July 14 - 18, 2025
Vocal Pedagogy and Vocology Intensive (VPVI) Directed by Kevin Wilson
Participants will have the opportunity to take part in masterclasses, live teaching demonstrations with feedback, group break-out sessions, and small mentored teaching sessions taught by internationally recognized pedagogues Kevin Wilson, Kari Ragan, Ian Howell, Patty Thom, and Kerrie Obert joining OKCU's finest!

The Vocal Pedagogy and Vocology Intensive is a five-day, in-person program designed for teachers of applied voice, choral directors, and vocal coaches. This intensive aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of vocal anatomy and physiology, science-based vocal pedagogy, vocology, repertoire, body mapping, and singing styles ranging from classical to contemporary.
In addition to voice teachers at any stage of their career, this program is invaluable for choral conductors and vocal coaches of all levels.
You will receive materials covering anatomy and physiology, vocal exercises, repertoire lists for voice building across genres, vocal aesthetic guidance, as well as systematic voice diagnostic tools and access to our in-house voice lab.
Questions about program content can be directed to Kevin Wilson at [email protected]
Questions about registration, housing, payment, etc. can be directed to the Performing Arts Academy at [email protected]

Program Length: 5 Days
Session dates: July 14 - 18, 2025
COST: | Tuition | $875 |
Optional Meal Plan (includes all meals) | $175 | |
Optional Housing (private room in shared apartment) | $250 | |
Total Cost (with food & housing) | $1,300 |
Optional private voice lessons will be offered by Oklahoma City University voice faculty and guest presenters. Lesson signup will be available Monday, July 14. Lessons will be limited to the faculty availability. The cost of each one hour lesson is $100 paid directly to the faculty member. Additional lessons may be scheduled depending on availability.
Optional upgrade to private room will be offered to residents upon registration at a small additional cost.
The Vocal Pedagogy and Vocology Intensive is a unique program designed with a low participant-to-teacher ratio. Unlike typical workshops, this program aims to provide an immersive experience and practical application of the material. The content covered each day will build upon the previous days, reinforcing the practicality of the information and equipping participants with science-informed teaching approaches for singing in all genres.


- Anatomy and Physiology for Singing
- Body Mapping and Kinesthetics
- Systematic Voice Diagnosing
- Mentored Teaching
- Acoustic Pedagogy in Practice
- Registration as We Hear It
- Cultivating Young Voices
- Developmental Repertoire
- Principles of Vocal Exercise Design
- Breathing Bootcamp
- Body Mapping and Postural Discovery
- Getting Emotional with Sound
- Grasping at Straws: A Systematic Approach to Choosing the Winning SOVTE
- The Studio Voice Diagnostician
- Repertoire for Vocal Development
- Debunking the Master Teacher/Apprentice Model

