Polymath, Humanities and Social Sciences

Michael V.

Ear Training

Three semesters of Aural Studies (i.e. ear training and sight singing) was a requirement in my undergraduate degree program. Theory courses and performance practice, at the undergraduate and graduate level, naturally required the application of the skills learned in aural studies classes. And I participated in multiple performance ensembles simultaneously (e.g. Symphonic Choir, Chamber Choir, Opera Theatre, Lyric Theatre) throughout my undergraduate and graduate careers.

General Music

I have a Bachelor of Music in Musical Arts. I completed a Master of Music in Music Performance. I hold a K-12 General/Vocal/Instrumental teacher certification in Tennessee.

IELTS

I have taught ESL/ESOL to adults at both Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and at the University of Memphis. I also taught EFL to secondary school students for the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. I completed summer fieldwork in EFL at the University of Alicante (in Spain). A majority of the coursework in my second Master's was in linguistics and second language acquisition.

Music History

My undergrad and graduate studies included the courses: Survey of Music Literature, Music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Baroque and Classical Music, Romantic and Modern Music, African Music, American Popular Music, Exploring the Film Soundtrack, Vocal Literature, and Opera Literature.

Phonics

I have taught ESL/ESOL to adults at both Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools and at the University of Memphis. I also taught EFL to secondary school students in Korea. I completed summer fieldwork in EFL at the University of Alicante (in Spain). And the coursework in my second Master's degree is equal parts English Language Arts and Second Language Acquisition---including phonetics and phonology.

Public Speaking

As one of the first chartered members of Junior International Thespians, Troupe 88001, I have been practicing the craft of public speaking onstage and in the classroom for over 30 years.

Sight Singing

As in all music programs around the world, the Ear Training and Sight Singing course series was a requirement for my undergraduate degree. Certainly, sight singing was far more readily applicable to a Voice major, like me; however, all music majors, regardless of primary instrument, were required to pass every level of Ear Training and Sight Singing (with Emelyne Bingham). That said, I was never a fan of the number system that I learned in middle school because it cannot address chromatic scalar degrees. And, though I recognize the benefit of fixed do, as taught in many programs outside the Anglo-American tradition, I teach solfeggio according to moveable do, as I learned it in high school and have practiced it since. Unlike fixed do, which attunes the ear to specific pitches over time, moveable do allows for a faster acclimation to key, scalar degrees, and key changes.

Voice (Music)

At the University of Kentucky (Master of Music in Music Performance '08), I studied Voice with Dennis Bender. Also at Kentucky, I studied the Physiology and Functioning of the Singing Voice and Materials, Techniques, and Literature of Voice Teaching with Noemí Lugo, a student of late Barbara Doscher. With Cliff Jackson, I studied Advanced Vocal Repertory and Vocal Coaching for Singers. I also studied Voice with Anastasia Tomashevski at the Accademia Musicale Chigiani in Siena, Italy.