PROGRAM NOTES
Opening Medley: “I’d Like to Teach the World To Sing” and “Sing”
Broadway Songs: Musical Theater Roots
My Mother was my earliest and most significant musical theater influence. I am the middle child of 5 with two older brothers and two younger sisters. When we were young, there were VCRs, VHS tapes - and Blockbuster Video before CDs, iPods, and iPhones. My Mom would regularly rent a VCR and bring it home in its padded carrying case, along with a stack of Golden Age Musicals or Disney movies on VHS tape and, very often, a box of Winchell’s doughnuts or See’s Chocolates. Most memorable were The King and I, My Fair Lady, The Music Man, The Sound of Music, Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma, Fiddler on the Roof, Singing In the Rain, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, Brigadoon, South Pacific, Carousel, Hello Dolly, and Funny Girl.
We had a TV cart on wheels in the dining room, and we would hook up the VCR, put the tape in, lay under the table, and watch these tapes repeatedly. We watched Maria and the Von Trapp children sing at the Salzburg Festival, Curly ride his horse through rows and rows of corn singing, “Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin’,” Barbara Streisand be the greatest star, and Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor tap dance through a Hollywood mansion.
We also had several vinyl records with soundtracks to different shows and artists. To this day, I can sing every song, every word, and every note, with the inflections, dialects, and characters of several different Golden Age Musicals, Dinsey films, and Barbara Streisand records. My siblings were immersed in this same experience. At family gatherings, it is not uncommon for me and my siblings to burst out singing if anything triggers a memory of a favorite musical.
One of my favorite stories my Mom would tell was about the time she played Aunt Eller in her high school’s production of Oklahoma. I thought that was funny because, at the time, I had a hard time picturing my young, vibrant Mother playing an older adult. But it was also really cool - because - my Mom did that. She also had been a member of the folk dancers at BYU. And if she could do it, then surely I could do it too.
From fourth grade to 10th grade, I went to Waterford, a small private prep school in Provo. Each year, the school produced a musical, and each year I was able to participate. In fourth grade, I was in my first musical/operetta: HMS Pinafore, by Gilbert and Sullivan, playing the role of Phoebe, where I had one or two spoken lines. Other favorite and memorable ensemble roles included playing a poppy and emerald city-zian in The Wizard of Oz, a townsperson in Brigadoon, and more. My Mom drove carpools, sewed costumes, came to every performance, and was always there, in the background, supporting me in my growing love of musical theater - inspired by her. Thank you, Mom. I am so grateful for the gift you gave me. This song is for you:
“Hello, Young Lovers” from The King and I
The late Gerald Elison directed some of the shows I was in at Waterford and then was my drama teacher when I switched to Orem High School, where I did several musicals. To say he did so much for so many students is an understatement. Wearing his plaid shirts, and overalls, building sets into the late hours, teaching the tech kids how to run everything, and overseeing all the blocking rehearsals, Gerry, and later, his counterpart, Syd Riggs, inspired and provided opportunities for me and so many of my friends who still perform to this day.
Gerry gave me my first big break In 10th grade, casting me as the princess Winnifred in the musical “Once Upon A Mattress.” It was a transformative experience for me. In my daily life at school, I was pretty shy and reserved, but when I stepped on stage, I was this loud, goofy, quirky, tom-boy princess who arrived dripping wet after swimming the mote of the castle because there was a prince inside looking for a wife. I went on to play leads in other musicals directed by Gerry, but Once Upon A Mattress stands out as the most memorable for me. Thank you, Gerry, for believing in me and giving me many opportunities. This song is for you:
“Shy” from Once Upon a Mattress
The Young Ambassadors is a musical theater performing troupe sponsored by Brigham Young University that travels and performs worldwide and does so much good in sharing uplifting entertainment and building bridges with other countries, their people, governments, artistic institutions, and religious organizations.
When I was in 11th grade, I went to The Promised Valley Playhouse in Salt Lake City to see the Young Ambassadors perform a show they were doing called “Celebrating the Light” with music by Michael McClean. As I sat watching that performance, I had a feeling come over me that I can only describe as a “knowing.” A voice inside me told me I was meant to be in that group one day and that I needed to prepare for it. I felt it. I knew it.
Just that summer, I had started taking belt voice lessons with Gayle Lockwood, who taught privately out of her home in Orem, just up the street from where I lived, and also taught at BYU in the music-dance-theater department. Any kind of contemporary voice training was so new in the vocal world, and the pedagogy and method of teaching this vocal style were still very new and evolving. Gayle was a protegé of Jan Sullivan, one of the pioneers of creating a method to teach belt singing. Jan was a contemporary of Joe Estill, who was also teaching and researching the East Coast in Contemporary Styles, and Seth Riggs, who was developing the Speech Level Singing method on the West Coast in LA.
