About

Welcome!

Thank you for visiting The Voice Workshop™. I hope you will feel welcome to browse our website and get to know us. I am Jeannette LoVetri, known to my friends as Jeanie, and I am the Founder and Director of The Voice Workshop™ and creator of Somatic Voicework™, a unique body-based voice training program.

Our Mission

We exist to provide cutting-edge vocal information for singers, singing teachers, colleges, universities, conservatories, corporations and those who work with or care for the voice. The information we provide is based upon the latest voice science and medicine as well as more than 45 years professional experience in the field of voice training and care, most particularly in professional singing in New York City.

We desire to be of service to music schools and programs, theatrical, film and recording producers, personal managers, professional voice users, teachers of singing and all those interested in the voice, by providing training and techniques to relax, strengthen and develop the voice.

We believe that the human voice is not limited and that everyone can have a beautiful, expressive voice, no matter what previous experience may have been. We know that everyone can train his or her voice to be flexible, powerful and persuasive, and we believe that full vocal expression leads to deeper personal fulfillment.

We believe that music, especially vocal music, is healing to do and to hear and that all people have equal and free access to the musical instrument that’s inside their own body­ their voice.

Our Philosophy

The voice that we hear when we speak or sing is produced by the vocal folds when air is expressed through the throat into the mouth and shaped into sounds, words, and phrases through mental intention. The voice, therefore, resides in the body and is produced by a unity of body and mind, of lungs, throat and mouth. We believe that vocal development begins with mental clarity and awareness. We believe that awareness of the body is vital to vocal expression and that it can be learned by anyone. Coupled with correct information, sound making becomes an intimate, immediate experience done in a deliberate manner.

  • We believe that the body is wise.
  • We believe that there is an intuitive urge in all of us to make sound as freely as babies do, and to sing.
  • We believe that deep, free, easy inhalation and exhalation is a requisite for emotional expression.
  • Finally, we believe that everyone can learn to have a wonderful voice and can learn to sing, and sing well.

Testimonials

“I have worked with Jeanie LoVetri and Somatic Voicework™ for twenty years and have found her method to be incredibly efficient and scientifically sound. I have been able to consciously work on technique while continuing to develop my artistry and my personal style. I credit Jeannie with the freedom I feel when I sing.”

Luciana Souza, Grammy Award winning singer and songwriter.

“As a working jazz singer, I have been hired to sing with a tap dancing troupe one week and the next week sing soprano in a jazz opera. The LoVetri Method of Somatic Voicework™ has been an invaluable resource in the functional development of my instrument and has helped me steadily increase the power, clarity and nuance of my voice. No jargon, just nuts bolts information on how the voice works. Get there and thank me later! “

Kate McGarry
Grammy Nominee
Faculty, Manhattan School of Music
State Dept.Jazz Ambassador 2009 -2011
Downbeat Critics Poll Winner Rising Female Vocalist 2016

“I have studied with Jeanie LoVetri and taken Somatic Voicework™ courses and continuing education workshops for over ten years. As an artist, vocalist and educator, I can say without hesitation that her work has immeasurably changed my life, my singing, my teaching and my perspective on artistry. Jeanie and the work are incredible!”

Lisa Thorson
Jazz Vocalist, Composer, Arranger, Lyricist
Professor of Voice, Berklee College of Music, Boston MA
www.lisathorson.com

“Studying Somatic Voicework™ with Jeanie LoVetri has changed my life as a singer and a singing teacher. At my first SVW™ workshop, I felt as though a window had been thrown open, and suddenly I could see my way to finding the “something” I’d long felt was missing. The depth and breadth of Jeanie’s knowledge are unassailable, and she passes that knowledge along with the utmost humanity. I have just one regret, which is that I didn’t start working with her sooner.”

Andrea Wolper, New York
Jazz Vocalist, Songwriter, Teacher
www.andreawolper.com

“As someone with background in classical (Juilliard, BM, MM) as well as Level III The Lovetri Method, Somatic Voicework, and a 20 year career as a jazz singer, I can attest to the great benefits of understanding the function based technique that Jeanie teaches for Contemporary Commercial Music. This technique has given me the tools to sing and teach authentically in the jazz world, and I would highly recommend making the investment of time and energy in SV if you’re serious about a career in jazz or any other form of CCM.”

