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Stan Strickland, Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT : Voice Department"I'm teaching two unusual classes. One is called Musical Independence, which is basically a class for singers to develop some piano self-accompanying skills and to think about putting a song together. Then I have a liberal arts class called Sound, Body, and Performance. It's a very comprehensive class, looking at a holistic approach to performing. We do a lot of hand drumming, movement, meditating, and breathing. It fulfills a science requirement, so there's a lot of reading."
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Livingston Taylor, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Voice Department"Above all else, performers need to be what I call 'ferociously curious.' Secondly, they need to watch their creativity land: to watch it arrive. It's not enough to just create and throw it out there. You have to watch it land. When you do things that people like, do those things again. When you do things that they don't like, don't do 'em any more. This is not rocket science here."
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Lisa Thorson, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Voice Department"I challenge students to do things that they might not normally do, whether it's in lessons or classes, with an eye and an ear toward them developing their personal style and not being cookie cutters. I wholeheartedly encourage creativity and finding a personal voice and style, but I am also very practical about what it takes to succeed as an artist. Almost everything that I teach, including vocal technique, has an improvisational component. I encourage stretching beyond comfort zones, because that is the point at which you discover possibilities and learn new things. My approach is positive and students feel comfortable diving in and trying new things."
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Patrice Williamson, Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT : Voice Department"I teach private instruction in the Voice Department as well as a couple of ensembles, an R&B class, and a mixed-style class, both with improvisation. I pretty much cover the gamut, which is a reflection of my own singing life. In fact, last weekend I had a jazz gig with my vocal trio Friday night, then Saturday morning I sang with my gospel choir for a special service, Saturday night I had a pop and R&B gig for a wedding, and Sunday afternoon I perfomed show tunes with my musical theater group."
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Kathryn Wright, Professor
DEPARTMENT : Voice Department"Unlike instrumentalists, singers must communicate not only through music, but additionally, through words. Singers are actors as well as musicians and must reveal the emotions behind the lyrics as well as the passion of the musical phrase. Good technical development is not an end unto itself. It is a means for empowering the singer to express those emotions freely and poignantly."
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Janie Barnett, Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT : Voice Department"I want students to enjoy the process, and the rest will come. To take students out of their comfort zone, I might ask them to throw the song into a completely different key. Or make them play with only one hand, if they're a piano player, to hear the space in the song. Or ask them to play the whole song up two octaves, or take out all the vibrato, or, for the guitar player, to use an alternate tuning. It's not that the crazy version of a song is the best alternative; it just sends them down a different road so that they come out somewhere fresh on the other side."
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Allison Beaudry, Instructor
DEPARTMENT : Voice Department"Sometimes ideas can come at the most random times. For me, it's mostly when I'm lying in bed at night or driving in the car. I'll either stay up in the dark singing through the melody line I have created until I get it right, or I'll find the sound recorder on my cell phone and recite the lyrics that pop in my head in between shifting gears in my car. Bizarre, yes, but when something inspires you, you have to grab hold of it, because you never know, it could be your next hit."
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Joey Blake, Associate Professor
DEPARTMENT : Voice Department"I'm all about music and how it works with community—how community helps us, how we help each other. It's a very codependent thing to be an artist. So I tell my students to make use of this campus, which is a musicians' playground. They can make some great relationships, then catch up with each other later and help each other."
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Karen Carr, Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT : Voice Department"I always tell students I'm not here to change them. I'm just here to introduce them to new styles, so when they go into a recording studio or an audition, they're ready. You never know where your musical path is going to lead you, so preparation is key. Know how to count off your tunes, know the keys you're singing in, get a songbook together of all the songs that you sing great in different styles. So when you go out into the world, you can present yourself professionally. I want my students to work when they get out of here."
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Carrie Cheron, Assistant Professor
DEPARTMENT : Voice Department- B.M., Voice, Indiana University
- M.M., New England Conservatory
- Recordings include One More Autumn
- Performances with Edie Carey, Anais Mitchell, the Barra MacNeils, Northern Lights, David Jacobs-Strain, Liz Longley, Miss Tess, and Trina Hamlin