PAVA Newsletter | Fall 2022 | Vol. 3 Issue 4 | English

Introducing New Board Directors

of voice and voice pedagogy at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. I live only one mile from the beautiful Myrtle Beach shore with my husband Eric and two adorable pups, Henri and Coco I earned a Ph D in voice pedagogy from The University of Kansas and an M M in voice performance and pedagogy from The Pennsylvania State University

AMELIA ROLLINGS

PAVA President-Elect

Hello PAVA colleagues and friends! I am excited to serve the PAVA membership in the role of president elect after previously serving as membership director and as a member and co chair of the PAVA Credentialing/ Specialization Committee from 2017 20. I have been a proud member of PAVA since 2015 and truly value the mission, vision, and goals of our organization I am passionate and eager to get to work as we aim to creatively advance our organization and vocology. Currently, I am an assistant professor

When I’m not dodging golf carts, I am most likely teaching, yodeling, reading, drinking coffee, learning something new, or exploring all things voice. My primary research interests include small and large group voice teaching, contemporary commercial music voice pedagogy, historical voice teacher certification and education, and the effects of shoe heel heights, head position, and jaw opening on acoustic and perceptual measures of singing. I enjoyed seeing many of you at the recent symposium in Minneapolis and look forward to connecting with many more of you at future hybrid PAVA events Please reach out if you have ideas, questions, or if I can help in any way Go PAVA!

BETH FALCONE

PAVA Communications Director

As I step into my new role as Communications Director, first off, hats off to Amanda Flynn and the Communications Committee for their extraordinary work over these past three years. I have big shoes to fill. Communications Director, to me, is about listening, amplifying the passionate voices of PAVA, and expanding accessibility to those voices. I am committed to our various communications coming out in English, Spanish and Portuguese, our events having interpreters, and over the next three years, my goal is to have a

new website that will be a more accessible home base for all of us.That last part will take a while, so, in the meantime, we have two new tabs at PAVAVocology org for you to visit to stay up to date:

PAVASOCIAL

This page is your central access to events. It is updated regularly to reflect upcoming events and has registration information Also, if you subscribe to our PAVA Social Google Calendar, PAVA events will also appear in your own calendar!

PAVA CHAPTERS

Want to get involved in a local PAVA chapter? Click the icon to see a full list of Chapters and who to email!

This is a lot, as you can imagine. No one can achieve this alone I am grateful to have Crystal Lau, our Assistant Communications Director, Paul Patinka, our new Operations Manager, and two new communication subcommittees to support this work: the Social Media Subcommittee, expertly led by Libert Garcia and Mae Coro from our Mexico Chapter.

With their expertise, we plan to expand our social media globally!

Translations Team: led by Mae Coro, Maíra Jaber, Vanne Merino, and Daniela Longaray Want to participate and help put the Pan in PAVA? Email me at Communications@PAVAVocology.org, and we'll get you to the right place!

A little about me very little, because no one has time to read anymore. ; ) My path has been a winding one, both as a performer and as a teaching artist I am a pianist first, and I caught the bug for voice while playing for others' voice lessons. My parents met in an opera workshop in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and I was the house pianist for a reason. When it came to singing, I was terrible. : ) But I learned that voices could change, that they weren’t stagnant, and that fascinated me. My interest in Vocology, before I knew it was called that, started when I met Oren Brown (Discover Your Voice) I loved his premises: "Discover what your voice can do for you vs what you can make your voice do," and "Less is more " I had the great fortune to study with him for a couple of years and to play for his studio in New York City Oren's workshop in Utah (1999) led me

to Ingo Titze, Brad Story, Daniel Boone, Dr. Bob Bastien, Leon Thurman, and the VoiceCare Network

My mind was blown, and I was hooked for life It was Leon that led me to PAVA. I count my lucky stars that I was at that first Symposium in Greensboro

I was so warmly welcomed. All anyone seemed to care about was my hunger to learn. Since I'm not very good at science, I like to invent creative ways to teach it to myself and then do my best to translate that into the classroom. I am tremendously grateful for the patience the experts among us have shown me.