Kevin Wilson - Kevin Wilson joined the Oklahoma City University voice faculty in the Fall of 2024 as the Director of Vocal Pedagogy and an Associate Professor of Voice. Kevin served as the director of vocal pedagogy at the Boston Conservatory for 16 years, during which time he created the Master of Music in Vocal Pedagogy and Master of Fine Arts in Musical Theater Pedagogy degrees. In addition, he created the Vocal Pedagogy Professional Workshop, which, under his leadership for 14 years, reached over 900 voice teachers throughout the US and seven countries, highlighting evidence and science-based vocal pedagogy and vocology training with some of the world’s most sought-after pedagogues.
Kevin travels the world as a clinician, adjudicator, and lecturer, giving masterclasses on vocal health, musical theater, and classical pedagogies. He often presents Securing Belt, Mix, and Legit for Musical Theatre, Foundations of Voice Teaching, and Navigating the Filter, which all teach how to prepare students to make vocal adjustments for a variety of singing opportunities from Classical Voice to Contemporary Musical Theater. He has conducted masterclasses and guest lectures at several prestigious institutions, including the San Francisco Conservatory, New York University, New England Conservatory, Mannes, Columbia University, University of Miami, Arizona State University, University of North Texas, University of Southern California, Brown University, and Harvard University.
He has presented at the National Association for Teachers of Singing National Conference (NATS), the Voice Foundation, the Pan-European Voice Conference, and the Southwest American Choral Directors Association. In addition to his teaching activities, Mr. Wilson serves as the Vice President for Workshops with the NATS National Board of Directors.
In 2009, he was recognized as a Master Teacher by NATS for the prestigious intern program, and in 2023, he was deemed a Recognized Vocologist by the Pan-American Vocology Association. He is a peer editor for various trade journals in voice and pedagogy. He has published in The Oxford Handbook of Vocal Pedagogy (Oxford, 2025), the NATS Journal of Singing (JOS Nov. 2023), Performing in Contemporary Musicals (Routledge, 2022), and Training Commercial Contemporary Singers (Compton, 2019).
His current and previous students have appeared in over 40 Broadway productions originating four roles, numerous national tours, regional theaters, and in venues ranging from the Metropolitan Opera, Boston Lyric, Chicago Lyric, Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Baroque, and the Oregon and Carmel Bach Festivals. His students have been finalists and winners in the Tafelmusik Baroque Competition, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the NATS Boston/National Voice Competitions, and the Classical Singer Competition. They have received multiple prestigious regional nominations and awards for performance.
He holds a Master of Music in Vocal Pedagogy from the New England Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music in Voice from the University of Central Oklahoma. He has pursued additional studies in voice at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory and in vocal anatomy and physiology at Boston University Sargent School of Health. He has studied voice and speech with Kristin Linklater and Catherine Fitzmaurice. He maintains private voice studios in Oklahoma City and New York City.

Dr. Kelly Holst - Lyric coloratura soprano Kelly Holst enjoys an active career as an opera, oratorio, and concert singer. Dr. Holst has performed over a dozen operatic roles including Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, Olympia in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Adele in Die Fledermaus, Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Zerlina in Don Giovanni. Her concert repertoire includes Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St. John Passion andMagnificat, Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s Requiem, and Glière’s Concerto for Coloratura Soprano and Orchestra. Dr. Holst has appeared with the Michigan Opera Theatre, the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, the Battle Creek Symphony Orchestra, the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, the Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, Arbor Opera Theater, the Bloomington Early Music Festival and the Amherst Early Music Festival. She has appeared in recital in Massachusetts, the Dominican Republic, New York, Michigan, Indiana, and Iowa. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2008 with the University of Michigan composition department performing the music of Bright Sheng.
Dr. Holst has received a number of regional and national awards, including an Encouragement Award at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Regional Auditions and third place at the 2008 National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards competition.
A passionate voice teacher, Dr. Holst joined the faculty of the prestigious Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University in August 2012. Dr. Holst is married to conductor Warren Puffer Jones and is the proud mother of Isaac. She is a graduate of Luther College, Indiana University, and the University of Michigan.
My teaching philosophy is guided by the belief that each student is a unique individual, bringing different strengths, weaknesses, fears, insecurities, and goals to the voice studio. In every interaction I keep the person, not the product, at the forefront of my pedagogical practices. Although students must take responsibility for their education and personally invest in their craft, it is my responsibility to give them the tools and space to feel confident in their exploration and learning. Through exploration and reflection students are able to identify technical and musical faults, strengthening their understanding of their voices. My goal as a teacher is to nurture independent musicians, foster a love of life-long learning, and inspire singers to share their musical and expressive gifts with the larger community.
I believe that the most important skill students must develop is the ability to learn and create independently so that when they leave the university setting they are able to engage in musical and intellectual pursuits on their own. I want my students to become their own best teacher and to confidently share their knowledge and love of singing with others. In addition to nurturing independent learners, it is my responsibility to help students develop a foundation of healthy singing that will serve them in practice and performance throughout their lives, be that at an amateur or professional level.
Singing is just one element of each student’s identity and life story. My aim is to help students develop into sensitive human beings who will share their knowledge and gifts with others and contribute to society. Through the study of singing we can discover our most compassionate, vulnerable, joyful selves and bring this openness and intuition into all other aspects of our lives. I approach the art of singing as a total-body art form, connecting the intellectual, physical, spiritual, and emotional strengths of each student to help him realize his full potential. I want students to understand the mind-body connection involved in singing and I want them to experience singing as a joyous and natural expression of their inner self.

