Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method Teachers' Association

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Dr. Claudio Milstein’s Intensive Course

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Dr. Claudio Milstein will be offering a two day course on vocal health at this summer’s LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™. This course is for graduates of Level III of Somatic Voicework™ in any year prior to 2018 and is an intensive in vocal health.
It will cover a review of basic vocal anatomy and physiology, refreshing the definitions of terms used in clinical and medical discussion of vocal problems. It will present typical problems, through audio and visual examples, of various types of vocal pathology and vocal illness or injury and help singing teachers recognize the auditory cues that would help identify suspicious vocal qualities and behaviors. The course size is limited, so those who are interested should register as soon as possible.

To register for Dr. Milstein’s intensive course, click here. 

Last year we had the pleasure of doing a full interview with Dr. Milstein, please check out that interview here.

Your Invitation to The LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™

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Highlights of May included a great trip to Boston to work with the Somatic Voicework™ teachers in New England. We had a great opening night at New England Conservatory courtesy of Dominique Eade, a Teacher Training Day on Saturday at the home of Celia Slattery and a Teacher Support Group at Wheaton College courtesy of Joanne Mouradjian. As always, there was a great exchange of information between the teachers and on Sunday with the students. Jeanie does these twice a year in New England, in Washington/DC/Baltimore and, new this year, in Michigan. If you would like a weekend in your area, you need at least 10 people who have done Somatic Voicework™ training (level one). If you’re thinking about hosting Jeanie for a Teacher Training & Support Weekend, please click here.

At the end of May Jeanie was off to The Voice Foundation Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice in Philadelphia to enjoy her 40th year of consecutive attendance. She is now on the Advisory Board, an adjudicator of the Best Student Award, a Presentation Coach, and this year was also a section chair of the Pedagogy papers. Additionally, she sang at the Gala in front of opera bass-baritone Simon Estes and tenor George Shirley and many of the doctors and scientists who have been her colleagues, mentors and friends for decades. Several Somatic Voicework™ teachers there in attendance included Benjamin Czarnota, Amanda Chmela, Ric Ryder and faculty of the upcoming training at Baldwin Wallace, Speech Pathologist, Jan Potter Reed. She was able to visit with friends from Europe and South America and all parts of the USA and Canada. If you have never been, Jeanie encourages you to attend next year.
We are now preparing for our LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™ at Baldwin Wallace University in July. Our many expert guests will be presenting their incredible wealth of knowledge, experience and training for participants, delivering information custom tailored just for them. We will be offering credits for Speech Language Pathologists as well.
If you haven’t registered yet, please do so right away, as the courses are filling quickly and there is a cap on the number who can attend. We also have a special course for graduates of Level III in any past year with Dr. Claudio Milstein, from the Cleveland Clinic, who will be presenting an Intensive Course in vocal health.
Don’t miss this very special opportunity and, past grads, remember — you get a huge 50% discount for reviewing any level you’ve already completed. Fifty percent off!!!!!! To register, please click here.
This coming weekend we launch our first ever online Somatic Voicework™ course. We are so pleased with the excitement about the online courses and cannot wait to start! In September we will be offering an array of online courses, to be put on the mailing list for early registration please click here.

What is Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method?

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Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method is an organized method of vocal training for Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) styles, (those styles that used to be called “non-classical) based upon somatic (physical) awareness and aural discernment. The training is presented in three Levels that must be done in sequence.

Level I is called “Basic Application” and includes the following: Introduction to functional principles of voice science and medicine. There will be a vocal health lecture Jan Potter Reed, Speech Language Pathologist, specializing in care of the professional voice. Its main objective is to instruct teachers how to keep the voice healthy for speech and singing. Level I addresses terminology, and its appropriate use, and the attitude, intention and appropriateness of the interaction tween student and teacher. Level I states that the teacher must have a clear intention for the vocal exercise when it is given. The teacher must know (a) either what is missing and needs to be added or (b) what is wrong and needs to be corrected, such that the student’s singing will somehow improve. It rests on vocal function, vocal health and on traditional pedagogy, but it is also meant to help singers be marketable. This level gives parameters for age-related groups of singers, and addresses lesson protocol and progress. There will be a presentation by Suzan Postel, dancer, singer, and Pilates Instructor, on body awareness, presenting exercises for greater connection to the physical aspects of singing. [Read more…] about What is Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method?

