Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method Teachers' Association

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Spotlight On Somatic Voicework™ Teacher Martin C. Hurt

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Photo: Martin C. Hurt
You are a very busy voice teacher in New York City; can you tell us about your studio and your work with AMDA, Kean University, & Fairleigh Dickinson University?

Thank you for the interest in my work! Yes, I’m very busy these days teaching between 30-40 voice lesson hours per week, and enjoy every minute of my time with each client!
(Photographed below: Martin C. Hurt in Promises, Promises)
I have been a private voice instructor here in New York City and in New Jersey since 2006. My busy NYC studio consists primarily of musical theatre professionals, as well as a number of singer/songwriter and jazz artist. My New Jersey clients include adult semi-professional and avocational singers, older singers who have found me in their search for help in regaining lost or challenged vocal ability, and adolescent singers of all levels.
I teach Individual Voice at The American Musical and Dramatic Academy (NYC), a theatre arts conservatory program offering both a two year certificate degree and a BFA. My students there are enrolled in either the integrated (musical theatre), studio (acting), or dance programs.
I teach private voice for the theatre programs at Kean University (Union, NJ) and Fairleigh Dickinson University (Madison, NJ). These programs offer both BFA and BA theatre degrees and include up to two musicals and numerous plays per academic year as part of their offerings. [Read more…] about Spotlight On Somatic Voicework™ Teacher Martin C. Hurt

A Downward Spiral

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I know that older people always complain about “the youth of today” and praise the good old days. Now that I am an older person, I don’t want to do that, but it is hard not to look back at what I learned and think that much of it is gone. To me, that’s a loss.

What people think of now as “good singing” is very limited. It consists of what is found on The Voice or The X Factor, particularly here in the USA. It is what is found on the top 40 stations or maybe on certain YouTube or internet sites. Much of this singing is loud, pressed and emotional only in the loudness. On the other side of the equation there are the Celtic women who sing in a light, delicate head register that is pretty and only pretty. A lot of jazz gravitates to soft breathy phonation for no particular reason and many pop singers emulate the people with two or three separate kinds of sound in their singing, even though that doesn’t add anything at all to the impetus of what they are singing. It’s more a novelty factor.

There is electronic manipulation and physical manipulation of the sound and we are inured to this as being “normal.” If you listen to singing from the 40s, 50s, 60s, or maybe early into the 70s, you will hear many individuals with “voices” that are not just like the pop/rock model we hear today. If you watch old episodes of the Johnny Carson show, you will see Broadway singers, opera singers and jazz vocalists as a normal part of his programming. If you go back to the 50s on the live TV shows you will find a good deal of excellent singing of many styles, but most particularly opera.

A freely produced, live, unprocessed voice, conveying deeply felt, honest emotion through singing is a rare commodity and young people may not ever get to experience what it is like to see and hear such singing. That, folks, is a loss. Period. If you happen to also hear a great voice — a Stradivarius throat as it were — you can be literally blown away by such an experience.

I do appreciate many of today’s young stars in various styles but I lament the dearth of singing that has to do with being a living breathing person. The point of singing at a high level is to convey deeply felt emotion without struggle in various styles while sounding personally unique. This is without auto-tune, over-dubbing, sampling, or any help from machines. It is produced by two lungs pumping air across two vocal folds and only that.

Over-darkened sound, caused by a larynx cemented to the bottom of the throat, or shouted squawked sound emitted by a larynx pulled up somewhere into the top of the throat are very typical sounds of 2018. It’s true there is some value in each but what’s lost is just as important, if not more so, than what is kept. Mostly, the sound is not expressive at all. Rap music is energized and can communicate but it isn’t a substitute for a fluid, smooth and attractive sung sound that magnifies what a human throat can do.

I know we can’t go back to the past. I know people who do not have educated musical ears don’t hear the difference or care. I know that only those who have learned to hear and to see will understand what I write here. Still, it hurts to know that music education is nearly gone, that vocal education in public schools is virtually nonexistent and that the main factor behind all commercial music is money — if you can make money the people who promote the music don’t really care if it’s good or bad. What makes money is that which is sensationalized. The weirder or the sexier the better.

