SEMINAR QUOTES
1995: Super personal attention! Just what I wanted!! I can't wait to see how I progress.
1996: I learned a great deal! This has changed my entire way of producing sound! My students (and I) will benefit greatly.
1999: I am extremely encouraged that I can sing again! This seminar taught me how to learn to relax when I am singing, no matter what style.
2000: I am amazed at the differences I have seen in myself and everyone else. This information is very valuable and I certainly hope we see it more and more.
2001: Fabulous material, accessible, very clear and well communicated throughout.
2006: This is the only seminar which gave me the experiential tools to put into practice what I only "knew in my head" previously.
2007: I really enjoyed attending the workshop in 2007. - Brenda McCulley
2009: I really appreciate this opportunity to help my voice begin a journey to further healing. Incredibly valuable and insightful. I will certainly encourage my colleagues to attend future sessions.
2010: Dear Mary, Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with me last week. The personal attention and time you gave me far exceeded my expectations and made the course truly inexpensive, indeed. If someone had asked six months ago what training I needed, I would have said a course in voice production with a lot of application and no attention to music literature. I had no idea the McClosky course would fill that need, even reading the course description available. I registered because you dealt with the aging voice and popular singing styles. I was so pleased at how much more than that you offered. You are a fine artist and a truly caring person, and I know each of your students sense your concern for them. I feel truly fortunate to have had you as an instructor with my small group. Thanks again, Mary. I hope our paths will cross again soon. - Sincerely, Paul
2010: Hello, I want to thank you all for the wonderful week I had at the McClosky seminar. I have learned so much, and am excited about the progress that I can continue to make myself, as well as the great information I can pass on to my students. With the 800+ students I have at school, plus my adult church choir, that can add up to a lot of healthy voices out there! Although we had a lot of information to absorb in a few days, it was done in a very comfortable manner, and we had fun as well. You are all very warm and caring people and it was a pleasure spending time with you. Your willingness to be available for ongoing support, questions, etc. is greatly appreciated. The small group instruction was extremely helpful. In addition to previously problems that I had diagnosed and received help for (allergies, reflux) I found out I might have another one, TMJ. I am following up on that with my doctor and will try to get scheduled for physical therapy on my jaw. (Thank you for that, Eric!) I will definitely recommend to all my singing friends and music teachers that they attend the seminar in the future. Thanks again! - Sincerely, Muriel Holfelder
PRIVATE LESSON INSTRUCTION
“I began studying voice with Maria K. Argyros. The quality of the notes I sing is much finer, and the range of my voice has expanded. I did not expect another effect from my studies, something that has been very important for my professional life. When I started studying with Ms. Argyros, I taught three fifty-minute lecture classes in a row twice a week. By the middle of the second class I was beginning to have difficulty with my voice, and throughout the third class, I was straining to speak. Ms. Argyros, who is a certified McClosky teacher, taught me to relax the muscles involved in singing and speaking. During the next semester I began to notice that my voice was holding out better in my classes, and by the end of the following semester, I could teach all three classes without ‘losing my voice.’ I am now chair of the department, and I can teach two classes then run a department meeting and teach a third class immediately afterwards without difficulty.
– Sheila J. Rabin, Ph.D Dept. of History, St. Peter’s College, New Jersey
“I am writing to express my intense gratitude for your help. I came to you, down about what the chronic rasp and vocal ‘resistance’ I was feeling would mean for my career as a high school chorus teacher. It has been about two years now that I have my voice back. I never feel the same fatigue and resistance that I used to. You and the technique of David Blair McClosky have revamped the way I speak, sing, and think about the voice. I have complete faith in the McClosky technique because it is based on something logical, systematic, reliable, and trustworthy. Thank you so much for all you have done to guide me back to vocal health.
– Elizabeth M. Gugliemo, A.P. Music and Art, Bayside High School
“As one whose job as an administrator and teacher requires constant vocalizing, I can enthusiastically endorse the McClosky method, which I began using a year ago with Maria Argyros. My situation poses real challenges, since my left vocal cord is actually paralyzed, and I must be very careful about straining my voice. The McClosky technique gave me practical and helpful approaches to voice use without stress. My singing voice, as well as my speaking voice, has benefited from the techniques I have learned.”
– Anita Edwards, Director of History and Archives, The Hewitt School
Hello Lin. Today is December 18th and I still have a voice. Had a concert this past Wednesday, December 16th. I am healthier because of the McClosky Voice Institute training and your coaching. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am feeling healthy even after long hours of work, and a heavy teaching load. This new feeling of health I attribute to the summer training and your lessons. I could flip a cartwheel and probably pull every muscle, but I am thrilled!! Have been vocalizing every morning on the way to work, keeping in mind the things you remind me to do to relax the face, jaw, tongue, shoulders, etc. It is definitely working!! Am very excited. (....and practicing the sentences I remember, which at the moment is: "Open the orange and eat it all." Pretty sure I am verbalizing without all the glottal stops.....). Will call you or e-mail soon, to schedule a lesson. Have a very Merry Christmas and Wishes for the best in 2010.
- With love and a hug, Lynn Rossi
After a tour of singing dramatic soprano repertoire in Europe, I so appreciated having been introduced to the McClosky method. The healthy approach to release of tension and the encouragement of normal anatomically correct breath support gave me a core (getting back to basics) that offered me balance and freedom in the voice. As a dramatic singer it is essential to maintain that balance of releasing the breath naturally since the repertoire is long, emotionally charged, and physically demanding. I am grateful for this approach. I can describe it as riding the wave instead of pushing through the wave!
