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We also invite special guests each year to give workshops, present on special topics, teach master classes, and participate in Q&As. Read below to learn more about this year's special guests.

2020 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

Session II

Each year, the CCM Institute honors a legendary figure in voice pedagogy. Lynn Helding is nationally regarded in the field of vocal pedagogy for her work in how the mind processes information and its impact on vocal pedagogy. For her groundbreaking research on cognitive neuroscience and the teaching of voice, we present Lynn Helding with the 2020 CCM Institute Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

Lynn Helding, Professor of Practice in Voice and Vocal Pedagogy at the University of Southern
California Thornton School of Music, is the author of The Musician’s Mind: Teaching, Learning &
Performance in the Age of Brain Science, the chapter “Brain” in Scott McCoy’s Your Voice: An Inside
View 3 rd edition, and an associate editor of the Journal of Singing. 

 

A devoted voice teacher, she is honored to receive the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award at Shenandoah University’s Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) Vocal Pedagogy Institute.
Helding created the “Mindful Voice”column in the Journal of Singing (authoring it from its debut in October 2009 to her final installment in October 2017) in order to advance her proposition that cognitive science must be considered the “Third Pillar of Voice Science” (the first two ‘pillars’ being voice physiology and vocal acoustics). Helding’s extensive research in the cognitive and neurosciences, with an emphasis on motor learning theory and “expertise studies” from social psychology, forms the foundation of both “Mindful Voice” and The Musician’s Mind. Since its publication in January 2020, The Musician’s Mind has received rave reviews, calling it “indispensable reading for all musicians!”, “an owner’s manual for the mind, specifically for musicians,” and “a clearly organized treatise with actionable guidelines that will advance all music teaching and learning. ... smart, compassionate, and practical.” Helding’s voice science honors include the 2005 Van L. Lawrence Fellowship, jointly awarded by the by the Voice Foundation and the National Association of Teachers of Singing Foundation to singers who have “demonstrated excellence in their profession as singing teachers, and have shown knowledge of voice science,” and election to chair the founding of the first non-profit vocology association PAVA, incorporated in 2014 as a 501(c)(6) non-profit association. Helding’s stage credits include leading roles with Harrisburg Opera, Nashville Opera, and Ohio Light
Opera. Her passion for contemporary American song inspired her to commission new works and to
refashion the traditional recital into theatrical performance pieces presented throughout the United States, Australia, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Iceland where her performances were broadcast on Icelandic National Radio. Highlights in chamber music include Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, broadcast on Nashville Public Television, and Good Night, written for her and the Baltic Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra by Icelandic composer Thorkell Sigurbjornnson. Helding studied voice at the University of Montana with Esther England, in Vienna, Austria with Kammersänger Otto Edelmann, and at Indiana University with Dale Moore, where she was the first singer ever accepted to pursue the prestigious Artist Diploma. She earned her master’s degree in vocal pedagogy from Westminster Choir College of Rider University under the direction of Scott McCoy, and in
the voice studio of Chris Arneson. She completed the Summer Vocology Institute directed by esteemed voice scientist Ingo Titze at the National Center for Voice and Speech, and periodically returns as guest SVI faculty. She currently serves on the NATS Voice Science Advisory Committee. Previous to USC, she served twenty-two years as Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Performance Studies at Dickinson College. Please see www.lynnhelding.com for more information.

