MY BLOG
Master Teacher of Voice
Learn Online!
I provide tuition online via Skype and other online communication methods or in my studio. Call to find out more!
What is Bel Canto?
I teach Bel Canto. Bel canto translates as “beautiful song.” Actually, it is several things.
About Katherine
A proponent of a functional approach to singing, based on an understanding of the nature and physiology of the vocal mechanism. Her teaching brings about a transformative experience leading to healthy, free, and beautiful singing.
Why do I teach singing?
I teach singing because I consider singing to be a tremendously BIG DEAL. There is an ancient tradition that sound is spirit in action. If so, then making sound is an act of expressing the spirit in us. I believe this. Our voices express our very nature and creative power.
Wait! Breathe! Sing!
A short video documentary, detailing Katherine’s teaching style, vocal style, and singing technique along with 10 tracks from "Sweet Harmony" by Katherine Kaufman Posner.
Connect with me below
Whether you’d like to schedule online vocal lessons or follow-up with a question, I’d love to hear from you! Please use the form below to write me a message.
Positive Approaches To Singing
One of the most destructive things a teacher can make you feel as a singing student is that what you are doing is wrong. Teachers sometimes will tell you that you are wrong or perhaps they just say, “That is not right.” If you knew all you need to know about singing,...
Freedom!
I believe in freedom when it comes to singing. Here is a description of truly free singing:
About Singing
Some silliness I have read or heard about singing -To “get into” your high notes, you have to kinda hook it in. -To breathe correctly, you take the air in like sucking up with a vacuum cleaner. -To properly use the breath, you gradually squeeze it out. Think of...
A Little Sense About Singing
No. 1 A little sense about singing Singing and speaking tones start in the throat at the site of your vocal cords. You cannot start the tone at your diaphragm or at your gut or anywhere else but your larynx. If a teacher says, “Start the tone at your pubic bone,” grab...
To Pop Or Not To Pop
To Pop or Not to Pop? That is the question. A lot depends on what pop music is to you.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
As in many things in life, when it comes to singing, nothing could be truer. The single thing that stands most in our way in changing the voice for the better is our self-concept.
Truly Free Singing
Okay, so here at long last is a description of truly free singing: The sound starts all on its own, almost before you can finish taking a breath, or so it seems. You have plenty of breath to sing whatever you want to sing. You are virtually unaware of using the...
Thoughts On Singing
One of the most destructive things a singing teacher can do is to make you feel that what you are doing is wrong. Teachers sometimes will tell you that you are wrong or perhaps they just say, “That is not right.” If you knew all you need to know about singing, you would be singing right. But you don’t, so they tell you that you are wrong. The teachers respond to your inability to sing as you would wish by telling you exactly How Wrong You Are. I would prefer that singing instructors would be more sensitive to how personal this is for their students. I deeply regret negative language in singing lessons.
Perfect Notes From Singers In My Life
I have a heard my share of perfect notes from singers in my life. Try American (world famous) tenor Jan Peerce at the end of “Hymn to the Nations” with Toscanini conducting (YouTube). Pavarotti sang many. Eileen Farrell sang a bunch. Also Leonard Warren. Also Galli-Curci. Many others from time to time. I have heard some whole phrases of music sung perfectly. No whole songs or arias sung perfectly, however, from beginning to end. Bottom line is that, as I tell my students, All have “sinned” and fallen short of the glory of God, vocally speaking.” No one is perfect, including me. :*)
Singing Is Telling Each Other Things
Music is about sounds put together in pretty or ugly or thrilling or puzzling or a hundred other ways. But song – singing with words – is about telling each other things that we know about being human. Song is about sharing our human experience. This does not mean that singers are doing something more important with their music than instrumentalists. Instrumentalists are also telling us about their humanity. It is just that the way we singers do it is a little different because we have an extra tool. Words.
My Inspiration
Many talented singers have inspired me over the years, probably too many to mention. There are those, however, that deserve special mention and are listed here:
Sopranos
- Luisa Tetrazzini
- Mary Garden
- Amelita Galli-Curci
- Alma Gluck
- Frida Leider
- Kirsten Flagstad
- Rosa Ponselle
- Hellen Traubel
- Zinka Milanov
- Dorothy Kirsten
- Eleanor Steber
- Birgit Nilsson
- Eileen Farrell
- Renata Tebaldi
- Leonie Rysanek
- Regine Crespin
- Montserrat Caballe
- Martina Arroyo
- Teresa Stratas
Mezzo-sopranos
- Gladys Swarthout
- Jennie Tourel
- Ebe Stigniani
- Regina Resnik
- Christa Ludwig
- Rosalind Elias
- Teresa Berganza
Contraltos
- Ernestine Schumann-Heink
- Louise Homer
- Maureen Forrester
Tenors
- Enrico Caruso
- Leo Slezak
- John McCormack
- Tito Schipa
- Beniamino Gigli
- Lauritz Melchior
- Jan Peerce
- Josef Schmidt
- Jussi Bjoerling
- Nicolai Gedda
- Jon Vickers
- Fritz Wunderlich
- Luciano Pavarotti
- Placido Domingo
Baritones
- Tita Ruffo
- Lawrence Tibbett
- Leonard Warren
- Herman Prey
Basses
- Feodor Chaliapin
- Ezio Pinza
- George London
- Cesare Siepi
- Giorgio Tozzi
- Norman Treigle
- Walter Berry
- Thomas Quasthoff
About Me
In addition to her professional development support from the Metropolitan Opera, Katherine was a recipient of grants from The Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music, the Borden Company, and the Weyerhauser Paper Company. Katherine Kaufman Posner is a lecturer in voice production and an expert in coaching musical styles, teaching English and foreign language diction, acting and stage movement. She now provides tuition online.
Reviews
“Katherine Kaufman captivated…She gave notice of a major talent.“
“The hit of the evening was Katherine Kaufman. Her voiced matched… her ability to communicate with the audience.”
“…the most brilliant was Katherine Kaufman…strong-voiced, well-controlled and superbly comic…”
A Special Thank You:
I am a disciple of the world-renowned Cornelius Reid, rediscoverer of the principles of the bel canto tradition. I was also was fortunate to study under the great Elisabeth Parham who was a professor of voice at Oklahoma University, and who guided me to a national award in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions. I will always be grateful to these two teachers who changed my life and made it possible for me not only to be successful as a singer, but also to teach in a way that enables the human voice to be as nature intended, to function correctly and therefore to be beautiful and free.
Contact me today!
You CAN improve your singing!
Tel: (984) 200-1344