​Online Course

Roots to Riffs: Discovering the

Vocal Lineage for Today's Singing

July 7 (Tuesday), 17 (Friday),

and 28 (Tuesday)

2pm-4pm EST

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( MUCC 529 ONS Voices of Soul)

​​​Taught by Alison Crockett

 

Teach popular singing styles with confidence and cultural insight.

Most singers and teachers want to jump straight to scales and exercises to learn how to riff. This course gives you something different: a blueprint for understanding vocal improvisation from the inside out through rhythm, culture, tone, and storytelling. We start at the source: Blues, Jazz, and Gospel, the three roots of Black American Music that inform virtually all of today's popular singing. 

 

Complex concepts will be broken down, and, through active participation, participants will learn to apply these concepts in their teaching. These are not warmed-over classical methods; rather, it is really about techniques that are informed by the vocal traditions of the music.   

 

You'll Learn:

• Language: You will learn to develop your own authentic sound, incorporating transcription as a tool for understanding rhythm, phrasing, tone, and cultural context within the music. Improvisation is about storytelling, not flashy runs. 

• Rhythm, Groove, and Pocket: Participants will familiarize themselves with the essential pockets and culturally specific rhythmic practices. Authentic phrasing within these grooves is actually what enables riffing to be grounded and locked to the pocket.  

• Stylistically Appropriate Technique: Going beyond generic belting, we will learn to negotiate register flexibility and qualities of vocal registers that reflect Black American Music traditions, paired with the cultural understanding of why they matter.

• Improvisation: Participants will learn the improvisatory process step by step, from lyrical phrasing and melodic embellishment to the rhythmic and textural foundations that make confident, personalized riffing possible. Riffing is the destination, not the starting point. 

 

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to apply the ways to identify essential qualities and genres for teaching and learning modern singing styles, fostering authenticity in your students. 

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Online Course

Teaching Pop/Rock Styles

Wednesdays: July 1, 8, 15

10AM-12PM EST   

                                  

(MUCC 528 ONS Pop Rock Style)

Taught by Melissa Foster

 

Find your authentic way into singing

Pop/Rock Styles through technical tools and appreciation for cultural roots.  

 

The birth of Pop/Rock music is deeply rooted in historical events and cultural issues. Whether you are recording in a studio, gigging, or auditioning for Pop/Rock musicals, understanding the implications of these cultural moments is imperative to bringing your work to life. Combine this with an understanding of how changes at the vocal fold level and in the vocal tract affect voice production, and you will be able to produce authentic performances time and again without vocal strain. By the end of this course, participants will know how to research the historical and cultural elements of their favorite songs, how to teach and execute common stylistic traits, and how to bring genres including Doo-Wop, Rock, Motown, Pop/Rock, R&B, and Hip-Hop/Rap styles to life. 

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Online Course

The Injured Singing Voice:

Tools for Every Singing Teacher

Wednesdays: July 8, 29, and August 5

6-8pm EST

​

(MUCC-536-ONS The Injured Singer)​

Taught by Dr. Wendy LeBorgne

​

​Every singing teacher aims to have vocally “healthy” students. This course provides participants with a means to prevent, identify and understand potential vocal injury in singers. Each participant will complete a systematic singing voice evaluation and create an appropriate plan for referral and/or

singing training. Participants will also acquire appropriate strategies for studio singing post-vocal injury. This is a workshop-style course with multimedia, including video examples, audio examples and performance/assessment.

 

​Online Course

Training Baby Belters and Beyond

Tuesdays: July 21, 28, and August 4 

5:00pm - 7:30pm  EST

​

(MUCC-537-ONS )​​​

Taught by Marci Rosenberg, CCC-SLP

 

This course is an introduction to training younger and beginner belters, designed for singers and singing teachers who want a clear, science-informed starting point that still covers a wide range of practical, studio-ready topics. You will leave with a grounded framework you can apply immediately, plus a toolbox of exercises and teaching strategies that scale from early belt development to more advanced belt and mix.

