Free | No ticket required

Liz Jackson Hearns
Teaching the Trans and Non-Binary Voice: Introductory Workshop for Students, Performers, and Educators

Part of the DEIB Festival

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The Music Teachers National Association-UW–Madison Collegiate Chapter, in partnership with the UW–Madison Division of Arts, welcomes Liz Jackson Hearns to conduct a workshop on vocal pedagogy for the transgender and non-binary voice.

Day-to-day societal, cultural, and political growth impacts the society we live in. The emergence of the transgender/queer/non-binary singing student reflects the significant changes in the socio-political understanding and workings of gender, and this offers crucial opportunities for the academic community. While there is a growing interest, resources are still limited in understanding the best practice and approaches to work with this student demographic.

One of the primary goals of this workshop is to create and spark awareness of shifting perspectives in pedagogies. This workshop-based event directly responds to the growing need for visibility for trans, queer, and non-binary individuals, especially in the performing arts. Furthermore, it aims to equip participants with a preliminary knowledge of socially relevant and culturally important voice pedagogy. This event hopes to provide resources on repertoire, training, and safe singing practice through a lens that centers on the individual struggles and needs of transgender and non-binary students.

Topics include considerations for gender expansive pedagogy, exploration of the PIRA scale, and proposals of possibilities for gender expansive vocalization through vocal exercises and compassionate conversation.

At the conclusion of this intensive, participants will be able to:

● Begin supporting gender diverse students with appropriate language and care

● Inform students about aspects of voice transition

● Explore gender expansive voice pedagogy and the PIRA (pitch, inflection, resonance, articulation) scale

This is an introductory course. If participants want to engage further, we will share information on our upcoming workshops and trainings that deepen your knowledge of working with trans and non binary clients.

This event is funded by the UW–Madison Division of Arts Artivism Student Action Program (ASAP).

Free | No ticket required

Mead Witter School of Music Musician Health and Wellness Series

Dr. Laura Medisky
AmSAT-certified teacher of the Alexander Technique

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Morning Session: 9 am -11:45 am 
The Alexander Technique is an educational method proven to teach people greater poise and more efficient body use in their daily activities. No matter how you make music, your body is the most important part of your instrument. Alexander Technique can help you increase body awareness, strengthen your mind-body connection, and guide you to effective habit-forming. This can improve your tone quality and projection, as well as your stage presence, mental focus, and overall well-being.

In this workshop, we will explore the Alexander principles of awareness, alignment, and the mind-body connection through everyday movements such as sitting, standing and bending. We will then put awareness into action and focus on topics that apply to musicians by addressing the head-jaw relationship, the use of arms and hands, and efficient breathing.

Afternoon Session: 1 pm-2 pm 
This session begins with a 20-minute guided Alexander Technique lie-down. While lying on the floor, you will learn how to use gravity, and subtle thoughts and actions to realign your body, increase awareness, and quiet your mind. Bring a yoga mat or a thick towel to lie on, and 2-3 paperback books to support the head.

We will conclude with individual volunteers to play or sing and receive hands-on Alexander Technique instruction.

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Dr. Laura Medisky is an oboist and AmSAT-certified teacher of the Alexander Technique. She has studied and taught Alexander Technique for 25 years, and has an interest in working with other musicians. Through her own experience with debilitating tendonitis as an undergrad, Laura came to the Alexander Technique in search of physical relief, and discovered a philosophical approach to mind-body awareness and habit-changing that has enhanced her practice, performance, teaching, and daily life. For more information, visit lauramedisky.com.

Free | No ticket required

Turner Gray DMA Tuba Recital

Turner Gray, tuba
Vincent Fuh, piano

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Program

Allegro Sonata (2006)       Telmo Marques (b. 1963)

Six Studies in English Folk Song (1926)        Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Adagio
Andante Sostenuto
Larghetto
Lento
Andante Tranquillo
Allegro Vivace

Concerto for Bass Tuba (1954)       Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Allegro Moderato
Romanza
Finale – Ronda alla Tedesca

Intermission

Dyadic Affinities (2013)       Asha Srinivasan (b. 1980)

Contraptions (2011)       Ben Miles (b. 1974)
Bulldozer
Hot Air Balloon
Rollercoaster
Pulleys, Gears, Cogs, and Levers

Metallic Spines (2021)       Joshua Thomson (b. 1996)

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Turner Gray is a first year Doctor of Musical Arts student at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He currently serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant with the University of Wisconsin Band program where he works with the various band ensembles on campus, most notably the athletic bands. Turner is also an active performer in ensembles such as the Madison Brass Band and the Park Street Tuba/ Euphonium Quartet.