Rondi Charleston
Jazz Singer/Songwriter
www.rondicharleston.com

“Jeanie LoVetri’s Somatic Voicework™ has given me the tools to navigate between different styles and extended vocal techniques, and taught me how to teach with clarity and understanding of the human voice. Her approach is clear, concise, empathetic and invaluable for any jazz singer today. “

Theo Bleckmann
Grammy™ nominated singer, composer and arranger.
Professor of Jazz Voice at Manhattan School of Music.

“Jeanie LoVetri’s groundbreaking training methods put the singer’s actual voice and what she or he wants to achieve front and center. Her sincere belief that you can make any sound you want in a healthy way is guided by over four decades of research and experience teaching singers of all styles. Ms. LoVetri welcomed me into the world of voice pedagogy and showed me how to develop my voice to realize my dreams as a singer. It has literally taken me around the world and introduced me to so many wonderful people, and I am forever grateful.

 Blues, R&B, Jazz and Gospel singers beware, Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin is joining Jeanie LoVetri this year at Baldwin Wallace University in Ohio to teach you how to make a soulful sound with optimal flexibility and freedom in your voice. Dr. Robinson-Martin wrote the book, “So You Want to Sing Gospel,” and received her doctorate from Columbia University’s Teachers College for her thesis on Gospel Voice Pedagogy. She brings a lifetime of experience singing all styles of African American music including Blues, Jazz, Gospel and R&B and has emerged from the Academy with a unique combination of skills to support the demands of singing African American styles including scoops, hollers, gravely sounds, shouting and whispering.

 Run, don’t walk, to the Lovetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™ to study with Jeanie LoVetri and Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin and the other talented and generous faculty. You will be transformed.”

 

Eli Yamin
Composer, pianist, singer
Author of So You Want to Sing Blues
Co-founder of Jazz Power Initiative, a non-profit organization transforming lives through jazz arts education.

 

 

Articles and Videos

Articles

Videos

This is a live recording, made on July 18, 2015, at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia, at a recital given on campus. The first piece is “Ah, non credea mirarti” from Bellini’s “La Sonnambula”, the second clip is Stardust by Hoagy Carmichael, and the last piece is sung to the karaoke version of “Joy To The World” by Three Dog Night from the 1960s. All three pieces were made on the same night over a period of about 45 minutes. Jeanie LoVetri is creator of Somatic Voicework™ and was the creative founder of the Contemporary Commercial Music Vocal Pedagogy Institute in 2002. At the time of this performance she was 66 years old and had a left vocal fold paresis which was diagnosed in New York City in April of 2013 by Dr. Peak Woo

Jeanie Lovetri 

 

Jeanie LoVetri Show

The Jeanie LoVetri Show: Our Vocal Universe

The Jeanie LoVetri Show: Our Vocal Universe is a new program currently on Manhattan Neighborhood Network’s MNN HD, the community channel. The program features interviews with experts in the world of voice in all its forms. Upcoming shows will feature guests who are actors, speech teachers, medical doctors who deal with the voice (laryngologists), speech language pathologists with expertise in voice, choral conductors, music educators, voice science researchers, announcers, clergy, singers and others who rely upon the voice in their line of work. We may also include writers who must have a unique voice as well. Currently only those living in Manhattan (New York City) can view the shows, but we will soon open a designated YouTube channel to highlight the shows and allow viewers from all over to subscribe to the full episodes. If you would like to suggest a New York City based vocal expert, or if you have someone who is willing to be Skyped in, please contact us. We are open to your feedback and will listen to your comments as we proceed in this exciting new direction. E-Mail us here.

Show #1
Gabrielle Tranchina

Our first guest was Gabriele Tranchina, jazz vocalist and composer and children’s music educator.Gabriele shared her exploration of singing in her younger days and how it evolved into working with her own jazz singing in the present. We have two clips of her in performance, both very unique, showing the diversity of her vocal expression and the uniqueness of her style. Please click on the image to play the video


Show #2
Jack Eppler

Our second guest was Jack Eppler, singer, singing teacher and choral conductor. Jack took us on the journey of his own vocal curiosity and his deep love for songs, particularly those that are classical. He also talked about his chorus and how he came to create a non-auditioned group of 70 singers who do performances a year; and have two clips of one of those concerts on view. Please click on the image to play the video

Show #3
Dr. Joan Melton

Dr. Joan Melton is an expert on the speaking voice with decades of experience working primarily with actors. She is also a musician, composer and vocalist and has a special interest in combining speaking and singing with use of the physical body so they are a unified whole. The interview includes a short exercise for the voice that viewers can try. Please click on the image to play the video