I look forward to listening and to amplifying your voices. I'm honored to be here. Reach out any time. Thank you for having me as your PAVA Director of Communications!

LYNN MAXFIELD

Western Region Governor

I am so pleased and grateful for the opportunity to be joining the PAVA Board of directors as the Western Region Governor I served as the association’s financial officer and treasurer in its fledgling years and it has been so fun to return to meetings and witness just how much growth has been achieved by the hard working officers and members over the past few years. From efforts to support local chapters, to hiring administrative staff, to the rollout of the flagship PAVA RV program, it is immensely exciting to see PAVA with the full wind in its sails!

By way of introduction, I currently serve as the Director of the Utah

Center for Vocology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, home of the Summer Vocology Institute I also hold a career line appointment as an Assistant Professor, Lecturer in the School of Music here and work as the contracted voice coach for the University of Utah Voice Disorders Center Vocology as the “science and practice of voice habilitation” is at the heart of all that I do professionally, and my heart has belonged to voice study since, in 7th grade, I auditioned for and landed the role of Major General Stanley in our middle school’s production of the Pirates of Penzance. I grew up in rural southern Idaho, the youngest of 7 children in a home filled with an eclectic mix of music from Air Supply, The Carpenters, the Ramones, Garth Brooks, and the Beastie Boys, to Tchaikovsky, Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven. With so many older siblings, at least one radio was always on and I fell in love with the range of emotions that music could express, but it wasn’t until that first adventure with Gilbert and Sullivan’s raucous band of pirates and bumbling policemen, that I found my place as an artist. Today, while I am not on stage nearly as often, enabling and empowering expressive, free, and versatile communication remains the driving force behind my work. I look forward to what I can bring to and learn from the Pan American Vocology Association in the coming years.

CARLOS MANZANO

Latin American Region Governor

I am Carlos Manzano, a Phoniatrician from Mexico and I was elected to be Governor of Latin America for PAVA in the last elections.

First of all, I would like to explain to you what Phoniatrics is and how to become a Phoniatrician It is important to mention that the medical specialty of Phoniatrics is found in very few countries in the world and Mexico has the happiness that for 50 years it has trained Phoniatricians annually I began my training studying medicine for 7 years at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) in Mexico and later the specialty of Phoniatrics for 4 years at the National Institute of

Rehabilitation endorsed by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) Therefore, Phoniatrics in Mexico is the medical specialty that is responsible for the diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of voice problems.

I am currently an MD, an MS, and Phoniatrician in Mexico City privately where I mainly attend to professional voice patients such as singers, actors, and other professionals, I also have the joy of being the President of the Mexico chapter of The Voice Foundation for 2 years where I have had the opportunity to organize academic events related to voice

My passion for the voice started in my childhood with formal musical education as a singer and as a pianist. For some years I also ventured into composition classes At the moment he continued taking classes for periods and I continue to sing in an amateur way on an occasional basis I like all musical genres so I enjoy listening to music and going to concerts, I love listening to new sounds from different cultures around the world.

In 2021 I had the opportunity to attend and get certified in the Summer Vocology Intensive at the University of Utah with Dr Ingo Titze and his fascinating team of teachers, in that summer I had the joy of meeting

different professionals from different disciplines and various countries that brought us unites the same passion for the study of the voice.

I have a master's degree in Medical Sciences from UNAM My line of research is acoustic, electroglottographic, and aerodynamic voice analysis in singers In the teaching part, I have the happiness of receiving residents of Phoniatrics every year for a few months to observe my clinical activities as a Phoniatrician. I also continuously give conferences related to voice issues in Mexico and Latin America at different congresses.

It is a great honor and a great joy to serve as governor of PAVA during this period and continue to strengthen the development of Vocology in Latin America. I once dreamed of combining Medicine with Art and I am achieving this dream Many greetings from Mexico.

What PAVA-RV Means To Me:

An Unexpected Pleasure in the Process

Like many, I clicked the “submit” button for the PAVA RV application with both excitement and anxiety What happens if I don’t pass the test? Am I still a vocologist? How do I prove that?