What appeals to the average person is extremism. That’s because what is “out of the ordinary” is exciting. If you do not have the capacity to appreciate subtlety in an artist, if you  cannot comprehend something when it is profound and significant, explaining what you are missing is a waste of time. This kind of listening is justifiable in young children or those who have limited capacity to comprehend complex information for biological reasons, but shouldn’t be found in grown adults. For those who are sophisticated both culturally and musically the multiple colors of diversified artistic output are enthralling. That output, however, may not be commercially successful. People who like Andrew Lloyd Webber might consider him an equal of Stephen Sondheim but those who are familiar with music theater, the cognoscenti, wouldn’t ever dream of putting the composers in the same sentence. Of the two, Sir Lloyd Webber has made far more money and been more popular than Mr. Sondheim by a very long shot. They are not the least bit equal.

Things are certainly not going to reverse under the present Administration in Washington. That is sad but there are other things that are worse than the lowering of musical standards. Perhaps some day in the future when people realize how essential the arts (all of them) are to civilization, things might change. In the meantime, the continued downward spiral of more and more lousy singing continues. It’s hard to watch and to hear.

 

 

Upcoming Australian Workshop by Somatic Voicework™ Faculty Brenda Earle Stokes

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Brenda Earle Stokes is thrilled to announce she will be will be doing a 4-day intensive masterclass in Jazz, Pop, & Rock for singers and teachers of singing at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba, Australia from January 7th to 10th, 2018.
Expectations for the voice community are changing at a lightning pace. As contemporary styles evolve, so does modern voice training. In this course, singers and teachers of singing will have the opportunity to dig deep into the foundations of jazz, pop and rock singing.
Topics will include vocal production, rhythm, groove, improvisation, mic technique and stylistic considerations needed to give an authentic performance. [Read more…] about Upcoming Australian Workshop by Somatic Voicework™ Faculty Brenda Earle Stokes

Spotlight On Somatic Voicework™ Teacher Brenda Earle-Stokes

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http://brendaearle.com

(Photographed Above: Dr. Darren Wicks, Brenda Earle Stokes, Jeanie LoVetri, Dale Cox, & Dr. Melissa Forbes, all faculty at the first LoVetri Institute held in Australia, 2016)

Hi Brenda, thanks so much for taking the time to meet with us today.
In January, you’re headed back to Toowoomba, Australia to teach a CCM voice course, what can you tell us about your upcoming class?
I created a course directed at teaching singers, singing teachers and choral conductors how to sing and teach jazz, pop and rock. In my travels I noticed there were courses on the voice and acting, but no offerings on how to stylistically approach the musical elements of these genres. As a jazz pianist (both of my degrees are in jazz piano), who has played in many jazz, pop and rock rhythm sections, I want to take this area of expertise and combine it with my knowledge of the voice and singing. The result is a soup-to-nuts course, where we address groove, improvisation, rhythm, stylistic inflections, as well as vocal technique. We will be singing our way through all of these styles and there will be a jazz trio in residence for an entire day! [Read more…] about Spotlight On Somatic Voicework™ Teacher Brenda Earle-Stokes

Spotlight On Somatic Voicework™ Teacher Beth Amin

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https://www.facebook.com/bethaminmusic/

(Photographed: Jeanie LoVetri and Beth Amin)
In January, Jeanie is headed back to Brazil to teach Levels I and II of Somatic Voicework™. What has the reception of Somatic Voicework™ in Brazil been since Jeanie was there last January?
Jeanie is very known here and year after year more people want to know about her method. Since 2005, when I met her and got my first impression of her work, we started and have been developing a community of teachers who are very interested in knowing more about Somatic Voicework™.

As someone who has served as faculty in the Somatic Voicework™ trainings and has worked with Jeanie for a long time, how has Somatic Voicework™ helped you as a singer and a teacher? [Read more…] about Spotlight On Somatic Voicework™ Teacher Beth Amin

A Year In Review & An Exciting Year Ahead

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(Photographed Above: Jeanie LoVetri with Adele backstage at Radio City Music Hall, NYC, 2015)
This month many of our Somatic Voicework™ teachers have been performing all over the world, sharing their shining singing in all sorts of venues, including: Suzzanne Douglas, Jamie Leonhart,  Carolyn Leonhart, Theo Bleckmann, and many others.

