Joanna is a warm, honest and knowledgeable teacher of voice. Her understanding of the voice stems from years as a professional singer-songwriter, as well as study and experience in a wide range of disciplines related to Vocal Health. Joanna holds a BFA in Music & Composition, a Bachelor of Education, and she is certified through the The University of Iowa’s Summer Vocology Institute, Jeannette LoVetri’s Somatic Voicework™ teacher-training program, and Meribeth Bunch Dayme’s Core Singing™ vocal pedagogy course.
Her story:
When I was younger, I enjoyed considerable success as a singer-songwriter and musician, but for many years my own singing was technically very limited. Beyond foundational choral training, I had largely taught myself how to sing by singing along to my favourite artists and practicing my own songs in my room. I wrote around what my voice could already do, and though my material was “rangy”, there was so much about vocal training I had never learned.
When I got a gig straight out of school as a dance accompanist – improvising vocal and instrumental music to the moving score of dancer’s bodies – I was in heaven. I was singing for 30+ hours a week. Inspired to use my voice in new and expressive ways, I put more strain on my instrument than it was used to. I was just starting to tour in folk bands and theatrical shows as well. My voice-use continued to spike with each new week that went by, and I still had no technical training.
The day came when I decided to audition for Canadian Idol. That was the day where everything started to go wrong. Thousands of singers gathered and spent whole days socializing and waiting to be called to sing in front of various judges. I had bought my first book on singing a few days before, so I spent my time trying out many of the exercises in the book at full volume, and trying to stay “warmed up” for when I was called, as the book seemed to suggest. Unfortunately, I only sang myself into trouble, inflaming my vocal cords from overuse and causing some of the muscles in my neck to become sore. By the time I had made it through three rounds of auditions, and stood in front of the celebrity judges and cameras, my voice was tired, inflexible, and dull.
That experience was a wake-up call for me, and the months that followed were life changing. I had never stressed my voice so completely, and I had no tools or knowledge about how to recover. Intuitively, I stopped singing, to allow my voice to heal. When I went back to use my voice, each time the voice was less conditioned. Soon, singing became a constant struggle, though it had always been easy before. Dedicated to finding solutions, I stopped speaking altogether and started to seek help. It took me eight months, and several false starts, to find a qualified Laryngologist (an ENT doctor with special training in voice). That doctor referred me to Shelagh Davies, a Speech-Language Pathologist also specializing in the singing voice.
Shelagh Davies gave me information and exercises that were highly technical, had clear principles behind each one, and I found her instruction more satisfying than any voice teacher I had ever tried. She became my gateway into the world of Vocology, and science-based vocal pedagogy. In the years since, I have researched Vocal Health from many angles. I have studied with Dr. Ingo Titze in person to learn about the biomechanics of the voice. I have also studied with master teachers such as Jeannette LoVetri, Cate Frazier-Neely, Meribeth Bunch Dayme, Marina Gilman, Mary Enid Haynes, and more in order to develop a thorough understanding of functional voice training and practical vocal pedagogy.
A life-long learner, I continue to study the developments and breakthroughs of voice research, and the current “best practices” for vocal pedagogy. I am an active member of several Vocology groups such as The PanAmerican Vocology Association (PAVA), The Somatic Voicework™ Teachers Association (SVW), The National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), The Speakeasy Collective, and Vocology in Practice (ViP). I have been lucky to find information and methods that make use of my artistry as a professional musician and performer, and which chime with my personal values about vocal ease and freedom.
These days, I work to support my own voice students to use and discover more about their voices, in whatever styles they wish to sing. I share exercises, advice and knowledge to help singers to achieve their vocal goals, such as extending their vocal range, getting a stronger, more confident and more expressive sound, or being able to sing notes for longer. I also guide singers who find themselves in vocal trouble to get their voices and their careers back on track. I am most satisfied when I can help a student to connect to their voice in healthy and satisfying ways.
Joanna teaches private lessons from her studio in Toronto, Canada. She also offers voice clinics and online lessons.
“I just had a lesson with Joanna and it was wonderful! Don’t let the idea of it being over Skype throw you off, she has a fantastic ear. But importantly, she made me feel welcomed, not judged, and that it really was possible to sing after not singing for a decade. Our session was fun, informative, and so encouraging. I ended up singing to myself all day afterwards – part of that was due to the 90’s earworm we grooved to at the end, I’m sure! 
Thank you Joanna!”
