SAVI Saturday, the workshop we held on Saturday, June 15 at Music Theatre Philly, was a huge success! The young participants pictured here are engaged in a series of exercises using SAVI Cards, the unique practice tool I designed to be used in tandem with my book, The SAVI Singing Actor. Saturday’s workshop was the debut …
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Soon-to-be Hot off the Presses!
Years in the making, The SAVI Singing Actor will be here in just a few more weeks! After months of writing and testing, weeks of preparation and endless late nights of revision, the long-anticipated day is here! Well, nearly here. June 24 is the big day when my new book The SAVI Singing Actor will be officially released at …
Secrets of the Cards: SAVI at MTEA
Once a year, teachers from musical theater programs all over the world gather to share best practices and new developments in their field at the annual meeting of the Musical Theater Educators Alliance (MTEA). The attendees are a “who’s who” of the field of musical theater performance training – singing teachers, dance teachers, acting teachers, …
What Moving Day Can Teach You About the Art of Singing Acting
The boxes are piling up in my house, and every time I look at them, I feel a bit of dread in the pit of my stomach. Yes, it’s moving day, and the anxious, worried feelings I’ve been experiencing are familiar to many of you, I’m sure. When you’re settled in, everything is comfortable. You …
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From Playbill.com: Top College Experts on What You Need to Know to Survive Your Performing Arts Freshman Year
Robert Viagas of Playbill.com posted these survival tips based on years of watching freshmen stumble–and succeed a little more than a week ago. The link I saved no longer works, but this is worthwhile information that deserves to hang around a little longer. All incoming freshman college students face a period of adjustment, but performing …
Bit By Bit
I’ve got a new favorite catchphrase – “Just do your bits” – and it comes from a fascinating profile of the comedian and actress Maria Bamford that appeared in the current New York Times Magazine. Among its many insights, the article offers a behind-the-scenes view of the amount of labor – surprising, no doubt, to …
“A Song That’s SAVI”
Insights from “The SAVI National Anthem” I’m a songwriter as well as a teacher, and I love it when I find ways to synergize my passions. A few years ago, I decided that setting Axiom One, the foundation of the SAVI System, to music would help my students remember it and embrace it: When I …
Sell It, Baby!
I don’t know about you, but salesmen really turn me off. On the phone, at the door, in my inbox: it doesn’t matter where I encounter a sales pitch, I’m almost always hostile to the effort to sell me something. That’s probably why I used to cringe when I heard a particularly regrettable bit of …
Bravo, Audra!
I originally wrote this a little over a year ago and posted it on my personal site, but it seems particularly relevant given Audra’s recent Tony Award triumph. In the spring of 2013, Audra MacDonald sang at Lincoln Center’s spring gala, and Stephen Holden from the New York Times was on hand to review her …
No One Is Alone
The work of the singing actor is a lonely business. Sure, it might not seem that way at first. Singing actors are often in shows, either rehearsing or performing, and we feel ourselves come to life in the company of our fellow artists. And they’re often in classes, either attending college or high school or …