Comments from Students

"Working with Joe was a breath of fresh air, compared to my previous vocal coaches.  He has a great manner which both challenges and supports his students to improve and increase their joy of singing.  Although I had a "trained" voice before working with Joe, my voice completely changed for the better after working with him  for just a few months.  I would highly recommend Joe as a voice teacher for anyone from recreational singers(including in the shower only) to professional vocalists." 

Leanne Harder, Recording Artist, Olive Branch Music

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CAMPBELL VERTESI

Basso Profundo

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To Whom It May Concern.

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  I have sung as a part of his Vancouver studio for five years now, and in that time have found his teaching to be consistently of the highest caliber in every respect. 

Mister Shore teaches in a highly adaptable style, and is capable of a wide variety of approaches for each student.  In my case, he taught largely from a voice science perspective, exercising his extensive knowledge in that field to teach through biomechanics and by using various computer assisted models. In contrast, I have witnessed his work with other students, where their learning style did not involve voice science at all; in these cases Mister Shore employed his understanding of historic appoggio to use metaphor and proprioceptive examples for the student to follow.    These examples typically come from historic vocal literature, but frequently also from personal experience and discussion with the great singers of the century such as (in my case) Jerome Hines, Giorgio Tozzi and Ezio Flagello.

Whatever the teaching style, and whatever voice the student possesses, I have seen Mister Shore succeed time and again with his students.  He consistently produces singers of outstanding technical ability and with a healthy understanding of the art of singing. 

My personal success story with Mister Shore is that after only a year of study with him, I was approached by Metropolitan Opera bass Giorgio Tozzi of Indiana University to join their Opera Performance program with scholarship.  Under Mister Shore’s further teaching, I have since been accepted to the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music for their Master’s program, again on significant scholarship.  Other former students are singing very successfully across America and in Europe. 

With the success that I and other students have enjoyed coming from Mister Shore’s studio, I can wholeheartedly recommend him as an outstanding candidate for any voice or voice science teaching position.

Sincerely,

Campbell Vertesi

Operatic Bass

Bryn Chapman

Soprano

To Whom It May Concern::

I feel honored to provide a reference for Joseph Shore.  Though our study has not been long, the work we have accomplished is immense.  I came to Mr. Shore after graduating from the Indiana University School of Music.  Though I came away from that school with a degree, I was left with many technical issues to work out of my voice.  Joseph’s extensive knowledge of vocal pedagogy helped me to understand physiologically what I was doing, and in turn, what needed to be done.  The application of this knowledge in vocal exercises and repertory had a powerful restorative effect on my voice in a remarkably short time.  In three months, I was transformed into a technically sound singer.

Joseph also stresses the importance of being an intelligent musician.  He has much information to offer to a performer from his many years of professional stage experience.  As he coached me in my lessons, he questioned me about my character choices and would often have me look at it from a different point of view.  He even went so far as to have me sing in some of the awkward positions required by staging in certain roles—such as sitting on the ground with my back supported by a couch for Gilda’s death scene in Rigoletto. 

Joseph is the most dedicated teacher I have ever encountered.  It takes a certain personality to teach, and Mr. Shore exudes his excitement for the art of music and opera in all of his lessons.  He constantly goes above and beyond the call of duty for his students and often invests his time and resources outside of lessons to give his students the proper tools for music study. 

Personally, Joseph is a wonderful and caring person.  He has become a great friend and mentor to me. He believed in me when I had a hard time believing in myself, and I have seen him have this same revitalizing effect on many of his students.  He would be a wonderful asset to your program.

Sincerely,

Bryn Chapman

Eric G. Hominick

CANADA

Hominick Enterprises

To Whom It May Concern:          

I am a professional singer, pianist, voice and piano teacher, and well-known accompanist in the Greater Vancouver area, having lived and worked here for more than twenty years. During this time, I have been (and remain to this date) on the music faculty of two local colleges. I have taught voice and piano, and accompany the classical voice, choral and musical theatre programs at Vancouver Community College, and am voice coach and accompanist at TOOBA Physical Theatre. In addition I have taught voice at Douglas Community College. Having traveled extensively as a touring professional, both internationally as well as in Canada, I have recorded as baritone soloist, accompanist and chorister both independently and during my eleven-year career with the Vancouver Chamber Choir.

I wish, in this letter, to introduce and recommend Joseph Shore, a singer of international calibre, acclaim, and experience, and a vocal pedagogue of unusual acumen and respected stature. I have known Mr. Shore for the past twelve years, noting his great talent, generosity of spirit, and acumen. His students uniformly make good progress in the development of their voices; he teaches all manner of singers, with respect to experience and musical style; and his voice studio exudes a warm camaraderie. Having studied singing under three of the most respected voice teachers in the city and accompanied in their voice studios as well as in those of many others, and having performed as a soloist and taught locally for some time, I am familiar with the quality of voice training in the area. It is my professional opinion that I have not seen a level of teaching to rival Mr. Shore’s, either here or on the east coast, where I did my initial studies.

When I first approached Maestro Shore for lessons, I had already been singing professionally for some fifteen years. Despite having had lessons from other reputed teachers, I had concerns about several aspects of my singing, namely a general lack of power and focus in the sound, unevenness of tone, nasal pharyngeal interference, a lack of confidence in my high notes, an excessively early entrance into head register, and an ignorance about the workings of the human voice so as to be unable to articulate most of these concerns. Mr. Shore laid a proper foundation for understanding how the voice works, presented an appropriate historical context for training in appoggio, and taught me the principles of good vocal technique. I was and continue to be thrilled with the results, which include more power, stable tone, confidence in my high notes, proper use of head register, and a working knowledge of the basics of good vocal technique, which I am able to articulate to others. I now operate my own studio using that same technique.

Mr. Shore’s knowledge of the voice and application of that knowledge in the arenas of performance and pedagogy are both impressive and inspiring. He has taken singers in my acquaintance who have been in vocal distress and helped them immeasurably. His familiarity with the vast majority of published research in vocal science and acoustics, plus an ongoing good rapport with respected leaders and teachers in those fields, and fraternal connections with other singers and pedagogues in the international singing community, coupled with a thorough familiarity with other national schools of singing, enable him to answer the most penetrating of questions in all areas of singing endeavour. 

Mr. Shore’s work ethic is impressive – he is able to maintain a large private studio, confer regularly with valued contacts from the music world, run an exceptional master class series, arrange public concerts of his work and that of his students, and prepare articles on vocal health and technique. For example, one such article, a personal interview with the great Metropolitan bass Jerome Hines, was published in the prestigious Journal of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).

I have had the pleasure to accompany Mr. Shore in recital, and appreciate the truly international calibre of his voice, and the magnetism of his stage presence. In addition, I have accompanied in his voice studio for approximately ten years, and have seen him work with other students of varying ages, experiences, and musical styles. Further, we have worked together in a series of regular master classes, and recorded locally. And finally, I consider the man a good and loyal friend. As a result, I have no hesitation in recommending him to you with high and unqualified enthusiasm. Any music institution or school would be fortunate indeed to have a man of this quality and character on its staff.

  Sincerely,

Eric G. Hominick