We look forward to Jeanie’s return trip to Brazil in January where she will be teaching Level I and Level II, again at the invitation of Vocal Sao Paulo, a group of SLPs there who have done Jeanie’s work. A very large group of people have already registered for this training and Jeanie is excited to be visiting this lovely country again. Along with husband, Jerry Kaplan, Jeanie will be looking forward to spending two weeks in warm, sunny South America in the dead of the chilly NYC winter!
In February, Jeanie will be master clinician for the NATS Kansas Conference. Details will be announced in January’s newsletter.
Piotr Zielinski, our webmaster, continues to develop our Somatic Voicework™ website and we really need to hear from you in order to make sure it meets your needs and interests. Be sure to be in touch!

[Read more…] about A Year In Review & An Exciting Year Ahead

Sunday Vocal Jazz Concert & Jam Series Hosted by Jocelyn Medina

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Every Sunday, 8-11pm
Luca’s Jazz Corner
1712 1st Ave at E. 89th St, NYC
No cover, $15 minimum
Limited seating, reservations recommended: (212) 987-9260
All shows Facebook live streamed at:
https://m.facebook.com/lucasjazzcorner/
For more info visit:
https://facebook.com/groups/353922644811239/
www.lucasjazzcorner.com
www.jocelynmedina.com

There is a weekly featured vocalist opening set from 8:00-9:00 PM, open mic & jam session for vocalists and instrumentalists to follow till 11:00 PM. House piano, amps, drums and microphones on site.

Upcoming Australian Workshop by Somatic Voicework™ Faculty Brenda Earle Stokes

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Brenda Earle Stokes is thrilled to announce she will be will be doing a 4-day intensive masterclass in Jazz, Pop, & Rock for singers and teachers of singing at the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba, Australia from January 7th to 10th, 2018.
Expectations for the voice community are changing at a lightning pace. As contemporary styles evolve, so does modern voice training. In this course, singers and teachers of singing will have the opportunity to dig deep into the foundations of jazz, pop and rock singing.
Topics will include vocal production, rhythm, groove, improvisation, mic technique and stylistic considerations needed to give an authentic performance.
Participants will work hands on with a jazz trio and a guitarist for pop and rock. In addition to lectures, demonstrations and listening sessions, the course will include break-out sessions in a supportive and hands on environment.
This course is ideal for singers, choral directors and teachers of singing who are newer to contemporary styles, or for teachers wanting an organised approach to sharing this material with their students.

Dates: January 7th to 10th, 2018
Contact: Email (Click Here)
For Registration & Further Information: Click Here

Big Announcements: Brazil 2018 & LoVetri Institute News

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Photographed Below: Jeanie LoVetri with former student, Daniel Radcliffe in 2011.
Photographed Below: Jeanie LoVetri & Broadway Music Director, Chapman Roberts.

Fifty years ago, Jeanie graduated from Greenwich High School in Connecticut and in October Jeanie became, after five decades, a “local celebrity” in a newspaper article featuring her as a focal point of the question “where is she now?” Discussing what has happened to her over the course of her varied career with the article’s author, Christina Hennessey, gave Jeanie a chance to reflect on the circuitous path that has brought her to her present life as a singing voice expert.  Click here if you would like to read the whole article.
Recent travels took her to Boston where she did a master class for the Voice Department at Berklee College of Music for students and faculty members including Somatic Voicework™ teachers Kaoruko Pilkington and Lisa Thorson. Over the weekend she worked with other Somatic Voicework™ teachers and with students of Kris Adams, Professor at Berklee and also Wellesley College. The following weekend she was back in NYC at an open house and a day of working with Somatic Voicework™ teachers and three of their students in the Teacher Support Group. As always, everyone had fun, enjoyed yummy snacks and fine company and the great discussion about vocal pedagogy for CCM styles.
Dr. Irene Bartlett, Professor at Queensland Conservatorium in Brisbane, Australia, and fellow CCM expert, was in town recently and visited with Jeanie, also stopping in to observe her Teacher Support Group in New York. She and Jeanie will be featured in an article by Dr. Melissa Forbes of ArtWorx University in Toowoomba to be published in April in the Journal of Singing. Dr. Forbes is visiting Jeanie for two weeks of study in December and to do initial planning for Jeanie’s return to Australia in 2019 at the University of Southern Queensland.
Jeanie is once again working with Daniel Reichard who is preparing to do an upcoming one man holiday show. Daniel was the original “Bob Gaudio” in Jersey Boys on Broadway and has been performing nationally with The Midtown Men for the last several years. [Read more…] about Big Announcements: Brazil 2018 & LoVetri Institute News