Why I Teach Voice
I've lived around music all my life, and my family says I've
been singing since I was old enough to talk. My father taught piano
lessons at home, and he taught me the basics of music theory and
harmony. In the summers we all went to a camp where  folksinging
around the campfire had an extra dimension: regular contact with
local singers, fiddlers, squaredance callers and storytellers.
That's where I learned that "music" doesn't just mean things city
kids hear from a concert or radio. Music is a normal part of everyday
life, and making music yourself is the best way to enjoy it.
My first voice lesson was on a magical summer evening when I was
11 years old. I'd gotten a part in a neighborhood-kids' production
of a Shakespeare play. Our stage was the director's back lawn.
The backstage was marked by rocks, pine trees, and flowering shrubs,
all surrounded by tall graceful New England elms. One night the
director asked me to stay late after rehearsal. The sky was turning
dark blue, with fading sunset at one edge and the first tiny stars
overhead. The director told me to recite one of my speeches, while
she moved further and further into the shadows under the elms,
where the audience would sit. "I need to hear you from this far
away," she said. "Talk louder, but don't shout. " Without quite
knowing how, I found myself using a deeper breath, and felt my
voice carry easily through the night air. I was hooked.
I majored in theater arts in college, beginning a long acquaintance
with the voice method developed by Kristin Linklater, and with
relaxation and improvisation techniques that continue to influence
my approach to voice training. I also took more music classes,
and began singing with my guitar at the local coffeehouse (this
was in the early 1970s.) I spent most of the 70s and 80s performing,
writing songs, recording, touring, and working with theater companies.
I also studied yoga and alternative healing, and moved to Los Angeles
in 1980, where I earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater
from California Institute of the Arts.
Over the years I've sampled lots of different vocal styles, studied
classical singing and hands-on bodywork, performed Renaissance
music and jazz, directed a community chorus, and composed music
for the theater. Increasingly curious about the scientific workings
of the voice, I became a licensed speech pathologist in 1994, and
have worked since then in hospitals and clinics, helping people
with strokes, cancer, and other medical problems regain their abilities
to talk.
The voice clients I see in private practice have ranged from
punk-rock and bluegrass musicians to commercial actors, doctors,
and a magician. Recently I've begun to present my ideas about the
process of voice training to medical and professional colleagues.
I've also had the opportunity to write about voice technique and
vocal health for the public, in magazines such as Electronic Musician
and Onstage.
If you decide to work with me, my goal will be to reveal the very
best in your voice: a healthy, powerful, flexible, reliable sound
that fits your chosen style, is comfortable in your body, and expresses
your personal truth. It's not just up to me, of course. You'll
have to do your homework, because the changes will take place inside
you. I call my work The Voice of Your Life because it really
is about turning your life force into sound.
For more information about private training, click on Studio.
Or email me: Joanna@voiceofyourlife.com.
May all our voices be heard! -- Joanna
Joanna Cazden, MFA, MS-CCC
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