Meribeth’s Biography
My passion for singing and the human voice has been with me for as long as I can remember. I would sing to the ocean, the sea creatures and all the animals on the beachfront where I spent my early years and summers. Dance became a part of my life when I was three with sports following in my teen years. All are intricate parts of my life today; and for me, music, body, movement, and spirit are one.
Formal study of singing began in high school and continued at Salem College where I received a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance. After gaining a Masters in Sacred Music from Union Theological Seminary in New York (Voice and Choral Music), I taught for several years at Wilson College. I returned to studies at the University of Southern California and received a Doctorate in Voice Science (Performance and Anatomy) after which I taught both singing and anatomy; first at the University of Southern California, and then at the University of Delaware.
After years of teaching both singing and anatomy in the university, my life in Europe began when I was awarded a post doctoral fellowship to do further research on the voice with a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship to the Royal College of Surgeons of London.
While in London I studied Alexander technique, dance, movement, spiritual alchemy, and the esoteric and spiritual aspects of sound and healing. I came to value all these elements as contributing greatly to ‘presence’ in the performer. As a result of this study, I gave up my university teaching in the USA and moved to London to further my interests in healing and communication.
My firm belief is that singers (and speakers) must develop both their inner and outer selves to enable a true message from the heart, and thus facilitate the healing process.
Professional music activities have included solo concerts, performances in summer stock, choral conducting of major choral works, musical director of shows in university and community theatre, voice and vocal consultant to film productions and theatre.
In addition to university teaching and consulting, there have been tours in the US, UK, and Europe giving Master classes for singers and teachers of singing, teaching courses in Presence in Performance and Vocal Anatomy for Voice Professionals, and most recently CoreSinging™.
CoreSinging™, a wonderful new approach to singing and the teaching of singing, was officially launched in 2009. It is the culmination of a life long search for an effective way to enjoy singing and learning to sing. After experimenting with many approaches, the last piece of the puzzle was put into place after intensive study of energy healing. The energy work has been amalgamated into the process with huge success. To share CoreSinging™ with those in the vocal arts is a pleasure and a joy.
Courses in CoreSinging™ are being held in Europe and North America with plans to teach in other parts of the world in the near future.
Honours Include:
Van Lawrence Fellowship 2001(awarded by the Voice Foundation), Philadelphia
Human Communication International Award 2000
National Institutes of Health Post-Doctoral Fellow (1979-81)
Listed in Outstanding Young Women in America (1968)
Books include:
Dynamics of the Singing Voice, Springer-Verlag, 5th edition published 2009
The Performer’s Voice, WW Norton, New York 2005
The Singing Book with C Vaughn, WW Norton, New York, 2004, 2008
Creating Confidence Kogan Page 1999, FC Cake Publishing, E-book 2004
Speak with Confidence, Kogan Page, 1988
The Little Book About the Voice, FC Cake Publishing, E-book 2006
Audio CD: Succeed, FC Cake Publishing 2004