Show #4
David Sabella

David Sabella is a singer and actor who also teaching voice in New York City. He has decades of experience on Broadway and has also appeared as a soprano soloist, an unusual thing to do. He sheds light on his life, work and viewpoints about the many aspects of using the voice for expression, both professionally and personally. He discussed his philosophy of teaching singing as well. This video is not available for viewing at this time

Show #5
Benjamin Czarnota

Benjamin Czarnota is an operatic baritone, pianist, arranger, voice teacher and is Assistant Professor, School of Theater, University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He specializes in singing classical and music theater repertoire and crossing over into CCM styles


 

Our Vocal Universe hopes to be an inspiration to you and get you thinking about your own voice and your own vocal universe. It’s a great topic!

Somatic Voicework

Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method is a body-based method of vocal training which draws from many disciplines. It is based upon voice science and medicine as well as traditional classical vocal training, complementary modalities such as yoga, movement, dance, acting, and speech training, and various bodywork approaches. Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method is meant to unselfconsciously draw the mind of the singer into the physical process of making sound.

Bodywork is anything that works on the body itself and helps a person become more able to perceive through the five senses . Bodywork allows the singer to release physical tensions, move more freely, feel more fully, and breathe more deeply, and also increases one’s awareness of sensations. It amplifies one’s trust of the body and its reponses. Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method is a way of working on all aspects of the voice so that the singer (or speaker) may increase awareness of sound-making as a physical process. The singer becomes more able to sense the throat and effect changes without manipulation and increases intuition about vocal choices. Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method is influenced by the principles of Alexander Technique™, Feldenkrais Method™, Swedish massage, shiatsu, acupuncture, Rolfing™, Bioenergetics™, and Therapeutic Touch™, as well as other healing disciplines.

Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method allows the voice and body to be partners with the mind, whether it be for song or speech. It allows the instrument to handle a variety of tasks with greater ease and less effort.

In addition to all of the above, Somatic Voicework™ is unique in that all of the vocal exercises are focused on function. It is based upon what the voice is doing, not just how the voice sounds.

Most vocal training relies on a set of exercises that do a certain thing to the voice or ask for a specific kind of sound from the singer. The exercises are seen as being either magical (“Just sing like me on the syllables Che la vieri son muori sola in a descending scale everyday for 10 years and you will be able to sing opera”), or as having inherent qualities of their own (“Sing staccato on “AH” on an arpeggio up and down from low to high and you will even out your range”). You will always hear voice teachers ask each other for “specific exercises” to clear up vocal problems, but what they mean is: What syllables on what musical notes do I ask my singers to do in order to create perfection? Since there is a very finite number of possibilities here, most singing teachers then resort to the breathing for more help. (“If the problem isn’t solved in the exercises, the answer must be in the BREATHING!!!!!”) The less people know about vocal function, the more they rely on breathing exercises as a cure-all.

Essentially, the breathing for singing should be relatively easy. It requires good posture, an open rib cage, and strong set of belly muscles and coordination. It features a specific way of moving the ribs and abs during inhalation and exhalation that is learned over time and must be connected to voiced sound-making in order to be useful but there are a number of scientifically validated approaches to both inhalation and exhalation that work efficiently. If sophisticated breathing was all that was necessary to being a good singer, every athlete and every wind and brass player, every yogi, every underwater diver — anyone who has learned some kind of control of their own breathing — would automatically sound like Luciano Pavarotti or Barbra Streisand!

Breathing problems cannot be dismissed lightly but they are often not the source of vocal problems.

Somatic Voicework™ can use a simple exercise, such as a triad on “AH” on staccato to help wake up head register, to coordinate breath and body, to help clear up a breathy tone, to increase musical virtuosity, and in several other ways. Almost any exercise can be done to ellicit any function. Certain exercises lend themselves to certain responses, but nothing is guaranteed.

Everything depends upon the intention of the teacher and singer to agree upon a certain goal before the exercise begins. The intention of the exercises must be clear in the mind of the teacher in order for it to do what it is supposed to do in the throat of the student/singer.

Teachers must, therefore, understand that different responses are possible from one exercise, one set of pitches and one level of volume. Even in well produced, free voices, functions can and do adjust depending upon the intention or goal of the exercise or music.

Please pay us a visit at the Somatic Voicework™ website!