Westminster Choir College Saturday Seminar

Working with Transgender Singers in the Choral and Studio Settings
Saturday, February 8, 2020
8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
​$95 (includes lunch on campus)

Presenters:
​Steven J. Knell, Kathy Kessler Price, Christopher Arneson

CALL 609-924-7416 TODAY TO REGISTER!

​​This seminar is designed to teach choir directors and voice teachers how to support, train, and advocate for their students who identify as transgender. Through lecture, demonstration, and conversation, the session will address:

• Current state of affairs regarding inclusive practices
• Presentation of new field research on the experiences of transgender singers in the choral setting
• Appropriate terminology for addressing LGBTQ+ persons
• Avoiding heteronormative and gender normative practices in ensemble titles, repertoire selection, wardrobe, and rehearsal practices
• Support and mentorship of queer and gender queer students

In the afternoon, two voice instructors will share the techniques they have developed for working with trans-male and trans-female singers who desire to alter their singing and/or speaking voices. Specific topics for the afternoon session will include:

• Developing an awareness and technical capability in speaking tessitura
• Use of vocalizes to develop and strengthen speaking range
• Using dramatic readings and conversational techniques to develop female inflections in trans-female singers
• Training the emerging pubescent baritone singing voice in trans-male singers

Presenter Bios

• Steven J. Knell is founder of the Conductors' Collective at Escalante and artistic director of 67hundred, a professional chamber chorus and orchestra. He earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was the assistant conductor of the University of Texas Chamber Singers and Concert Chorale. Dr. Knell previously served as Emerging Artist in Choral Directing at the Pennsylvania State University-Altoona and on the faculty of the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles. Dr. Knell has conducted the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the orchestra of the University of Texas Bach Cantata Project, and the University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Knell is also a composer and an experienced and versatile tenor, and has performed extensively in new music projects, such as Jennifer Higdon's Ruminations with the UT New Music Ensemble, as well as early music as a prolific soloist for the UT Bach Cantata Project. He appears regularly as a tenor in choral masterworks, opera, and musical theatre.
• Kathy Kessler Price, soprano, teaches graduate vocal pedagogy courses and applied voice, and directs the Presser Voice Laboratory at Westminster Choir College. She previously served on the faculties of Mississippi State University, The University of Kansas, William Jewell College, and Northern Virginia Community College. She also worked as an intern in Clinical Voice Assessment at the University of Kansas Medical Center. She is a founding member of the Washington Vocal Consortium, and conducts the acclaimed D.C. women’s ensemble, Philomela. Dr. Price has performed as soloist in such distinguished venues as The Kennedy Center Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, The National Museum for Women in the Arts, and in a solo concert tour of the Czech Republic. Her current research interests include lifespan female singing voices focusing on menopausal vocal transitions, aging voice, historical vocal pedagogy with particular emphasis on female pedagogues, the role of voice teachers in interdisciplinary voice habilitation and rehabilitation, and voice assessment procedures for colleges and universities.
• Christopher Arneson is a professional voice trainer and vocologist on the faculty at Westminster Choir College of Rider University where he is Director of Voice Pedagogy and teaches Pedagogy, Literature, and Speech for the Actor. In 2016 he also joined the faculty at Princeton University. Dr. Arneson’s students appeared in young artist programs at Chautauqua Opera, Central City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Washington National Opera. His professional-level students have appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Dr. Arneson is a frequent guest speaker regarding the training and care of the professional voice. He was chair of the NATS Pedagogy Curriculum Committee and has published articles in the NATS Journal of Singing; “Teaching Teachers and Performance Anxiety: A 21st Century Perspective”. Dr. Arneson is the editor/ author of, Fundamentals of Great Singing, the Teaching of Michael Trimble and Literature for Teaching: Solo Vocal Repertoire from a Developmental Perspective.

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