What Is Underneath and Behind Somatic Voicework(tm) The LoVetri Method?

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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.

Maria Damore demonstrates a variety of vocal styles

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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

A Vocal Wish List

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By Jennifer Spencer

I have many students from many different backgrounds that enter my classroom, studio, and rehearsal hall on a daily basis, and every time they do, I am reminded of what an incredible gift I have been given, and how I must be vigilant not to abuse this gift or diminish what they bring in each and every day. Each and every voice I come into contact with needs to be valued for the person that inhabits it, regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, race, marital or family status, gender identity or expression, sex characteristics, creed, age, colour, disability, political or religious belief. (The italicized text, which I freely admit to plagiarizing, comes from the welcome that is outside Canada House at the Olympics.)
My job is to make sure that each and every student leaves with a flexible instrument, body, and voice, able to make responsive vocal/physical choices that will allow them to operate in the world in a healthful way for the duration of their lives, after all, they are going to be persons operating in the world for a lot longer than they are being artists on the stage, in movies, or on TV.   Their voices and bodies need to work well and freely, not just on the stage, but also in their lives.

I want the students I work with to stand tall, balanced, and easy when they leave my classes and go into their lives. I want them to be able to use their voices in a healthy way from a physiologically truthful place, that allows them to go easily from speaking to singing with all other stops in between, and have voices/bodies that respond freely to a variety of life and artistic situations.

I want to provide them with experiences where they realize that they do not have to clench every muscle in their bodies to produce a spoken or sung sound or simply to inhale and exhale. I want to provide them with experiences where they realize their tongues do not have to be balls of cement sucked up to the roofs of their mouths, rendering them incapable of articulating their wants, wishes, and desires. I want to give them the experience of not having to clench their jaws as they move through their lives, and squeeze their voices and thoughts out as if those thoughts and ideas were the last scraps of dried toothpaste in a tube that one must use or else. [Read more…] about A Vocal Wish List

Celebrations!

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Leischen Moore

Leischen will be performing the role of Eliza Doolittle in Tacoma Musical Playhouse’s “My Fair Lady” from May 18th to June 10th. For tickets and more information, click here.
Leischen will also be Associate Faculty at this summer’s LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™.
(photographed left: Leischen Moore in rehearsals for “My Fair Lady)

 

Dr. Melissa Forbes‘ article, “A Tale of Two Pedagogues: A Cross Continental Conversation on CCM” from The Journal of Voice May/June 2018 pages 579-584 featuring Jeanie LoVetri.

Elise Besler

Vocal Warrior Voice Retreats!

     These luxury long weekend retreats are providing a creative space for adult vocalists and singer songwriters both professional and semi-professional; to inspire/be inspired and lean into creativity, gain vocal health knowledge and performance experience and most excitingly, build community through mutual love of singing and performance. Though I am starting locally at a beautiful rural retreat center, my intention is to offer these retreats in destination locations around the world! (I mean, who doesn’t want to sing in The Caribbean??!!)

For more details about Elise’s teaching, NuSong Studio: Click Here.
For more details about Voice Warrior Retreats, NuSong Retreats: Click Here.

Maite Solana

Maite Solana has just released her second single and music video from her album Vuelvo a Casa.
Please check out the music video by clicking here. 

