Sacramento Gay Men's Chorus Hosts Outside Clinician

The Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus will soon begin its season under a new Artistic Director, Steven Johnson, who is also the Director of Worship & Music at St. John's Lutheran Church in Sacramento.  To give the SGMC and his church choir a boost at the beginning of the season, Steven has arranged a vocal technique seminar, to be conducted by Mary Louise Burke of Denver, Colorado.

I asked him how he learned about Dr. Burke, and he explained that her 2-hour presentation at the GALA Music Festival in Denver this past July was "dynamite" and that he found her "completely engaging."  Steven has arranged visits by other choral directors for his choirs in the past to help give them new energy from a different professional's perspective.  He is particularly excited about working with Dr. Burke this time because he feels that she has the right skill set to deal with the issues his choruses are facing.

Here is an excerpt from her bio:  “Mary Louise Burke is currently in her 18th season with the Symphony and is the Associate Director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus.  She helps to prepare the chorus for all of its major projects, and is in charge of chorus preparation for all pop and special chorus projects, including Too Hot to Handel.  Ms. Burke is also the Associate Director of the Colorado Children's Chorale, conducting the Concert Choir and acting as a vocal coach for the Chorale.  Ms. Burke has a Doctorate in voice performance from the University of Colorado and is a frequent clinician in the area, with a special interest in ‘vocal technique for choral singers.’  She teaches a class, ‘Find Your Authentic Voice,’ for the University of Denver’s Department of Extension.  A mezzo-soprano, she has appeared as a guest soloist with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, and performed for several seasons in Central City Opera's educational programs, The Great Opera Mix-Up and Mozart and Company.” 

I contacted Dr. Burke, and she had this to add to her bio:  “My degrees are in ‘vocal performance and pedagogy.’  I have a great passion for vocal technique and love to share that passion with both solo and choral singers.  I do lots of work with community and church choirs and try to encourage singers that,  when armed with a little technical knowledge, they can optimize their vocal production and sing well into their 70s, even 80s. The session I'll be doing with Steven Johnson's choirs is called ‘Find Your Voice and Keep It!’  I'll cover all areas of vocal technique, including alignment, breath control, vibrato, range, tone production, vowels, as well as aging voice and vocal health.” 

The half-day seminar for the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus and St. John’s choirs is coming up on Saturday morning, September 8, and includes optional one-on-one vocal coaching sessions in the afternoon – all at no charge to participants. 

This seems like such a good idea.  The Sacramento region is full of good choral directors, many of whom are voice teachers, and so many are expert at eliciting a quality choral sound from their choruses.  But I have always felt that the mark of a true professional is their acceptance of the idea that there is always room to expand their knowledge and refine their technique.  And I reserve my greatest admiration for those who are willing to learn from fellow professionals (and take the risk of exposing their chorus to a fellow professional).  Tapping an outside expert to work with a chorus can help solve recalcitrant problems and break through performance barriers, taking a chorus to new levels of achievement. 

Dr. Burke can be reached at burke@childrenschorale.org.  But readers of this article are encouraged to add comments, sharing their thoughts on this issue and perhaps identifying other vocal clinicians, near or far, with whom they have had experience.