At this point, there was still a LOT of pushback, skepticism, and downright animosity from academic classical teachers about the validity of any type of contemporary singing, let alone vocal technique. But here was Jan, this amazing woman, forging ahead anyway, believing in the method she was creating and researching. And Gayle, taking lessons from Jan one week and turning around to teach what she had learned to her students the next. It was all so new. I have so much R.E.S.P.E.C.T. for these pioneering women.
Halfway through my Freshman year, I applied for the Music Dance Theater program at BYU and was accepted. During my freshman year, I studied with Jan Sullivan in her group voice class which met three times a week. This was Jan’s last year teaching, and then she retired. I felt I was the beneficiary of her entire lifetime of teaching and study. Thank you, Jan.
After that, I continued studying with Gayle and later worked with her as a fellow teacher at the university level. I dedicate any belting you hear from this point forward in the program to Gayle and Jan.
In my junior year, I auditioned for the Young Ambassadors for the third time (ask me later for my story about persistence and never giving up on a dream) and made it! We toured Russia and the Baltic States that year and a second tour to the Western United States. This was in 1993, after the Iron Curtain had fallen, and I am proud to have been a part of a troupe of performers traveling to that country to build connections and promote peace.
During my fourth and fifth years of undergrad, I also started working with Jeffery Skouson, a protegé of Seth Riggs. He taught me how to mix. My first lesson with him changed my life and my teaching. I left, understanding my voice in a whole new way. And over the next few years, I would continue to study with him occasionally. All of the
The mix you hear in this program is dedicated to Jeffrey. Thank you, Jeffrey. The Disney Medley is for you!
The next set of songs is dedicated to Jan, Gayle, and Jeffrey and to other teachers who believed in me and supported me during my undergraduate experience. Matt Bean taught me how to act the song and unlock my ability to express myself using objectives, gestures, eye focus, and more. Matt was an MT connoisseur. I think he had the score and CD to every musical ever written. His great love for musical theater was contagious, and I learned a lot of incredible repertoire from him. Mark Huffman saw a spark in me during my Freshman seminar class. He facilitated my first professional gig after my sophomore year at the Jackson Hole Playhouse and later worked with him at Lagoon. He is doing amazing things now, creating shows for Disney. His creativity, enthusiasm, and willingness to think outside the box inspired me. Finally, to all my other teachers: Barta Heiner, Cory Ewan, and Ivan Crosland, who taught me dialects, bodywork, voice work, and directing. ALL of their influences you will see in these following four songs:
Medley: Disney Songs - My personal “Off the Page”
“Adelaide’s Lament” from Guys and Dolls
“Old Maid” from 110 In the Shade
“Cornet Man” from Funny Girl
Commercial Music Songs
My dad played the acoustic guitar and sang folk music. When he was young, in the 50s and 60s, he would visit different venues and listen to the folk guitar players who were touring the circuit. He would go home and try to play what he had heard. As a youth, with his siblings grown and gone and his mother working, he spent many hours at home alone playing his guitar. In college, he played in the folk dance band at BYU (where he met my mother, a folk dancer) and played world folk music styles. I loved it when he played mariachi music!
As children, we loved it when Dad would pull out his guitar and sing with us. Camping trips were always accompanied by guitar around the campfire. I loved singing harmonies with my siblings. We sing several songs as a family to this day that we learned when we were little. On a Sunday afternoon, you might find my dad strumming his guitar in the living room. Besides listening to NPR, my dad also listened to classical channels and folk music. I learned to love and sing songs by Peter, Paul, and Mary, the Kingston Tiro, Bread, John Denver, and more.
My dad is a gifted educator and a retired University Professor who taught graduate students in Instructional Psychology and Technology (IP&T). This is a field that trains people in the building of educational and training programs and systems. Many of his students have gone into the world and are transforming how people access learning globally. His impact has been global and generational, and I am so proud of him. I learned from my dad how to get curious, ask questions, and look at the systems of how things work and how people learn. How I teach has its earliest underpinnings in how my father taught me to think. Thank you, Dad, for not only sharing your love of music with me, but also your love of learning, teaching, and discovering. These following two songs are for you.
Joining me for the following two songs are three of my four siblings: Steve Gibbons, Rebecca Warden, and Laura Miller
“If I Had a Hammer” originally sung by Peter, Paul, and Mary
“Keep on the Sunny Side” from the album O Brother, Where Art Thou?
