ABOUT ME
artist biography...
Associate Professor of Voice and Director of Opera Studies at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC.
Jeff is passionate about the education of communication and drama through music and a strong supporter of American art song, musical theatre and operatic literature.
A Kansas City district winner and Midwest Regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, he has been engaged as a resident baritone with the Kansas City Lyric Opera, a studio artist with Sarasota Opera, and he participated in summer apprenticeships with both Lake George Opera and Des Moines Metro Opera....
about my STUDIO
find your natural voice...
...through functional training! When teaching is not bound by aesthetic preference, a student's voice is free to grow to its full potential through muscular balance. Each voice should be unique and honest, not predetermined by bias toward a specific sound. A healthy vocal technique may then be used toward a student's preferred genre whether it be classical, musical theater, gospel, pop, jazz, etc...
My goal is to train voices to be free, natural, and expressive. Whether you consider yourself a low or high voice, all should move smoothly from the bottom of the range to the top without sudden breaks or changes in quality. Functional training gives the singer access to all dynamics with tonal clarity, flexibility, and where all words are easily pronounced and understood. It improves a singer's range, endurance, stamina, breath control, resonance, strength and quality across all styles of music without fatigue or damage to the voice. To accomplish these results, we work to maintain a resting laryngeal posture while finding balance between airflow and intrinsic muscular resistance.
Winthrop University
Director, Winthrop Opera Theatre
Associate Professor of Voice
2013 to Present. Director of Opera Studies and Associate Professor of Voice. As a college educator, students from my studio have been accepted into Master of Music programs at the Music Conservatory at the University of Cincinnati (CCM), Peabody Conservatory, New England Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, Florida State University, University of North Texas, University of Tennessee and the University of Minnesota.
Institute for Vocal
Advancement
Continuing Education - Voice pedagogy
Asst. Area Representative - US East Coast
The Institute For Vocal Advancement (IVA) is an organization that offers exceptional vocal education for professional singing instructors worldwide. IVA seeks to train singers and teachers of singing how to use their voices to their full potential in the healthiest and most efficient way. They seek to educate and produce the finest voice instructors in the world by developing, promoting, and maintaining the highest standards for the teaching of singing.
IVA strives to continually develop their program with the latest research in vocal science. By offering education in other essential aspects of singing and performance, they work to meet the needs and interests of singers and voice instructors worldwide.
The IVA program offers feedback for my teaching, accountability for my own singing, and a global community of teachers that support and assist one another. Teachers share their experience and advice as part of the community, allowing everyone to benefit from the collective wealth of knowledge.
National Association of Teachers of Singing
National and Regional (Mid-Atlantic) Member
I have participated in collegiate NATS competitions throughout my student academic career and am now happy to be a teaching member of this organization. In June 2013 I was honored to be hand selected as one of twelve young teachers invited to participate in the NATS Intern Program. This program is an exciting and innovative venture that seeks to pair experienced and recognized master teachers of voice with talented young members of NATS. Within a format designed to promote the dynamic exchange of ideas and techniques, the goal is to improve substantially the studio teaching skills of promising young teachers. I am so pleased to be an alumnus of this prestigious program.
