Schedule: Q4 2012

Please note: Schedule subject to change

October 5 Swinging the Latin American Songbook
Venezuelan vocalist Jimmy Kansau takes listeners on a journey through the music of early to mid 20th century Latin America and the Caribbean. (Re-run: initial air date, April 13, 2012.)

October 12 Pucker up
Virtuoso whistler and music journalist Jason Victor Serinus chats about the art of whistling and making a career out of this oft derided vocal art form. 

October 19 Killing me softly
Psychiatrist Jerome Oremland, vocal coach Mark Bosnian, journalist Michelle Holmes and Beth PInney, worship leader at Laguna Presbyterian Church in Laguna Beach, Southern California, explore why so many of us are afraid to sing as well as innovative techniques for helping people to overcome their hang-ups and belt out a tune with confidence. Program generously underwritten by Meyer Sound. (Re-run: initial airdate, June 8 2012.)

October 26 Sweet Hormony

Transgendered vocalists Eli Conley and Ashey Moore talk about how singers can successfully negotiate the shift from singing as a male to singing as a female and vise-versa.

November 2 Singing all the way to the polls

Composer and arts blogger Brian Rosen explores election season songs and the history of presidential candidates’ singing skills.

November 9 Top of the charts

Lara Downes, a renowned pianist and the artistic director of the Mondavi Center Young Artists’ Competition which this year focuses on vocal performance, and John Neal, the director of the Harmony Sweepstakes national a cappella tournament, discuss why singing competitions matter.

November 16 Remembering Alan Farley

KALW host Alan Farley passed away on October 21. VoiceBox pays tribute to this most excellent of musical commentators by revisiting a show we recorded with Alan in March 2011 about the songs of 1941. The program was produced to mark KALW's 70th anniversary. (Re-run: initial airdate, March 4 2011.)

November 23 The many voices of Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan’s voice has been compared to sandpaper and described as "a catarrhal death rattle." Blues music aficionado Devon Strolovitch discusses the colors of Dylan's vocal instrument.

November 30 Barbra & Meryl

Actresses Barbra Streisand and Meryl Streep are the main focus of a discussion about great actors who also happen to be great singers with Chad Jones, theatre critic and performing arts blogger, and vocalist Anne Hampton Callaway. (Re-run: initial airdate, June 1 2012.)

December 7 Sing song merrily on high

Ken Malucelli, a carol composer and the director of The Merrie Olde Christmas Carolers, a nationally-franchised caroling group, and jazz musician / Christmas music aficionado Tim Lewis, chat about how to write and perform heartwarming winter holiday songs.

December 14 It takes two, baby

Husband and wife vocal artists Nicki and Tim Bluhm talk about what it takes to sing and live as a duo and explore the history of famous duetting couples.

December 21 Walking in a Winter Singalong Land
The holiday season wouldn’t be the same without a trip to the local movie theatre for a Singalong Sound of Music orSingalong West Side Story. Performer and impresario Laurie Bushman, the host of the famous singalong soirees at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre, explore the culture of the singalong and what makes these events so much fun. (Re-run: initial airdate, December 23 2011.)

December 28 Innate Chemistry

Jazz vocalist Ellen Robinson and instrumentalists Sam Bevan and Kristen Strom discuss the subtle yet powerful art of communication that takes place between great singers and the great instrumentalists that surround them. (Re-run: initial airdate, November 18 2011.)