about me

Shannon on the couch with red shoes

I AM NOT:

Your grandmother’s singing teacher.
I’m not even YOUR singing teacher.

I AM:

Your teacher’s teacher. And if you’re a teacher? Maybe I AM YOUR SINGING TEACHER. In that #voiceped kinda’ way.

I hold a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance, Specializing in Voice Pedagogy.

BUT DON’T HOLD THAT AGAINST ME; what I really do is develop and teach voice pedagogy courses, classes, and workshops especially for independent voice teachers (‘cuz they’re my fav).

I AM ALSO:

A parentheses & ellipses over-using, ALL-CAPS LOVING, maple syrup guzzling, cop show devouring, oxford comma endorsing, monochromatic clothes wearing, Ina Garten fan-girling, self-deprecating Canadian who thinks Tim Hortons coffee is CRAPTASTIC. (yeah. they might just kick me out of the country for that last one.)

AND?

I create and deliver all manner of #voicepedforreallife so that no matter how long you’ve been teaching, you can #teachyourfaceoff even harder than you already do. Double And? You can do that while keeping a 100km radius from the Ivory Tower. #pinkyswear

MY HOME TURF

is the intersection of academic voice pedagogy and the practical application of that academic knowledge in the independent voice studio. On the academic side of the street, I hold three degrees from the University of Toronto (woohoo! A matched set! #sofancy):

an undergraduate degree in vocal performance, and two graduate degrees in vocal performance specializing in voice pedagogy (which: explains the “dr” in front of my name all over the place).

I ALSO

teach undergraduate voice pedagogy courses at universities in Southern Ontario, and present papers at #superfancy international voice conferences, such as the International Congress of Voice Teachers 2017, which convened in Stockholm, Sweden, and the 2022 National Association of Teachers of Singing Conference, which convenes in Chicago, USA.

Yellow academic gears

shannon adjusting glasses 500

Yellow academic gears

My Voice Studio

is on the other side of the street and I #taughtmyfaceoff there for over fifteen years. I’ve worked with all the singers you have. #pinkyswear:

Six-year-old phenomes who practise more than the rest of your students put together.
Adult avocational singers who have performed The Messiah so often that they’ve been singing it without a score since before you were born.
Self-described “non-singers” who have limited time to learn that ONE song for their new bride as she walks down the aisle.
Singer-songwriters whose poetry makes you cry.
Teenagers discovering theatre and a place of belonging for the first time.
Drop-ins who need to prepare for a last-minute audition. (Or who are preparing last-minute for an audition.)
Elvis impersonators who are losing the top of their range as they get older.
Primary school teachers with chronic laryngitis who are trying singing lessons because they don’t realize that they actually need a laryngologist.
Caregivers doing something that’s just for them.
Teenagers finding their life’s passion.
Retired folks who have always wanted to learn to sing and who are all in now that they have the time and resources to do so.
Lead singers of rock bands trying to figure out how not to shred their voices every time they go on stage.
And … teenagers who rarely practise. Lots and lots and lots of teenagers who rarely practise. #youknowwhoyouare (and #istillloveyou)

BOOK ME

And these days?

I develop classes, courses, and workshops for stay-put voice ped scholars who want to get some continuing education on their own time and in their own way, and who really, REALLY, don’t want to have to go back to school to do it.

It all started* with The Vocal Instrument 101 Online Course, which came out in December 2018. A year later, I may or may not have declared 2020 the year when we would start a #voicepedrev(olution)**. And then 2020 was all like: I see your revolution and I raise you a pandemic that will change the way that everyone does everything, including how voice teachers deliver voice lessons … and how they access continuing education.

So I started holding online classes and teaching in cohorts and suddenly there really was a #VoicePedRev(olution) of sorts because people from (LITERALLY) all over the world were attending the classes and participating in the practicums and now the first cohort of the VoicePed UnDegree starts in September and if THAT isn’t revolutionary, I don’t know what is!

SO, if increasing your voice teaching bad-assery while NOT sacrificing your business to the Ivory Tower seems like a good deal to you, scroll down to figure out how to start the journey.

GET STARTED

The VoicePed UnDegree

The #VoicePedRev(olution) Mailing List

steampunk victrola

Book Me

* HA!

Actually, it all started when I explored teaching voice lessons after the birth of my first child because I didn’t want to go back to my 9-5 in the corporate world and I discovered that I absolutely LOVED teaching but didn’t really know what I was doing … but that’s a WHOLE OTHER STORY.