 

Course content is delivered through live online learning that blends:

• Synchronous lectures that build key concepts and a shared vocabulary

• Real-time discussion and Q&A to connect science to what you see and hear in singers

• Interactive workshops focused on applying concepts in a studio setting, including guided problem-solving, exercise selection, and teaching progressions

 

Key topics include:

• An introduction to semi-occluded vocal tract (SOVT) exercises and how to use them to support safe, sustainable belting

• Strengthening and conditioning approaches for belt and mix, including selected exercises from The Vocal Athlete: Application and Technique for the Hybrid Singer (Workbook), 3rd Edition

• Strategies to minimize vocal fatigue and reduce risk for phonotrauma

• Practical tools to screen for emerging issues, recognize early red flags, and adjust training plans accordingly

 

By the end of the course, participants will have a general, science-informed framework for developing a safe, sustainable belting quality in beginner, intermediate, and more advanced belters, along with a clearer decision-making process for selecting and progressing exercises.

 

This course pairs well with Dr. Wendy LeBorgne’s Voice Disorders Course.

Required and recommended text
 

The primary text for this course is The Vocal Athlete: Application and Technique for the Hybrid Singer (Workbook), 3rd Edition. The 3rd Edition includes 30 new invited authors. If you recently purchased the 2nd Edition, it can still serve as a useful supporting resource.

 

 

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​Online Course

Musical Theatre Styles

Fridays: July 10, 17, and 24

12:00PM-2:00 PM EST

​

​

(MUCC-534-ONS Musical Theatre Styles)​​​​

Taught by Edrie Means-Weekly

 

An engaging online course that covers the rich and ever-changing world of musical theatre singing styles. Singing a musical theatre song is more than performing the notes and lyrics on the page—expression, style, and storytelling are essential to authentic performance. Authenticity is achieved through the combination of style, emotion, and vocal expression, with the voice reflecting genres such as country, jazz, pop, rap, R&B, and rock, along with variations in resonance, vocal quality, and stylistic effects.

 

This comprehensive virtual version of our Face-to-Face course includes information on the rich and ever-changing world of musical theatre while providing practical vocal training for commercial styles—all while maintaining healthy vocal function. Topics include an overview of the history of musical theatre, the Pre-Golden Age, Golden Age, Contemporary Era, and the Pop and Rock eras on Broadway. The course also includes “White Way” to Inclusive Stage: The Evolving History of Diversity on Broadway,” along with discussions of jukebox musicals, the first Broadway star, concept musicals, pastiche, and torch songs.

 

Participants will learn exercises to cross-train the vocal production muscles, creating laryngeal flexibility to switch seamlessly between registers and styles. Techniques involve shaping the larynx, soft palate, tongue, jaw, and lips to adjust resonance, supporting genres like blues, country, jazz, pop, R&B, rock, gospel, belt/character, and legit singing. Students will also learn to use onsets, releases, vocal stylisms/effects/distortions—cry, dip/bend, fry, growls, screams, and slides—while maintaining vocal health. Through asynchronous and synchronous lectures, materials, discussion boards, videos, and listening activities, students will explore these techniques in depth.

 

Perfect for theatre fans, performers, and educators, this course offers a broad overview of Broadway’s defining eras, styles, and essential vocal tools—equipping singers and teachers to perform with authenticity, versatility, and confidence.

