Van Lawrence Winner Amanda Flynn

Congratulations to Amanda Flynn

There were some other highly rated submissions, but Amanda Flynn’s proposal was the clear winner in 2019.

Amanda Flynn, MM, CAS Vocal Pedagogy, NCVS Trained Vocologist and Vocal Coach for Be More Chill on Broadway is currently on the musical theatre voice faculty at Pace University and is also the owner of a private studio with clients performing on Broadway, Off Broadway, national tours, international tours, and regional theatre. Amanda is currently the Production Vocal Coach for Be More Chill on Broadway, and was the Production Vocal Coach for the Drama Desk nominated Off-Broadway show The Lightning Thief. She works frequently with injured singers, collaborating with laryngologists and voice therapists in NYC. As a performer, Amanda was an original cast member of the LA company of Wicked, part of the Las Vegas company of Mamma Mia, and toured the country on the national tour of the Broadway revival of Oklahoma. After initially studying voice at Baylor University, Amanda began performing professionally before finishing her BS in Liberal Arts at The New School. Amanda holds a MM in Vocal Performance with a Musical Theatre concentration as well as an Advanced Certificate in Vocal Pedagogy, both from NYU. She completed the Vocology Mentorship at Mt. Sinai Medical Center, the Distinguished Voice Professional certificate from NYSTA, and completed her Certificate in Vocology from NCVS and The University of Utah. She is an active voice researcher and has presented research at the Fall Voice Conference, The Voice Foundation, the PAVA Symposium, the VASTA Conference, and the NATS National Conference.

This year’s Fellowship Awardee completed a research project alongside colleagues Jared Trudeau and Dr. Aaron Johnson entitled Acoustic Comparison of Lower and Higher Belt Ranges in Professional Broadway Actresses, currently in press with Journal of Voice.

Amanda Flynn states that “this study brought to light new insights but only scratched the surface of what else could be learned. In order to fully understand belting in all its complexities, further research is needed.”

With the van Lawrence Fellowship, “my research will hopefully provide voice teachers with more tangible evidence of belt function. Learning more about vocal tract shape, jaw opening, and closed quotient with MRI and high-speed endoscopy will help increase the specificity with which we teach belting. This research will also help voice therapists better understand how to work with injured belters in voice therapy. The initial phase of the project has already brought about changes in my pedagogical approach and understanding of function. Further studies will only enhance the teaching, rehabilitation, and sustainability of belting.”

• Award Presentation will be on Friday, May 31, 11:50am  at the 48th Annual Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice
• Information about and past winners of the Van L. Lawrence Award

Many thanks to the Van Lawrence Fellowship Committee:

Robert T. Sataloff , MD, Chair; Julie M. Barkmeier-Kraemer, PhD; Karen Brunssen, DMA; Matthias Echternach, MD; Brian Horne, DM; Adam Rubin, MD

The Van L. Lawrence Fellowship was created to honor Van L. Lawrence, M.D. for his outstanding contribution to voice, and particularly to recognize the importance of the interdisciplinary education he fostered among laryngologists and singing teachers. It is awarded jointly by The Voice Foundation and National Association of Teachers of Singing Foundation. The Fellowship winner will be provided with the opportunity to attend the annual Symposium on Care of the Professional Voice and visit laryngologists, speech pathologists, voice scientists, and research centers associated with The Voice Foundation during the fellowship year, with resulting research to be considered for expedited publication in the Journal of Voice or Journal of Singing. The Fellowship winners are members of the National Association of Teachers of Singing who are actively engaged in teaching, have demonstrated excellence in their profession as singing teachers, and have shown interest in and knowledge of voice science. The Fellowship and $2000 award are intended to provide opportunities for the Fellow to become more thoroughly acquainted with practices, techniques, technology and people involved in laryngology and voice science. It is hoped that the opportunities and contacts provided through the Fellowship experience will enhance the teacher’s ability to do meaningful interdisciplinary research, and will encourage the teacher to apply appropriate voice science advances in the studio.