Scott Dorsey

WHEN THE YOUNG TEACHER BECOMES THE MENTOR, by Emily Hackethorn   I’m in my fourth year teaching 6-12 choir in the Bitterroot Valley, in Montana.  In the past year, I started blogging to channel my thoughts on teaching, motherhood, productivity, and life in general.  This Spring, I’ll be having my second baby, but not before […]

VOCAL ADVANTAGE: VOWEL MODIFICATION, by Dina Else (no. 30 in a series)   I suppose if we are going to spend so much time delving into of all the different aspects of what makes a beautiful tone we should spend a column discussing vowel integrity and vowel modification.  This is another one of those tricky […]

VOCAL ADVANTAGE: PLACEMENT, by Dina Else (no. 29 in a series)   Singing is sensation.  A lot of people feel very strongly about the fact that talking about placement is bad because it isn’t scientifically or anatomically correct.  My students have a strong anatomy base.  When I talk about placement, and the sensations involved, they […]

VOCAL ADVANTAGE: CHIAROSCURSO, by Dina Else (no. 28 in a series)   Chiaroscuro is an Italian term that was originally used to describe a balance between bright and dark in the visual arts.  Somewhere along the line it became a term that is used to describe the ideal Italian Bel Canto tone.   In Eastern […]

VOCAL ADVANTAGE: TONE (part 4), by Dina Else (no. 27 in a series)   Through our discussions on resonance and singer’s formant, we’ve established that the voice is a musical instrument, responsive to the laws of acoustics like any other instrument.  Let’s continue moving forward under the broad umbrella of ‘tone’ and chat about ‘focus’ […]

VOCAL ADVANTAGE: SPEAKING VOICE, by Dina Else (no. 26 in a series)   One of the things you would hear me say pretty frequently if you were a fly on the wall in my studio is “Practice makes permanent”.  What do our singers do with their instrument most of the day?  They speak!  Therefore it’s […]