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-Chelsea

Studio Resources

Below are some great ways to deepen your understanding of music. Lessons are great for individual instruction, but there are so many facets of music learning: history, science, and fundamentals of music. Please enjoy the following suggestions and let me know if you have further questions.

-Chelsea

Studio Links:

Composer Diversity Database

Wow. What an amazing tool to support diversity in classical music. Have fun finding new composers and repertoire!

Translation Template

This is a great starting place with songs with either a foreign text or antiquated English text. Either print and write it in, or save a copy to your google drive and fill in the text electronically. Let me know if you have any questions.

IPA Source

Need help putting together your translation and pronunciation? This is a fabulous resource. You can pay $3-5 for a song translation with IPA (international phonetic alphabet) pronunciation.

National Association of Teachers of Singing

Here is the site with all NATS audition, festival, and conference information.

French Song/Aria Diction Videos

What an amazing service this person has created. These videos are fantastic. Enjoy!

Robert Greenberg's Great Courses on Music

All of his lectures are amazing, here are my favorites:

- Understanding the Fundamentals of Music

Want to build up your basic understanding of music? This is a fabulous course similar to training you would get in the beginning of a degree in music.

- Music as a Mirror of History

This is a fabulous look at history through music. By focussing on the ways artists have commented and explored their environment, we get great insight into underlying threads of humanity.

- How to Listen to and Understand Opera

Just as the title suggests, this is a lecture series meant to make opera more accessible. Have you been meaning to see an opera but don’t know where to start? This series is a great place to figure out what you might be interested in.

- How to Listen to and Understand Great Music

This is very similar to the one mentioned above, but for classical music in general.

- Operas of Mozart

Mozart was a master at combining dance motives and orchestral textures to sneak in additional colors and comments on characters, their social standing, and plot. Often he uses these to mock characters of higher social standing or to show moral high-ground. These lectures give great examples of these and more aspects of Mozart’s music which help the modern ear understand the intricacies of Mozart’s genius.

- Mozart-His Life and Music

Want to know more details about the man himself?

- Robert and Clara Schumann-Their Lives and Music

Robert and Clara Schumann helped shape the art of Lieder as well as instrumental music of the Romantic Era. This lecture series is wonderful for understanding more about their lives as artists and the music they created.

Incredible Resource for Performance Anxiety

There are so many helpful tools here, enjoy looking around at his surveys and listen to hispodcast on creating a daily practice around peak performance.

Interesting videos on music and singing:

Featured

What is up with Noises? (The Science and Mathematics of Sound, Frequency, and Pitch)

Great introduction to sound science! Also, check out her other videos. She’s great!

Vocal Quartet Laryngoscopy

David Byrne: How architecture helped music evolve

Master Your Communication | Louise Evans | TEDxGenova

This is an amazing talk that has fascinating applications to character development. What communication style does your character find themselves in during the aria/scene/song you are currently working on?

The transformative power of classical music | Benjamin Zander

Baritone MRI

The Hyperadductive Singer: Stretches

This is intended for singers who have a tendency to press or pressurize their sound, but I think it is a great set of stretches to learn about the muscles that might be causing extra tension.

Suggested Books:

Performance Success by Don Greene

Don Greene has a systematic approach to nerves and performance/audition energy. In this book, he provides a self-assessment for readers to figure out what it is they are struggling with. Then, he gives detailed approaches to addressing those areas.

Audition Success by Don Greene

Here, Don Greene addresses auditioning and its specific demands.

Music for Sight Singing by Robert Ottmann and Nancy Roders

If you are wanting to practice or learn sight singing, this book is a wonderful place to start. We can work on this together during lessons, if you’d like instruction.

Music for Sight Singing (5th edition)

For a lower budget option, here is the link to the previous edition. We can use either of these books together in your lessons and this book offers almost the same materiel as the newer one. Layout is different but not at all problematic for our lessons.

Attitude Cards!

These are amazing for finding new interpretations to old repertoire or digging in to specificity. I highly recommend these for all levels of performers.

Thinking Shakespeare by Barry Edelstein

So great on so many levels. General stage mindset and deep dives into Shakespearean tradition.

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown

I started reading this book for personal reasons but the depth of vulnerability I was able to access completely changed my skillset onstage. If you’re dealing with any blocks or resistance to being yourself onstage, this is an easy read, but a huge call to adjust your self understanding, and a great addition to your technical study.

Singing Opportunities

Local Audition Notices:

https://www.sfcv.org/auditions

Chorus Opportunities in the SF Bay Area that students of mine have enjoyed:

Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra

The Fog City Singers

Fog City: Harmonia

International Orange Chorale

Oakland City Chorus

Oakland Symphony Chorus

San Francisco City Chorus

San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus

San Francisco Renaissance Voices

San Francisco Symphony Chorus

Viva La Musica

There are numerous options for community singing in the bay area. Wether you are looking for classical, pop, jazz, gospel, or any other type of group singing, you can find options with a variety of commitment level at the following directory, maintained by Helene and Bill Whitson:

The SF Bay Area Choral Archive