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Lynn Helding

Dr. Wendy LeBorgne, SLP

Session I

Dr. Wendy LeBorgne, voice pathologist and singing voice specialist, is the clinical director of the Blaine Block Institute for Voice Analysis and Rehabilitation (Dayton, Ohio) and the Professional Voice Center of Greater Cincinnati. She is on the adjunct faculty at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Dr. LeBorgne holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from Shenandoah University and master and doctoral degrees in communication sciences and disorders with a specialty in voice disorders from the University of Cincinnati. Her research has focused primarily on the area of the Broadway “belt” voice. Dr. LeBorgne’s original peer-reviewed research has been published in the Journal of Voice, and she is a contributing author to the book Voice Therapy: Clinical Studies, providing a case study on “Vocal Intervention with the Touring Broadway Actor.” She has authored a training DVD entitled Laryngeal Videostroboscopic Images: Normal and Pathologic Samples, distributed by Plural Publishing and co-authored The Vocal Athlete with Marci Rosenberg. Dr. LeBorgne actively presents and provides workshops and master classes nationally and internationally on the professional performing voice.  Her patients can be seen and heard on Broadway stages, national and international tours, opera companies throughout the world, network television, commercial music recordings, and as radio personalities. As a voice pathologist and singing voice specialist, her clinical work includes providing voice evaluations and therapy for singers and actors locally and nationally. In addition to her duties as a voice pathologist, Dr. LeBorgne continues to maintain an active professional performing career. Dr. LeBorgne has been a guest faculty member of the Shenandoah University CCM Institute since 2006.

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Marci Rosenberg, SLP

Session I and II
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Marci Daniels Rosenberg is a singer and licensed speech language pathologist and research investigator at our U-M Vocal Health Center. A voice and singing specialist, Marci works clinically to rehabilitate injured voices. After completing her undergraduate degrees in vocal performance and speech pathology, Marci was a research fellow in the Voice and Speech Lab at The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders before finishing her masters degree in speech language pathology. Marci actively teaches workshops and lectures nationally in the areas of vocal health, performance voice, managing vocal injuries and application of kinesiology principals to voice therapy. She co-chaired the inaugural, international voice conference “Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation of the Performance Voice” in 2010. Marci has served on the faculty team for Somatic Voicework ™ The Lovetri Method at the Contemporary Commercial Music Institute at Shenandoah Conservatory for speech pathology and vocal health. She is co-author of the newly published singing science text book The Vocal Athlete (LeBorgne & Rosenberg, 2014) and the companion book The Vocal Athlete: Application and technique for the hybrid singer (Rosenberg & LeBorgne, 2014; Plural Publishing). In additional to clinic activities, Marci continues to perform and also maintains a private voice studio.

Kaitlin Hopkins

Session III

Kaitlin Hopkins is an award-winning actress, director, and educator and has worked in theater, film and television for over 30 years. In 2009 she created and the BFA Musical Theatre program at Texas State University, recently named one of the top 10 musical theatre programs in the nation. As an entrepreneur, she is the Co-Founder of Living Mental Wellness, which is a holistic evidence-based company that offers educational programs to enhance mental wellness for performing artists through an integrated scientific life skills model. Her recent TEDx Talk on the importance of mental wellness education for students, along with her research and curriculum-based mental wellness training program for performing artists at Texas State has garnered international attention.

 

As an actress her Broadway credits include: Noises Off, Anything Goes with Patti LuPone and originating the role of “Mama Who” in How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Hopkins has a half dozen cast album credits to her name and has originated multiple roles off-Broadway including: Bat Boy-the Musical for which she received a Drama Desk and Ovation award nominations, Bare: A Pop Opera, The Great American Trailer Park Musical, and Nicky Silver’s Beautiful Child. National tours include originating the roles of “Diane” in Disney’s On The Record, and “Margorie” in Dirty Dancing, and originating the role of “Tiffany” in the international tour of the John Adam opera I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky directed by Peter Sellars.

 

Hopkins has appeared in over 50 television shows including Star Trek- Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Voyager, JAG, Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, Law and Order CI, Rescue Me, Spin City and three years on Another World as Dr. Kelsey Harrison. She has appeared in 11 feature films including The Nanny Diaries, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles and How To Kill Your Neighbor’s Dog with Kenneth Branagh.

