor playing Marcy Park (the one who sings “I speak 6 languages”) was too ill to perform (she had a terrible flu!). The director called me at 3:30 p.m. saying he needed ME to play Marcy, ON BOOK, thank goodness. I was just about to have lunch and suddenly I couldn’t eat a thing. I was freaking out! I had never done anything remotely like this before- I’m a planner, a practicer, a preparer! Anything remotely improv-like or non-rehearsed scares me to death!

Functional listening is the cornerstone of the technique that I teach, taught to me by the late, great Cornelius Reid. This is the story of my introduction to both the maestro himself and the concept and transformative power on the singing voice of functional listening.

Christmas time presents me with the perfect opportunity to write a love letter to New York City.

Auditioning is probably one of the most stressful things anyone can put themselves through.  The scheme of stressful events should be amended to death, taxes, moving…and auditioning! Besides wanting to perform well, your only other desire is to be able to read the minds of the auditioners. What are they thinking?

Tomorrow is December 1st which means that my family and I may now commence listening to and singing Christmas carols. I imposed this December 1st rule (or seen another way, the ban on Christmas music prior to December) many, many years ago when I actually burned out on Christmas music. How did such a terrible thing happen, you may ask? Well, I'll tell you.

But the older I got, the more important Thanksgiving became. I was suddenly acutely aware in my early twenties what the holiday really meant: a day to be grateful. Celebrating together with my family and friends and counting our blessings was just so very important and beautiful.

"Do you miss living in New York?” is a question I get asked on a regular basis these days. Some people look at me with great pity that I am no longer there; others look incredulous that I ever lived there in the first place. Do I miss New York City? No. Yes. Depends on the day, really.

the process of finding great repertoire is like shopping for a great outfit to wear. Yes, a song is like a good piece of clothing; one size does not fit all. The question is: what “fits”?

I’m glad to know all those years watching The Wizard of Oz paid off.  Thank you Billie Burke! You were right there with me, whispering inspiration into my ear with your sweet, trilly voice. “Are you a good witch or a bad witch? Which?”  I am honored to follow in your footsteps. 

So, how does one choose the right repertoire?

1. You do NOT get points for trying, meaning: Always choose a song completely within your ability level.

There were two basic problems with 99% of the singers’ song choices:

They almost all sang inappropriate repertoire for their youthful ages.

The difficulty level of their songs was generally just beyond their abilities.

the multi-layered topic of choosing repertoire, for young singers in particular. This is a subject near and dear to my heart as both a singer and a teacher because I know first-hand how incredibly important it is; song choice can make or break an audition or a performance, or a voice for that matter.

Dawn Upshaw is my favorite for many reasons. She sings everything exquisitely and with great feeling, theatricality, musicality and perfect diction.