Heather Keens

Heather Keens’ The ‘Oyster Singers’ is a new community Choir based in Brooklyn, New South Wales, Australia. We are a small community of 750 people, the original industry here was oyster fishing. In the photograph you will see our original nine members from February 2018. We now have twenty members and counting. Most of our warm-up activities are based on Somatic Voicework. They are a delightful group of people who make a good sound. Heather Keens conducts and leads the choir and her husband, Frank, accompanies on the piano and makes arrangements of the songs.
Last term we found repertoire around the topics of fish and water, including Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Some Days there just ain’t no Fish’. Brooklyn, NSW and our nearest island ‘Long Island’ was named in 1886, when a New York, USA steel company came out to build the railway bridges here. Many of the workers were Americans, who lived in the area until the bridges were finished.

Betsy Fiedler

Betsy’s Upcoming Performances:
GWO Don Giovanni June 9, 16, 22, 24
For details, go to http://www.greaterworcesteropera.org/events.html
Italian Night – Spaghetti Supper and Italian Music with members of Greater Gardner Community Choir

Saturday June 23, 2018 at Bethany Baptist Church Gardner, MA
Greater Worcester Opera Concert Series: Contemporary Broadway July 18, 2018 at Briarwood in Worcester MA.

Senior Faculty for The LoVetri Institute for Somatic VoiceworkTM in Residence
at Baldwin Wallace University, Berea, Ohio July 21-29, 2018
https://www.bw.edu/community-music-school/summer/lovetri-institute/

Somatic Voicework™ Online Courses with Jeanie LoVetri

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Jeanie is very excited to announce new online Somatic Voicework™ courses, starting with our first 4-week course in June. The new course is scheduled on Sundays from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM EST (June 17th, 24th, July 1st, & July 8th). Each week we will explore the science and artistry of Somatic Voicework™.
Courses will explore concepts both scientifically and practically; participants will have an opportunity to explore concepts, interact and work with Jeanie LoVetri.

Week One: Vocal Registers & Vowels (June 17th)
Week Two: Tension, Tension, Tension (June 24th)
Week Three: Breath & Bodywork (July 1st)
Week Four: Elite Belting (July 8th)

Total cost for all four sessions is $200 USD.

This course is open to participants who completed at least Level I of Somatic Voicework™ training.

Register here: https://somaticvoicework.com/registration-for-somatic-voicework-online-course-with-jeanie-lovetri/

Upcoming Teacher Training

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Teacher Training Weekend in Michigan

In close proximity to: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin
Free Introductory Seminar
Friday, April 13th
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
(Open to anyone interested in Somatic Voicework™)
Teacher Training Day
Saturday, April 14th
10:00 AM 5:00 PM
(Open to those who’ve completed at least Level I of Somatic Voicework™ Training)
Teacher Support Group
Sunday, April 15th
1:30 PM to 5:30 PM
(Open to those who’ve completed at least Level I of Somatic Voicework™ Training)
Private Lessons with Jeanie
Monday, April 16th
10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
(Open to anyone interested in Somatic Voicework™ & Jeanie’s work)
To Register: Click Here

Teacher Training Weekend in DC/Baltimore

Free Introductory Seminar
Friday, April 27th
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
(Open to anyone interested in Somatic Voicework™)
Teacher Training Day
Saturday, April 28th
10:00 AM 5:00 PM
(Open to those who’ve completed at least Level I of Somatic Voicework™ Training)
Teacher Support Group
Sunday, April 29th
1:30 PM to 5:30 PM
(Open to those who’ve completed at least Level I of Somatic Voicework™ Training)
Private Lessons with Jeanie
Monday, April 30th
10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
(Open to anyone interested in Somatic Voicework™ & Jeanie’s work)

To Register: Click Here

Teacher Training Weekend in
New England

Free Introductory Seminar
Friday, May 18th
7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
(Open to anyone interested in Somatic Voicework™)

Teacher Training Day
Saturday,  May 19th
10:00 AM to 5:00 PM
(Open to those who’ve completed at least Level I of Somatic Voicework™ Training)

Teacher Support Group
Sunday, May 20th
1:30 PM to 5:30 PM
(Open to anyone interested in Somatic Voicework™ & Jeanie’s work)

To Register: Click Here