Turner recently graduated from Washington State University with his Master of Arts in Music-Tuba Performance degree where he held a similar teaching assistantship with the athletic band program. His master’s project focused on creating practice techniques for band excerpts commonly asked for on military band auditions. In 2019, Turner graduate from the Florida State University with his Bachelor of Arts in Music degree.

Free | No ticket required

Mead Witter School of Music Guest Artist Series

Studio class with Julee Kim Walker

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A native Houstonian, flutist Julee Kim Walker remains an active performer and pedagogue in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex. Prior to her position here, she held teaching positions at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Grayson College, Eastfield College, and the University of North Texas. She is Artistic Director of the annual Texas Summer Flute Symposium.

As a soloist, she has performed with the Dallas Asian Wind Ensemble, American Wind Symphony Orchestra, Southeastern Symphonic Winds, Texas A&M University-Commerce Wind Ensemble and Banda Sinfônica de Cubatão in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Julee has also performed with notable flutists such as Ian Clarke, Amy Porter, Christina Jennings and Carol Wincenc.

Recent engagements include a Texas tour with the Texas Guitar Quartet, a performance at the World Saxophone Congress in Zagreb, Croatia, and recitals and masterclasses in Shanghai, China and Buenos Aires, Argentina. Overseas, she was flutist for the Austrian American Mozart Academy Opera Festival in Salzburg, Austria for four seasons, and also performed as Principal flutist with the Franco-American Vocal Academy Opera Festival in Perigueux, France, and the Red River Lyric Opera Festival in Wichita Falls, TX.

Dr. Walker has performed with The Dallas Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, The Dallas Winds, Dallas Chamber Symphony, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, South Arkansas Symphony, Shreveport Symphony, Sherman Symphony, Lyric Stage and Abilene Philharmonic. Her principal teachers include Terri Sundberg, Tim Day, Karl Kraber, Christina Jennings and September Payne. Julee Kim Walker is a Conn-Selmer Artist.

An esteemed teacher, Dr. Walker was the 2016 and 2020 recipient of the Paul W. Barrus Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching, and is sought-after as a clinician, adjudicator, lecturer and masterclass teacher all over the world, including at the University of North Texas, CU-Boulder, Florida State University, Shanghai Normal University in China, University of Talca in Chile, and the Guri Project in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

As an adjudicator, Dr. Walker has adjudicated for the UIL Texas State Solo and Ensemble Competition, Sigma Alpha Iota Triennial, the Mid-South Flute Society, Houston Flute Club, Oklahoma Flute Society, TMTA and MTNA competitions, as well as the Texas Flute Society’s Myrna Brown Competition and the National Flute Association’s Professional Flute Choir and Newly Published Music competitions. Dr. Walker currently serves as the Past President of the Texas Flute Society, and serves on the National Flute Association’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She will join the NFA’s Executive Board of Directors in November 2021.

Purchase tickets
General admission: $30
Senior: $25
Student (UW–Madison and all other): $10

Literally translated as “The Fallen Woman,” La traviata is probably Verdi’s best-known masterpiece. Violetta is a high-class courtesan and the most celebrated figure of the glamorous Parisian social scene. She loves her life – carefree, attached to no-one, her own woman. But Violetta is also seriously ill.

Enter Alfredo, a poet who shows Violetta real, unconditional love for the first time. She falls for him, abandons her career, and the two escape to a country retreat to live in domestic bliss. Until Alfredo’s father shows up. Unhappy with how his son’s relationship with a “fallen woman” is damaging the family’s reputation, he persuades Violetta to end things with Alfredo and return to Paris.

Later on, Alfredo’s father is remorseful and finally reveals to his son the reason Violetta left him. Alfredo rushes to be with her, but Violetta’s sickness is now much worse… is it too late?