Opera stage Director / Voice Teacher

Gene B Roberts

As a teacher of voice, my approach begins and ends with the same philosophy as my directing. We are story tellers. We sing to communicate. Therefore, my approach has been influenced by, more than any other, the work of my mentor, teacher of many years, and dear friend, Steve Smith.

Smith's Naked Voice* approach seeks to disentangle the vocal apparatus from tensions which are often cultivated in singers in the pursuit of impressive sound. We begin with the most basic and primal function of the voice  - speaking for the purpose of communication - and gradually coordinate consistent phonation and airflow to train ourselves to use our instrument in a natural and powerfully communicative fashion.

I have found great success over the past two decades in applying this approach in the training of classical, musical theater and commercial singers alike.

*The Naked Voice: A Wholistic Approach to Singing by W. Stephen Smith, Oxford University Press