Karen Tillotson Bauer

Style: Opera; Classical; Musical Theatre

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Title: Professor Emerita of Music in Vocal Performance

Bio: Dr. Karen (Tillotson) Bauer taught voice and voice pedagogy for 30 years at North Park University School of Music, Chicago, IL. She served as Music Chair for 7 years and directed an innovative and fully accredited master’s program in vocal performance. Recently retired from her full-time position, she now teaches in her private studio in Evanston, IL, and continues to do workshops, master classes, and speaking engagements. Bauer has been at the forefront of examining kinesthesia as it relates to singing, bringing her conclusions to the voice community, both in the States and abroad. Her book, "The Essentials of Beautiful Singing: A Three-Step Kinesthetic Approach" (Scarecrow Press, 2013) encapsulates an accessible approach to applied teaching that focuses on the singer's actual kinesthetic experience, a facet of voice science, that is crucial to voice pedagogy. A former President of the Chicago Chapter of NATS, Bauer’s two-part article on the Baroque Solo Cantata was published in the Jan/Feb and March/April 2007 issues of the NATS “Journal of Singing.” Her article, "The Role of Kinesthesia in a Pedagogy for Singing" was published in the Nov/Dec, 2016 JOS, and has been translated into Korean for inclusion in the 2017 annual “Journal of the Korean Association of Voice Performing Arts”. Bauer presented on "Bridging the Gap Between Science and Singing" at the 2015 NATS Central Region Conference and on "Kinesthesia in Singing: Science in Action" at the NATS National Conference in Chicago, July, 2016. She was interviewed, and her book reviewed, by Brian Manternach in the March 2017 issue of Classical Singer magazine. In August, 2017, at the Internat'l Congress of Voice Teachers in Stockholm, Bauer presented a paper that demonstrated how kinesthesia, as the science it is, can bridge pedagogical gaps between other methods of science and those of singing. In 2018 Bauer developed a group workshop for singers, the Feedback Focus Workshop. It focuses on a singer’s own critical assessment of the state of their vocal art, particularly in the area of vocal technique. This is encouraged through an objective and focused look at how the body is being used as a refined vocal instrument and how it relates to resonance. Facilitated by Dr. Bauer, objectivity in all feedback is maintained in both self-critique and group comments. The Workshop is a compact complement to other forms of enrichment and training for singers, requiring a total of several hours of contact time. Bauer is accepting a limited number of Feedback Focus singers as well as private voice students by audition, currently online. Also on her retirement schedule, Bauer directs the New Mather Singers, a choir for seniors in Evanston, IL., for which she uses her broad skill-set developed throughout her university teaching.

Voice Type: Mezzo-soprano

Music Styles Taught: Opera; Classical; Musical Theatre

Availability: I am currently accepting private students; I am available as a clinician or presenter; I offer lessons in a group environment

Contact Information

Studio

425 Davis St.
Evanston, IL
USA 60201

MOBILE: 630-561-1745

E-mail: kbauer@northpark.edu

Vcard: import to my address book