Education Q & A WITH
IES GUEST FACULTY
Lisa Popeil
S
weet Adelines International Education Symposium (IES) guest faculty Lisa Popeil has made singing her life’s work, developing the VoiceWorks® Method, which she uses in her coaching and teaching of singers from beginners to professionals. We caught up with Lisa shortly after she finished a tour with popular parody singer “Weird Al” Yankovic to find out what Sweet Adelines can expect when they meet her in San Antonio!
What led you to make a career of singing? My mother had received no formal education, and she wanted to give me every educational opportunity. I started piano at 4, then went to a theatrical school at 6 for dance and singing. By the time I was 7, I was losing my voice, so my mother found a classical voice teacher for me. Even from that early age, I thought that learning how to sing was infinitely fascinating. I’m constantly learning, doing research, discovering new things, and learning how to share that information with any age, any level so that they can experience the joy of having a voice that works for them.
Have you ever sung barbershop harmony? When I was 20, I was asked to be the director of a small Sweet Adelines chorus in Santa Clarita, California. I loved the music, the sense of camaraderie, and how competition inspires people to continue to be better. So, yes, I actually have more than a passing acquaintance with barbershop and Sweet Adelines singing!
20
| April 2020
What excites you about teaching our members? I often meet people who are passionate about the science behind singing and how it's taught but who don't actually sing and rarely, if ever, perform. So, being able to share my life's work with people who are not only fascinated by singing but are actually doing it on a regular basis is a great gift for me. When I teach, I like to create an atmosphere of performance, where it’s fun. One of the things I love about Sweet Adelines is this overriding sense of joy and also this focus on education, so it's really a perfect fit for me. I never want to lose the magic of singing and what it's really there for, which is to inspire and heal people, not only the audience but ourselves. It’s what I live for.
What will our members take home with them after your classes? I develop techniques that lead to what I call the three C's: Control, Consistency, and Confidence. When you know how to Control your voice, it is consistent for you. Consistency is important because naturally talented singers often are inconsistent. They don’t know why they have a good day or a bad day, and this leads to the third C, which is Confidence. It’s hard to feel confident in your voice when you feel like it can fail you one day or be amazing another day, all without knowing why. I try to present this material in easy-to-understand terms so you can get results right away without having to do a lot of vocal exercising. My methods are based on knowledge of what to do to make a change or improvement, or to solve a vocal problem.