 

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Ting-Yu Chen

Dance Movement Specialist
Session I, II and III

Ting-Yu Chen is the Conservatory Associate Dean for Student Affairs and professor of dance at Shenandoah University, and a grant recipient of the National Arts Council of Cultural and Educational Development and foundations in Taiwan, the Greater Columbus Arts Council in Ohio, and Shenandoah Arts Council in Virginia. Chen’s performances, choreography and teaching have spanned the globe in countries including Argentina, Canada, China, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Macedonia, Spain, the Netherlands, Russia, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, and across the USA. Her interests in interdisciplinary and cross-cultural teaching and learning have led her to develop new curriculums including Voice & Body Awareness and Movement for Musicians to support singers and instrumentalists to advance their professional goals.  She has presented her research paper and taught a Body Awareness workshop at the Voice Foundation’s 47th Annual Symposium in Philadelphia, as well as presented her scholarship at the 2018 VASTA/PAVA Joint Conference in Seattle.  She is a member of World Dance Alliance - Pacific Asia, Shenandoah Arts Council, and a certified Reiki master teacher.

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Justin Bohon

Session  III

Justin Bohon is a casting director for Binder Casting where he has provided casting for Disney’s The Lion King, the North American Tour of the Lion King, North Shore Music Theatre, City Center Encores!, Carnival Cruise Lines, and several other regional theatre productions. Also an accomplished performer, he has appeared in Broadway productions of “The Book of Mormon,” “9 to 5,” “Les Miserables,” “All Shook Up,” “Oklahoma," ”The Producers,” and “Miss Saigon.” He has also appeared in national tours of “My Fair Lady,” “Parade,” and “South Pacific.”

Patrick Brady

Session III 

Brady has had a career in the professional musical theatre spanning almost four decades, working in nearly every facet of the industry, as a musical director, conductor, pianist, arranger, vocal coach, singer and actor. Brady is perhaps best known as the musical director, conductor and vocal arranger for the Broadway smash, “The Producers,” winner of twelve Tony awards—including Best Musical and Best Score. He conducted throughout the production’s entire run on Broadway (1,877 performances) and supervised two national tours and resident companies in London, Sydney and Toronto.

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Brady went on to work in the same capacity for the motion picture version, in which he appears on screen as the conductor for the infamous “Springtime for Hitler” sequence. The original cast recording (Sony Records) won a Grammy Award for Best Cast Album. Continuing his association with comic genius Mel Brooks, he then served as musical director, conductor and vocal arranger for “Young Frankenstein.” The production was nominated for five Tony awards, including Best Musical, and the original cast album was also nominated for a Grammy. Brady made his New York theatre debut in 1989 as musical director, vocal arranger and onstage pianist/singer for the off-Broadway revue, “Closer Than Ever,” with music by David Shire and lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. It won the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk award for Best Off-Broadway Musical. The popular two-CD original cast album (RCA Records) was nominated for a Grammy Award. Other Off-Broadway credits include “St. Louis Woman” (Encores), “Promises Promises” (Encores), “Hey Love: The Music of Mary Rodgers” (Rainbow & Stars) and many appearances on the “Lyrics and Lyricists” series (92nd Street Y).

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In 1992, he began his Broadway career working as rehearsal pianist for “The Will Rogers Follies.” He played in the pit orchestra as well and was featured as the onstage ‘stride’ piano player for the song “No Man Left for Me.” Other shows on the ‘Great White Way’ soon followed: “Nick and Nora,” “Cats,” “Les Miserables,” “Crazy for You,” “King David” and “Triumph of Love.” His first job working as musical director/conductor on Broadway was the 1999 dance musical, “Fosse.” He also wrote the vocal arrangements and composed the transition music for this tribute to director/choreographer Bob Fosse. “Fosse” won the Tony Award for Best Musical and the original cast album (Sony Records) was nominated for a Grammy. PBS filmed the show late in its run for “Great Performances: Dance in America.”

 

Over the course of his career, he has worked in many regional theatres as well: Walnut Street Theatre, Arena Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Huntingdon Stage, Goodspeed Opera House, Theatre Under the Stars, Williamstown Theatre Festival and Berkshire Theatre Festival. As a composer, he wrote the score to the Off-Broadway cult musical “Pete ‘n’ Keely.” The show was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical and has enjoyed dozens of productions in regional theatres since its premiere. While attending the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, he sang for three seasons with the Houston Grand Opera in productions of “Norma,” “La Traviata,” “Il Trovatore” and “Conjur Moon.” He studied piano with Mary Norris Tipton, voice with Frances Bible, conducting with Rob Kapilow and acting with Herbert Berghof.

