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About the Instructor
Excellence in
education and in performance
Patricia Shanks
teaches the same time-honored
techniques, based on a thorough understanding of the
vocal mechanism, that have led singers to performance
excellence for generations. Thorough, artful, efficient
and complete training of the singing voice is of primary
importance to her. For more than three decades she has
been teaching vocal technique to singers of all ages and
at all experience levels. Her studio is comprised of
adults, from beginners to professional, and teens who
are highly motivated and serious about developing a
classical, or traditional, style of singing.
Patricia sets standards for her
students and she expects singers to rise to meet the
challenge. Students should not be fearful of the work.
Instead, they should enjoy the challenge and be happy to
know that they are becoming part of a tradition of
excellence. A member of a number of professional
organizations, including the Music Teachers Association
of California, the National Association of Teachers of
Singing (executive board member 2010-11), the
Voice and Speech Trainers Association, the
Southern California Vocal Association, and others,
Patricia stays abreast of the latest in vocal pedagogy
so that she may offer the very best instruction to her
students. Patricia is also a performing member of
AGMA, SAG and
AFTRA. |
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Patricia trained with teachers and
coaches of the old European singing schools and from the
Golden Age of Singing in America. Ultimately, she
credits her understanding of the vocal mechanism to
Natalie Limonick, who directed the UCLA Opera Workshop,
worked with such celebrated singers as Martial Singher
and Lotte Lehmann at Santa Barbara’s Music Academy of
the West, was general director of the USC Opera Program,
and was president of the Opera Guild of Southern
California for a number of years. Working with
Natalie Limonick, Patricia learned foundation principles
of vocal technique which had been absent from her
University studies.
Patricia also studied technique and
repertoire with Esther Andreas (Metropolitan Opera),
Naomi Farr (New York City Opera), Nina Hinson (San
Francisco Opera), Marion Cooper, Dietrich Erbelding,
Charles Ross Perlee (conductor, San Francisco Opera and
Bremen Opera), and a number of other respected teachers
and coaches. Patricia’s mentors worked and trained with
the world’s greatest musicians. Among the artists in
this impressive teaching lineage were Arthur Schoenberg,
Francis Poulenc, Pierre Bernac and Nadia Boulanger.
Patricia Sang with the former Los
Angeles Music Center Opera Association, with Orange
County’s Opera Pacific and with the Los Angeles Master
Chorale under Roger Wagner. She performed in master
classes taught by Giorgio Tozzi (Metropolitan Opera),
Blanche Thebom (Metropolitan Opera) and Dorothy
Warenskjold (San Francisco Opera). Patricia was a
winner in the San Mateo County Vocal Competition and she
completed undergraduate studies in music education and
voice performance at the University of Redlands. For
many years, Patricia taught voice and general music in
private and public school settings. These institutions
included the Conservatory at California State
University, Dominguez Hills, the Gold Coast Conservatory
in Thousand Oaks, and the Crestmont Conservatory in San
Mateo. She also directed the Amadeus Boys Choir (a choir
after the European tradition) at Moorpark College.
Patricia’s professional performing career has spanned
the entire 30 years she has been teaching. |