- Johanna Porackova
I have been a student of McClosky Voice technique for six years, and I would recommend it immediately to anyone wishing to study voice. The technique has taught me to use my whole body as a well-tuned musical instrument, allowing me to quickly know what to do to improve my sound, when to do it, and why. By emphasizing relaxation and healthy posture, the technique has allowed me to sing complicated pieces of music without straining my voice, and I am able to put real power and art into my singing.
- Kelley Thorne, high school senior, studied since age 12
Unlike many other voice teachers, with Mrs. Wheeler I was able to study the McClosky technique and be train to also apply those skills to other genres. She always made me feel comfortable and eager to learn how my instrument really works. I was able to become a more educated and trained singer, and so can you.
- Megan Porter, sophomore, Berklee College of Music
About 15 years ago, I thought I would have to quit teaching because by March of the school year I could not sing. Through the McClosky technique I learned to speak differently and found a much more relaxing technique for singing. I am still teaching strong and sharing the technique with my students. It is a life saver.
- Bob McKenzieSullivan, CMVT (Tenino, WA)
CHORAL
The Chancel Choir of Oakland Baptist Church, Rock Hill, SC encountered a refreshing day of vocal instruction under the leadership of CMVT’s Lin Schuller and Lisa Barksdale. These wonderful teachers resonated with my choir as they related the difficulties of good production. The choir members did not feel as though they were being lectured by some ivory tower authority. Rather, the choir members felts that these teachers had been in the trenches with them and understood the problems with vocal production. As my choir is increasing in age, many techniques for producing sound with an aging voice were discussed. Most importantly, these ladies helped my choir understand the necessity of good posture, productive breathing, and relaxation of the body to produce good sound. Many good exercises and demonstrations helped the choir members grasp ideas that had been told them through the years but they never practiced. In our present rehearsals I can see my singers holding themselves erect with comfortable, relaxed features and they practice the breathing methods that were taught to them. The time with Lin and Lisa was a tremendous motivational opportunity as well as a fabulous instructional time for our choir.
- Shelden Timmerman, Oakland Baptist Church in Rock Hill, SC
The RI Children's Chorus truly enjoyed the introduction to McClosky Technique, and Dr. Pomfret and her assistant presented an interesting and engaging workshop for the children.
- Christine Noel, Rhode Island Children’s Chorus
I have used elements of the McClosky technique with my choirs, and it has a produced a distinct improvement in their sound. The emphasis on natural breathing and freedom from tension is effective in singers of all ages, and particularly in mature singers who may have years of bad singing habits. I would recommend it to directors of amateur choirs who are looking for a solution to poor choral tone.
– Dr. Michelle Graveline, Professor of Music, Assumption College, Worcester, MA, Massachusetts State President, ACDA
"The McClosky technique has helped The St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Choir have a warmer sound and a more relaxed and blended tone, with a noticeably extended vocal range. It was wonderful to work with CMVT Lisa Barksdale. She is very encouraging and down to earth. I look forward to the next workshop with her here in Las Vegas!"
- Dee Dee Brunelle, Director of Music Ministry at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church (Las Vegas, Nevada)
HISTORICAL
Over the years David Blair McClosky has worked with a number of my patients who have had functional vocal problems and has dealt with these problems successfully. In this area his expertise is pre-eminent and I can recommend him without reserve or qualification. (July 1978)
- Carlyle G. Flake, MD. Otolaryngologist at Harvard University Health Service in Cambridge, MA.
Thank you for excellent care you have given my patients. In the past years you have greatly helped my patients with laryngeal problems with both voice and speech therapy and each one of them has been very successfully treated. My wife has also benefitted greatly from your therapy and she no longer has any further problems with laryngeal polyps.
- Nile L. Albright, MD. Ogolaryngologist at Deaconess Medical in Boston, MA.
It has been my please and privilege to have worked with David Blair McClosky on a number of patients with voice disorders over the past 12 years. These patients included people with non-organic dysphonia as well as patients with contact ulcers of the larynx, nodules of the vocal cords, etc. David Blair McClosky has at all times been professional .... and the results in the management of these patients have been good and many cases excellent.
- Werner D. Chasin, MD. Otolangrologist-in-Chief at New England Medical Center in Boston, MA.
I am certainly happy to testify that you have helped a number of my patients with functional dysphonias over the past 15 years. As you know, it is standard operating procedure for me to refer such patients to you, prior to removing any vocal cord polyps or nodules. If you cannot cure them, I am assured that, because of your excellent instruction in proper use of the voice, their problem will not recur, following surgery.
- Peter Oliver, MD. Otolaryngologist at Lahey Clinic in Boston, MA.
You have seen several of my patients with voice problems and have treated all of them with a high degree of success. Several of these patients have had unsuccessful voice therapy previous to your therapy.
- Carl M. Lieberman, MD. Otolaryngologist at Otolaryngological Associates, Inc. in Framingham, MA.
David Blair McClosky and his colleagues have seen a number of patients from our group of physicians over the years who have had functional voice disorders as well as those who have had more minor disorders that we felt were due to vocal abuse or improper use of the voice, rather than some distinct structural abnormality. Without question the people whom we have referred have been helped by the system of therapy taught by Mr. McClosky and his colleagues. It is a rational approach to the problems of voice use and also certainly helpful therapeutically, especially in the reduction of nodules or removing the conditions which, for example, set up the environment for vocal cord nodules.
- Angelo J. Pappanikou, MD. Otolaryngologist at Boston Ear, Nose and Throat Associates, Inc.
