Jeanie's Blog

 Detailed news about the 2019 LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™ in residence at Baldwin Wallace University’s Community Music School will be announced soon but in the meantime please save the dates. Level I begins on July 20, Level II on 23, and Level III on July 26. Past participants still get an incredible 50% discount for any level they are reviewing. Our confirmed guests are Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin, who will be on faculty for Levels I and II and then have a three-day intensive to certify participants in Soul Ingredients®, her work with Gospel R&B and jazz styles. Sign up as soon as the registration opens (in 2019) so you won’t miss her dynamic course. We also have Dr. Claudio Milstein of the Cleveland Clinic’s Voice Institute returning to do his highly successful vocal health seminar. Again, register early, as it is sure to fill up quickly. Other guests will be announced soon! Registration for all three levels, Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin’s course, and Dr. Claudio Milstein’s course will go live very soon.

Excitement continues to build for the second year of the LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™ at Baldwin Wallace University in July in Berea, Ohio. Participants are arriving from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Spain, the United Kingdom and all over the USA. Many people are also returning to review the course because the information is always presented in a new way, and new things arise as participants ask questions.

Click here to register for
The LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™

The LoVetri Institute in residence at
Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music

July 21 – 29, 2018
July 21 – 23: Level I
July 24 – 26: Level II
July 27 – 29: Level III

Where else can you find an organized and respected method for teaching singing backed up by Jeanie LoVetri’s 47 years of experience and by outside experts in multiple vocal disciplines for a very low price? The original Vocal Pedagogy Training for Contemporary Commercial Music, Somatic Voicework™, in its newly revised and expanded form, was a tremendous hit last summer. The course has garnered rave reviews from singing teachers since 2002. The interest in learning a codified, vetted method to address CCM styles has always been very strong and continues to grow. Many classical singing teachers find the functional approach to teaching greatly helpful to their own work and compatible with what they do. It isn’t necessary to “re-do” your own classical singing to learn how to effectively approach CCM styles. Jazz vocalists report that it helps them with pitch accuracy, freedom, phrasing and vocal stamina. Music theater singers find it explains in a simple manner how to switch styles and choral music educators are able to get their choirs to sing in a unified blend in just minutes.

For those who have completed all three Levels prior to 2018, our special guest is Dr. Claudio Milstein of the Cleveland Clinic, who will be presenting an Intensive on Vocal Health during Level III. The course is designed for singing teachers and is only for graduates of Somatic Voicework™ Level Three prior to 2018. (more details later in the newsletter)
Somatic (meaning “of the body”) experts Suzan Postel of Los Angeles and Peter Shor from West Virginia have dozens of years of expertise behind them and are recognized experts in their own right, will be offering valuable information about being in touch with our bodies in unique ways. Insight into our own posture, movement, sensation and coordination and the consequent heightened awareness it provides, is deeply rooted in Somatic Voicework™. Jeanie LoVetri is delighted to bring these two bodywork experts to the course.

[Read more…] about Last Chance Registration for The LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™!

Somatic Voicework™ seeks to bring the voice, the person, the emotions and the mind together. It seeks to illuminate the path of vocal artistry by conveying objective information about vocal production based on what is currently known and understood in medicine and science. It supports inter-disciplinary exchange. It is an open system. All premises are subject to improvement and personal adaptation. It honors and respects the styles of music called Contemporary Commercial and believes that all styles of music have value and worth.

Somatic Voicework™ rests on respect for the body and allows it to take its time adapting to various stimuli while new responses emerge. It works with compassion, allowing artists to face difficulties, overcome issues and recover abilities even in the face of a diagnosis of pathology or damage. It treats every singer, young or old, famous or unknown, talented or talent-not-yet-tapped, the same. It allows teachers to say, with perfect integrity, “I don’t know. Let me ask.” It recognizes posture and breathing, physical coordination and kinesthetic conditioning, aural acuity and visual feedback and asks only that singers address all aspects of singing function through reasonable, repetitive and consistent training.

Somatic Voicework™ teaches “whole people” not larynges or throats or vocal folds, not time slots (the Tuesday noon tenor, “what’s his name” or the “A# soprano with the wobbly middle voice, Something-or-other Smith”). It incorporates physical, emotional and personal stressors as being factors in living an artistic life and does not diminish singers for having to address these things while training and/or performing. It recognizes that we are not mental health professionals but we are all human beings and that life can sometimes be messy but it is always worthwhile. It teaches careful use of language and its impact on students and taking full responsibility for the learning process as the flawed but passionate people we all are.

Somatic Voicework™ is for those who want to dig deep. It is for those who are not looking for the “10 quickest tips so you can be on American Idol” or the “12 best ways to get really great high notes by next week”. It is not concerned with helping people get tenure, being smarter than people who want to squeeze the throat, position the larynx, vibrate the vocal folds on purpose or with proving that all voices should sing the same way in every circumstance.

Somatic Voicework™ is simple and complicated. It is easy to understand but takes a long time to master. It is available to anyone who wants to investigate it but can only be completely assimilated by those who use the concepts on their own voices over time in many ways. It is up to each individual how much or little the concepts in Somatic Voicework™ matter in their own lives but, as teachers, in order to be both ethical and appropriate, it is imperative that teachers know about all voices, and all musical styles, not just their own or the ones they sing.

Somatic Voicework™ is a method of vocal pedagogy that grew out of the life of Jeannette Louise LoVetri, known as Jeanie to her friends and colleagues. It is the result of decades of singing, training for singing, study, investigation, experimentation and thousand upon thousands of hours spent in voice lessons for almost 47 years. She shares the work with an open heart hoping that it will be valuable to others and perhaps help them avoid difficulty, struggle, sadness, frustration and self-doubt, all of which she had to endure to learn what is in the course. It is not presented as “the way” or “the best way” just one way. She invites you to make it your way, if that would be of use to you.

Vocalist Maria Damore demonstrates her ability to sing in a variety of vocal styles in this compilation of Kurt Weill songs from her 2016 concert in Reading, PA. She is accompanied by Lars Potteiger. Song clips include Pirate Jenny, My Ship, Speak Low, Youkali, Lost in the Stars, and, Mack the Knife. Maria has studied Somatic Voicework: The LoVetri Method TM, Levels I, II, and III, and teaches voice using these principles in her home studio.

Maria Damore, Vocalist, Actor, Voice Teacher
www.mariadamore.com

Maria Damore Voice Studio: www.mariadamore.com/voice_studio
You Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpcXGRfXTfdzRljuK7gmAoQ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Maria-Damore-37902242591/

CD “Moonglow” available at:
http://www.mariadamore.com/moonglow_cd