Dear Listers,
Oren Brown gave an eight-hour workshop yesterday at the
University of Southern Alabama. He was a fabulous master teacher! I
believe he is now 92 years old. He worked with about eight students,
all of whom were ages 18-23. Part of the workshop involved an
"Instrumentation for voice analysis" presentation by Dr. Chris Watts
from the Speech Path dept. at USA. Dr. Watts also used the "rigid"
scope on one singer so the audiece could see the folds in action.
Mr. Brown is a pioneer in bridging the gap between voice therapy
and voice teaching. He taught at Julliard for nineteen years. He
spoke at length about registers, vocal physiology, and how important
the comfortably low-larynx is in classical singing. He is also a big
advocator of body awareness in singing. All the students he worked
with improved and were singing and or/speaking better after their
time with Mr. Brown.
By far the highlight of the day was dinner. Our voice teacher,
Stephen Austin, my friends, Richard and Rick, and myself went out to
TGI Fridays with Mr. Brown. For two hours we sat there GLUED to Mr.
Brown while he related tons of stories to us about his years at
Julliard, how he got started in the field, his teaching methods, and
his upcoming plans.
When we said goodbye to Professor Brown and got back in the car
to begin the trip home, we were ELATED! For three young voice
teachers to be given the opportunity to spend time talking to an icon
in the field was simply awesome! Even our teacher was as excited as
we were.
It was an experience we won't soon forget.
Take Care All,
Taylor L. Ferranti
DMA Candidate in Vocal Pedagogy
Louisiana State University
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