In March 2017, I heard of the CCM Institute at Shenandoah University. I felt very strongly that I needed to attend that workshop. I signed up to go that very summer, where I met Matt Edwards, Kathryn Green, Edrie Weekly, and Wendy LeBourgne. Matt, Kathryn, and Edrie are on my recital committee tonight and are watching right now via live stream. From Matt, I learned functional, evidence-based teaching methods; from Edrie, I learned more about vocal styles; and from Dr. Green, I witnessed the art of powerful diplomatic innovative leadership. I left wishing there was some way I could stay connected to these amazing people who were leading out in contemporary voice teaching practices.
In October 2019, I discovered that Shenandoah was starting a DMA Voice Pedagogy program that did Ph.D.-level research AND welcomed teachers who specialized in contemporary vocal styles. I am FOREVER grateful to Dr. Green, Dr. Edwards, Edrie Means-Weekly, and Dr. David Meyer and other faculty, for what they have created at Shenandoah and for the absolute blessing it has been for me to study and work with them. Matt, thank you for letting me intern with you. Dr. Green, thank you for creating such an amazing curriculum; Edrie, thank you for teaching vocal styles so well; you are amazing. Alison, thank you for helping me find my footing in Jazz. And thank you, Dr. Meyer, for helping my research see the light of day. This CCM medley is dedicated to all of you.
Mix-Tape Medley:
“Cry Me A River” (the 60s) Jazz
“Oh, Lonesome You” (the 90s) Country
“I Will Survive” (the 70s) Soul
“Holding Out for A Hero” (the 80s) Rock
Well, I have included some extra tributes below for important people who also had a great deal of influence on my career in essential ways but to whom I did not have a specific song to dedicate for tonight. To all of you on that list. Thank you.
My final tribute tonight is to my Savior, Jesus Christ. He has been with me every step of the way; he has led, sustained, renewed, taught, inspired, loved, and redeemed me. Because of Him, I have hope; because of Him, I have peace; because of Him, I have the assurance that there is more than just this life and that everything that happens to me in this life prepares me for the life that comes after this one.
“I Will Be Free” written by Cindy Morgan
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Extra Tributes:
To my graduate school professors. Although I am not singing any of my opera repertoires as part of this program, there would be a gaping hole without recognizing the influence and help of Arden Hopkin, Larry Vincent, Mindy Ammons, Robert Brandt, Diane Reich, and Darrell Babidge (Chair of Vocal Arts at Julliard).
To Marilyn Gneiting - my first voice teacher ever when I was 15. She taught me the importance of sliding /i/. She got me started on the path of technically sound singing. I loved singing all the Golden Age musical theater classical pieces with you.
To the delightful and oh-so-kind Mary Saunders Barton - who taught me some tremendous vocal exercises and performance principles and pioneered the first contemporary pedagogy MFA program at Penn State. Thank you, Mary, for your generosity, for encouraging me, and for sharing your knowledge.
To George Nelson. One of the kindest and most deeply good men I know. You inspired hundreds, if not thousands, of students during your career. I loved working with you as your music director and later as Amanda in Single Wide. I always knew you believed in me. Thank you for everything.
To Dave Tinney and the Hale Center Theater Orem. You are hands down my favorite director and choreographer. There. I said it. Whenever I see that you are directing a show, I can’t wait to see it. Your choreography for Tapestry was my favorite - ever. But most memorable of all for me was when I reached out to you at the lowest point in my life, asking for a chance to be in one of your shows, and you sent me a simple email saying that there was a place for me and to contact the stage manager. I remember showing up to the first rehearsal with my head down and arms wrapped around my torso, trying to protect myself from the world. That show was the place where I started coming back to life. You set my feet back on the path to where I am now. Thank you, Dave, from the bottom of my heart.
To my grandma Dorothy and grandpa Jed who came to all my concerts and shows. To my grandma Jeanne, who taught at her local college and was a force to be reckoned with. I will be the first woman in my family to get a doctorate. Thank you, Grandma Jeanne, for inspiring me.
To my colleagues and fellow pedagogues. Too many to name individually here. You inspire me. I love nerding out with you about vocal science and research. I love learning from you. I count my friendships with you among my greatest treasures. I could not make this journey without you. I would shrivel up and cease to exist.
To my students. Your potential is endless. Your creativity and enthusiasm are contagious and keep me young. Every lesson is a delight. Watching you grow, explore and “play in the vocal sandbox” fills me with joy. You are the light of the world, the hope for the future. It is a privilege to be a part of your journey.
To my children: Bryn, Sam, and Addie, who have listened to hundreds and even thousands of hours of voice lessons in their life as I taught in my home studio. (I’m pretty sure my oldest learned to sing through osmosis.) There are no words to describe my gratitude and love for you. I love you with all my heart, to the moon and back, always and forever.
Emily Castleton DMA Recital 2023
Friday, March 31, 6 pm EST/8 pm MST
Link to Program: https://audienceaccess.co/show/SHENCO-7426