 

During his thirty years as a resident of New York City, Brady was a vocal coach to many working actors and actresses who have performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in regional theatres across the United States. He has taught at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, AMDA, Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center and The Trinity School.

 

Brady is a proud member of Actor’s Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Musicians, Local 802.

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Dr. David Meyer

Continuing Education - Advanced Anatomy
Concurrent with Session I

A leading scholar and researcher of the singing voice, baritone David Meyer is an active performer, teacher, clinician, and voice scientist. He serves as associate professor of voice and voice pedagogy at Shenandoah Conservatory and his students have won numerous awards and have sung in major venues worldwide. In 2010 he received the Van L. Lawrence Fellowship, a prestigious national award in recognition of his contributions to the field of teaching singing and the use of voice science. 

 

Dr. Meyer maintains an active and varied singing career, appearing frequently in opera, oratorio, and song recitals throughout the United States and abroad. He has sung with the Hessische Staatstheater Wiesbaden in Germany, with the Krakow opera in Poland, and with the Staatstheater Winterthur in Switzerland. His performance credentials include the Indianapolis opera, the Kentucky opera, the Bellevue Opera, and the Muddy River Opera Company. He has performed with the BBC Orchestra at the Aldeburgh Festival in England and at the Concertgebau in Holland, and he has toured with Paul Hillier as a member of Theater of Voices.

Dr. Meyer’s operatic repertoire includes the role of Scarpia (2009) in Puccini’s Tosca, Wozzeck in Berg’s Wozzeck, Horace Tabor in Douglas Moore’s The Ballad of Baby Doe, Balstrode in Britten’s Peter Grimes, and approximately 30 other roles.

 

He received the doctor of music in vocal performance and pedagogy and a master of music from Indiana University. Both graduate degrees include minors in speech pathology and music history. He also holds a BM in applied voice from the University of Iowa and did additional graduate study at the Britten Pears School for Advanced Musical Studies in England.

Edrie Means-Weekly, co-founder of the CCM Institute

Continuing Education - Musical Theatre Styles
Concurrent with Session III

Edrie Means Weekly, Co-Founder of the CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute, is an associate professor of voice and voice pedagogy at Shenandoah Conservatory. She is a recognized expert in training singers in all vocal styles and an active professional singer.  She was a Master Teacher for the NATS Intern Program.  Her students can be heard on Grammy Recordings, films, Broadway, National and International Tours, Regional Theatre, TV (including The Voice and American Idol, Kidz Star USA). A researcher in functional voice training, she has co-authored research published in The Journal of Voice regarding the teaching of CCM styles and has a sub-chapter in Teaching Singing in the 21st Century entitled "Making The Song Authentic: It's a Matter of Style".  Has presented at the Voice Foundation Symposium, NATS National Conferences, Pan-American Vocology Association, the Southeastern Theatre Conference, Mid-Atlantic NATS, Northwestern NATS and universities throughout the United States. Many od her performances have been broadcast internationally on radio and TV, recorded by Decca and Koch. She has appeared in leading roles with the Houston Grand Opera, Washington Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Cleveland Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Mid-Michigan, Opera Grand Rapids, Pittsburgh Playhouse, State Opera of Cairo, Egypt to name a few.  Guest artist with symphony orchestras including Houston, Cleveland, Corpus Christi, Victoria, and the National Symphony.  She has sung lead roles in musicals and operetta, including Follies, My Fair Lady, Carousel, The King and I, West Side Story, Show Boat, The Sound of Music, Merry Widow and Zorba.  Standby for Broadway stars Patti LuPone, Elaine Paige and Linda Lavin.  Recently sang with Jonathan Pryce and Cloris Leachman in My Fair Lady at the Kennedy Center.  Currently she is on the Advisory Board forthe NATS National Musical Theatre Competition.  Proud member of AGMA and AEA. http://edriemeans.wix.com/edriemeans

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