A tale of two pedagogues: a cross-continental conversation on CCM

A tale of two pedagogues: a cross-continental conversation on CCM

Recently, I found myself reflecting on the somewhat obvious fact that there was a time when contemporary commercial music (CCM) voice pedagogy did not exist. Like life before the Internet or microwave ovens, life before CCM singing and pedagogy is difficult to conceive for someone like me who has only sung and taught singing during the last two decades. That the discipline of CCM voice pedagogy is now so firmly entrenched within the broader tradition of singing is in no small part due to the work of the two pedagogues interviewed here. Dr. Irene Bartlett is arguably the grande dame of CCM voice pedagogy in Australia. Irene has mentored me and countless other CCM singing teachers in our region. When fellow CCM flag bearer Jeanie LoVetri travelled the 15,491 kms from New York City to Australia in January 2017 to deliver a CCM voice pedagogy institute at my university, it seemed like a wonderful opportunity to talk to Jeanie and Irene about their journeys as pioneering voice pedagogues. Ironically, Irene was in New Zealand at the time, so we conducted our conversation over Skype in front of an audience of 40 enthralled singing teachers from the Australasian region.

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