Course Highlights

• Overview of musical theatre history, vocal styles, and how they shape authentic performance

• Essential resources for performers and educators, including Broadway info, audition tips, song info, audition book guidance, and repertoire-building (“Chase the Carrot”)

• The vocal ingredients behind diverse musical theatre styles (Pop/Rock, Jazz/Blues, Country, R&B, Gospel, Belt/Character, Legit)

• Targeted vocal exercises and singing activities for vocal tract shaping, belting, riffing, and cross-training to strengthen versatility

• Techniques for singing and teaching onsets, releases, and vocal stylisms/effects/distortions (cry, dip/bend, fry, growls, screams, slides, and more) while maintaining healthy vocal function

• Tools to navigate transitions between styles without compromising vocal health

• Blending vocal expression with character interpretation to bring songs to life on stage

• Insider info on standbys, swings, and understudies

• Acting approaches to enhance storytelling and song performance

• Masterclasses focused on individual song styles and techniques

• Online learning with lectures, videos, listening and discussion boards​

 

Online Course

Voice Science Bootcamp

Sundays: July 19, July 26, and August 2

7:00PM - 9:00PM EST

​

(MUCC-538-ONS Voice Science Bootcamp)​​​​​

Taught by Dr. David Meyer

​​​

Are you a budding voice-geek, but you have formant-phobia?

A raw recruit voice teacher terrified of spectrograms?

If that describes you, then DROP DOWN AND GIVE ME TWENTY!!

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For many teachers, science in singing is just techno-jargon. In this introductory course we will be exploring the basics of voice science that can immediately help your work with singers. The course will consist of lectures on the nature of sound, hearing, aerodynamics, physiology, and functional singing.

​

Class discussion on subjects ranging from:

• Making invisible things (e.g. air,sound, etc.) visible

• What is formant tuning?

• How can psychological research improve our teaching?

• Using spectrograms and simple, inexpensive technological tools

• Breakout sessions to play with and reinforce class content

• Asynchronous content that supports our time together

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Online Course

Progressive Repertoire Selection in Musical Theatre

July 22 (Wednesday), 23 (Thursday),

and 24 (Friday)

12:00PM - 2:00PM EST

​

(MUCC-595-ONS Choosing Musical Theatre Repertoire)​​​​​

 

Taught by CJ Greer

​

Frustrated students quit. Successful students thrive.

 

Often the difference lies in repertoire – repertoire that meets students where they are and strategically lifts them to the next level. Thoughtfully selected repertoire can be an effective and efficient tool for training vital elements of vocal function and technique, musicianship, and dramatic interpretation. When challenges are appropriate and goals are achievable—whether within a semester-long course or a private studio season—students experience progress, confidence, and joy. When repertoire exceeds a student’s abilities, frustration mounts, progress stalls, and the joy of singing can be lost.

 

We spend hours on vocal exercises, but what if the real key to growth is already embedded in the songs we assign? Let’s build a roadmap to identify qualities of a beginning, intermediate, and advanced level musical theatre singer, and matching repertoire to their technical, musical, and dramatic readiness in a way that promotes joyful and sustainable growth.

 

Drawing from Chris Arneson’s book Literature for Teaching, and repertoire suggestions from Cross-Training in the Voice Studio (Mary Saunders-Barton/Norman Spivey), the latest edition of So You Want To Sing Musical Theatre (Amanda Flynn), and endless conversations with voice teacher colleagues everywhere, this framework offers defining characteristics of musical theatre singers at each developmental stage. These elements are organized across vocal technique, development, musicianship, and dramatic demand, and are further broken down into aesthetic/function styles (Traditional/Legit and Speech-Mix Belt), Golden Age vs. Contemporary vocal and stylistic expectations, and differentiated for AMAB/AFAB voice types.

​

In this course, we will:

• Identify characteristics of beginning, intermediate, and advanced musical theatre singers

• Differentiate repertoire across Traditional/Legit and Speech-Mix/Belt styles

• Differentiate between Golden Age and Contemporary musical theatre vocal expectations

• Differentiate for AMAB and AFAB voices, including general ranges and tessituras for baritones, tenors, mezzos, and sopranos.

• Analyze songs for vocal function/technique, musicianship, and dramatic demands

• Select repertoire that supports healthy vocal function and skill development

 

Repertoire selection can be so much more than performance material—it is one of the most powerful teaching tools we have.​​​​​​​​​

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