Schedule: Q3 2013

Please note: this schedule is subject to change

July 5 Trains, Planes and Automobiles
Voice speech therapists Sarah Schneider and Joanna Cazden explore how singers can cope with such hazards as cramped tour buses and airless planes to stay healthy on the road.

July 12 Holy Melisma!

Ornamentation has been a staple of vocal music for hundreds if not thousands of years. Composer and blogger Brian Rosen talks about the ways in which singers and composers adorn melodies – and the factors that separate memorable from forgettable embellishments.

July 19 As Good as the Original?

Mairi McLaughlin, Assistant Professor of French and Linguistics at UC Berkeley, and Donald Pippin, director and founder of San Francisco’s Pocket Opera, discuss what makes English translations of operas written in languages like Italian and French work – and what doesn’t.

July 26 Siberian Express

Tuvan throat singing is an ancient vocal art form that hails from Siberia. Join Sayan Bapa and Radik Tyulyush, two members of the acclaimed Tuvan ensemble Huun Huur Tu, for a discussion about the history of -- and techniques involved in practicing -- this mesmerizing artistic tradition.

August 2 Wild Women of Song
Vocalist and songwriter Pamela Rose discusses Peggy Lee, Alberta Hunter and some of the other great early twentieth century female jazz songwriters whose work has endured over the decades.

August 9 Wired for Sound
Daniel Lannon, the lead vocalist with the San Francisco-based electropop band, The Frail, chats about how working with synthesizers and other electronic instruments affects his vocal production and repertoire.

August 16 The Multitasking Vocalist

Bay Area chanteuse and pianist Jill Tracy explores the art of singers accompanying themselves on the piano.

August 23 Lieder Alive!

Classical vocal music impresario Maxine Bernstein and mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich explore the lyrical art form of the nineteenth century German art song.

August 30 Stage Scribe

New York-based theatre composer Dave Malloy looks at the nuts and bolts of writing a memorable show tune.

September 6 Charlotte’s Changes

The versatile Welsh vocalist Charlotte Church chats about how she morphed from being one of the world’s most successful child sopranos to finding her voice in the indie rock space.

September 13 Second Coming

Theatre journalist Chad Jones explores some of the most memorable show tune crossovers in musical theatre history and what it takes for a song to leap beyond the footlights to become a hit in the pop music world.

September 20 Feel the Rhythm

Jazz vocalist and Grammy Awards board member Kitty Margolis discusses how she helps aspiring jazz singers develop their improvisation chops. 

September 27 Forever Young

Voice speech pathologists Sarah Schneider and Katherine Verdolini Abbott explore how children's voices develop and how good and bad vocal habits form at an early age.