Shenandoah University Hosts Contemporary Commercial Music Vocal Pedagogy Institute
UPDATED: July 17 – 26: SU hosted the 8th annual Contemporary Commercial Music Vocal Pedagogy Institute. This institute is the first and only to offer courses in contemporary commercial music (CCM) for academic credit in a graduate degree program.
Shenandoah University hosted the 8th annual Contemporary Commercial Music Vocal Pedagogy Institute, July 17 – 26. This institute is the first and only to offer courses in contemporary commercial music (CCM) for academic credit in a graduate degree program.
Voice professionals from around the world are drawn to Shenandoah’s CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute for training in how to bridge the gap between today’s contemporary commercial music styles (rock, pop, country, jazz, folk, music theater, etc.) with the more traditional, classical vocal techniques. This year, participants traveled from as far away as Australia and Brazil to attend the institute.
“One of the reasons that Shenandoah University offers this program is that not many classically trained teachers of singing are convinced cross-over singing methods should be used to teach CCM in a healthy way,” said Professor of Voice Kathryn Green, director of the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute. “Participants leave the institute knowing how to teach and demonstrate these cross-over techniques to their students.”
One of the reasons that Shenandoah University offers this program is that not many classically trained teachers of singing are convinced cross-over singing methods should be used to teach CCM in a healthy way.
Special guest lecturers included Dr. Gwen Korovin, an otolaryngologist with celebrity clients like Celine Dion and Whitney Houston; Robert Marks, a vocal coach to Broadway stars, conductor, arranger, musician, and vocal educator; and Wendy LeBorgne, Ph.D., director for the Blaine Block Institute for Voice Analysis and Rehabilitation and a 1994 Shenandoah University graduate with a B.F.A. in Musical Theatre.
Highlights of the program included a short history of music theatre vocal and musical styles, methods to keep the voice healthy in any style, basic voice science, diagnostic and corrective tools, practical application of the contemporary commercial music vocal style, cross-training, and problem solving studies of the larynx.
In 2003, voice faculty from Shenandoah Conservatory and Artist-in-Residence Jeannette LoVetri created the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute to meet the demand for training grounded in voice science, voice medicine and tested methods of CCM pedagogy.
For more information, go to http://www.su.edu/www/tvpc/index.cfm.