MARITA STRYKER

MM, PAVA-RV, RYT200

This year, PAVA officially launched the PAVA Recognized Vocologist (PAVA-RV) program, as well as announced our first class of recognition. In this issue, Marita Stryker - who is among the first of thirteen Recognized Vocologists - wrote about the significance and impact of PAVA-RV recognition on her career as a Voice and Movement Educator, a singer, a director, and a Yoga Instructor.

After graduating from the Summer Vocology Institute in 2019, I was ready to share with the world that I was now an NCVS trained Vocologist! This was often followed by a congratulatory, “That’s awesome! What’s that?” Even my autocorrect is still confused I believe that the PAVA RV process has brought me clarity to answer that question fully So, while the added letters after my name may take a while for those outside of our voice nerd bubble to understand, I am proud to have a title for my multidisciplinary journey, hinting at how I’ve ended up the practitioner I am today: MM (soon to be DMA), PAVA RV, RYT200

I currently teach voice lessons in a variety of mediums and styles; I teach the new Contemporary Musicianship and Entrepreneur Development students at Shenandoah Conservatory,

as well as a number of Music Therapy, Music Education, and Music Theatre

Accompanying students. In my independent studio, I have clients “Zoom”ing in from New York City, Austin, L.A., and various tour locations, as well as local habilitation clients referred from their voice therapists I’ve coached clients for America’s Got Talent and Disney, but also for college auditions and church performances The variety is thrilling, and feeds me as a creative teaching artist.

So what makes me a Vocologist in addition to being a singing teacher?

I started my performance journey as a dancer, and have always felt things deeply through movement and the body. I fueled my New York City audition life by becoming a yoga instructor and found it to be a perfect balance to the grind, with the added bonus of flexibility when I booked a show! I was lucky enough to continue my yoga education at The Breathing Project, under the tutelage of Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews They veered from the popular training paths of the time and chose to focus on “embodied anatomy,” breaking down anatomy and kinesiology and its application in the yoga studio You could call it an evidence based yoga practice. I work studied my way through as many of their courses as possible, spending extra time in the studio with the

opportunity to ask burning questions, and running to apply their wisdom to my teaching One of my other three jobs at the time was teaching accessible circus in public schools and with multi generational community groups I was the personal assistant to the founders of CircusYoga and The Human Art of Play, Erin Maile and Kevin O’Keefe We taught a mix of clowning, improvisation, yoga, acrobatics, and dance; all done at a level where every participant felt successful; all done through play. While living in New York, one of my favorite classes to teach was a donation based Yoga for Performers class. I rented studio space, right next to the latest callback for Avenue Q or Hairspray, and we worked through a combination of pranayama (breathing practices) and asana (poses) that I considered useful for singers and actors, and discussed the “why” as the theme of the class. This remains a part of my teaching practice today

The element of play has become a theme along my path, always appearing in the best teaching and mentorship that I experience. I recently went back to school and am working toward my DMA in Voice Pedagogy at Shenandoah Conservatory. Within my coursework last year, I spent time looking at the role of Singing Voice Specialist in various voice clinics and independent settings I can not express how grateful I am to the

group of mentors I had the pleasure of working with and observing: Philip Doucette, Lynn Maxfield, and Dara Allen The variety of patient backgrounds and conditions within a Speech Language Pathologist’s and/or Singing Voice Specialists’ caseload calls for not only an incredible amount of knowledge, but a toolbox like Mary Poppins’ carpet bag

As a performer, I had the advantage of sneaking into a professional career early as a dancer in the chorus at local Equity theatre companies. I went to school for musical theatre, but also studied Western Classical music (first reluctantly, then happily) I spent my performance career bouncing between regional theatre companies, cruise ships, workshops and readings of new musicals in the city, cabaret performances, and concerts. While it never felt settled, it has been a wild ride, and certainly adds to my Mary Poppins’ carpet bag as a singing teacher and musical theatre educator!

Now we come back to putting together the portfolio for the PAVA RV application I realized that all of these seemingly random paths have come together to create the space I hold for those entering my studio. I almost always start sessions with a breath and body check in (a sequence of mindful breaths, stretching, and humming); during a lesson, I may have students dancing around the room or doing short

sequences of self bodywork for tongue and jaw release (thanks Christine Schneider!); my background as a dancer informs how I teach dancers and athletes; my performance experience helps me guide students through different performance situations and degrees of amplification; I feel comfortable guiding my gigging artists through strategies to avoid overuse when the sounds are bad at a venue, or helping them navigate seeking medical help; some of my students can name vocal anatomy and tell me why we ’ re exploring certain acoustic strategies, and some just tell me if something felt good or meh We play, we move, and we explore what moves us If I had simply worked my way through one, predetermined path, I wouldn’t be the teacher and vocologist I am today And as the group of PAVA RVs grows, I look forward to hearing about all of the unique journeys that have brought us together, in this exciting and ever evolving fascination of the voice.

Getting Personal: An Interview with

Machan Taylor

To learn more about our crossdisciplinary interests, InFormant editors will be interviewing various PAVA members so we can all learn a little more about the diverse fascinations housed in our organization. In September 2022, Paul Patinka had the honor of interviewing Machan Taylor who recently returned from Sicily where she was performing with a Pink Floyd cover band.

Can you tell us a little about some projects you are currently working on or recently finished?

I toured a little bit this summer in Sicily and it's kind of funny. Because I toured with Pink Floyd years ago, I get these calls [to be] a guest vocalist with these tribute bands So, I just got back at the end of August and I had the best time with the sweetest people They treat me like a Rockstar! It's so much fun and the food and the wine is incredible I'll be going to Chile in December to sing with another group But I'm also trying to continue working on my own stuff. I've been releasing songs of my own I’m executive producing and co writing material for a student of mine, this wonderful singer who I've been working with since she's nine years old and she's 18 now. It really feels good supporting young up and coming talent

What about vocalization fascinates or inspires you the most?

MACHAN TAYLOR

The voice is like a fingerprint. It is unique to every human being on the planet, no matter what type you are,

or, you know, what sound you think you have Your actual voiceprint is completely individual and unique. And I think that it's just a miracle that we're able to make these incredible sounds and music. I continually marvel at how the voice works and then in my teaching it's such a thrill to see when someone gets a certain concept. And they end up getting these beautiful, full, resonant kinds of sounds. To hear that, to see those transformations happen, it's really a thrill I think that's what really turns me on about teaching, you know?

developing the techniques so on and so forth So, I would like to get more involved and I'm going to pull the trigger on the certification soon!

Do you have a mentor in your field whose work you look up to? Who is it and why?

There's so many! Dr Titze, Kittie Verdolini and so many people, Aaron Johnson is here in New York. So, I don't think there's any one person that I can say I really look up to, but I would say that Dr. Titze and Sundberg, the pioneers of the field.

What excites you about being a member of PAVA? How does PAVA fit into your overall career trajectory or goals?

Honestly, I have not really been involved as much as I would like to. I'd like to start getting a little bit more involved I'd like to do the certification. I'm a little nervous about getting into it because I know it's going to require a little bit of study and time and preparation, but I do want to do the certification And I just think that it really is the platform for what I believe is the future of vocal pedagogy I think obviously PAVA is, and the members of PAVA are people that believe in vocal science and are researchers that are

Before COVID I had been taking a bunch of lessons with William Riley who's in New York. But I've also discovered this wonderful teacher in London and I've taken some of his online classes, Dane Chalfin, and he is hysterical.

If you had unlimited resources and a year of vacation, what is something fun you would like to do with that time?

It is a really difficult question because there are so many places in the world that I still want to go to, like Egypt! I would love to see the pyramids and so many places But I think for me, what would really sort of satisfy my heart would be to go somewhere like Sardinia and spend, I don't know, six months or a year, working on my Italian and sitting on a beach. FULL INTERVIEW: TRANSCIPT

Opinion