Dr. Kari Ragan - Kari Ragan is a Singing Voice Rehabilitation Specialist (SVS), author, and voice pedagogue who holds degrees from the University of Washington (DMA), and Indiana University (MM, BM). In 2012, Dr. Ragan was the recipient of the Van. L. Lawrence Award. This prestigious award, presented jointly by The Voice Foundation and the National Association of Teachers of Singing, afforded her the opportunity to research cool-down physiology for singers, which resulted in articles published in both the Journal of Singing and the Journal of Voice. Dr. Ragan was the recipient of the NATS Foundation Pedagogy Award (2009), earned the NYSTA Distinguished Voice Professional Certificate (2009), and the Wicklund Singing Voice Specialist Certificate (2010).
As a singing voice rehabilitation specialist (SVS), Dr. Ragan has worked in affiliation with the University of Washington Performance Voice Clinic (laryngology program) to help rehabilitate singers with an injured voice for over twenty-years. She also collaborates with numerous voice teams in the Seattle area and throughout the U.S. Dr. Ragan has maintained a thriving Independent Voice Studio for over forty years and served as Artist in Residence at the University of Washington School of Music from 2010-2021 teaching Applied Voice, Voice Pedagogy, Italian Diction, and French Art Song Literature.
Dr. Ragan was recognized as a Master Teacher for the prestigious NATS Intern Program (2021) and served as the NATS Advancement Committee Chair (2016-2024). Currently, she serves on the NATS/Rowman & Littlefield Editorial Board, and has been the moderator of NATS Chats, a national monthly webinar since 2011. Dr. Ragan will serve as Program Chair of the 2025 International Congress of Voice Teachers (ICVT) to be held in Toronto, Canada. She has presented at the NATS National Conference, The Voice Foundation Symposium, Pan American Vocology Association Symposium (PAVA), the International Congress of Voice Teachers (ICVT) and more. Some of her articles may be found in Journal of Singing, Journal of Voice, and Current Otorhinolaryngology Reports.
Dr. Ragan is the co-founder and chair of the Northwest Voice: Art and Science of the Performing Voice Conference, a multi-disciplinary conference held annually in Seattle, Washington since 2015. Plural Publishing released her book A Systematic Approach to Voice: The Art of Studio Application in 2020 and a second edition will be launched in June 2026. More information can be found at KariRagan.com.

Dr. Ian Howell - Ian Howell is a long time participant in the music performance and education industries. I have sung on five continents and in 35 American states as a classical vocal soloist and as a member of the Grammy Award winning ensemble Chanticleer. He has taught studio voice and multiple classes at the intersection of voice pedagogy, applied expressive singing, and modern music technology. From 2013 to 2022 he was a member of the faculty at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. There he overhauled and modernized the voice pedagogy curriculum and founded and directed research in the Voice and Sound Analysis Laboratory, a playground for students interested in both deep experiential learning and modern research into the voice. Beginning in the fall of 2022 he joined the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music.
During the lockdown portions of the Covid 19 Pandemic, he worked tirelessly to create, curate, and disseminate information surrounding best practices for real time online music making. This work has been adopted by countless musicians and educators, and he consulted for multiple organizations and college faculties, including Juilliard, CU Boulder, the Cincinnati College Conservatory, Yale, the Met Council Auditions, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Theater of St. Louis, the Walnut Hill School for the Arts, the NEC Preparatory Division and School of Continuing Education, and Kristin Chenoweth's Broadway Bootcamp. He was awarded a $20,000 grant by the Mattina R. Proctor foundation and received a special award from the American Association of Teachers of Singing for this work.
Dr. Howell's work in the biometric analysis of musicians and instrumentalists has been recognized by his appointments to the Pan American Vocology Association Credentialing and Specialization Committee, the National Association of Teachers of Singing Science Advisory Committee, the National Association of Teachers of Singing Mentorship Committee, and the Voice Pedagogy Summit II. His international recognition includes serving as a member of the PAS7 Physiology & Acoustics of Singing Conference Science Committee. His work is published in the Journal of Voice, the Journal of Singing, Classical Singer, VoicePrints, and the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society (ant. 2022). He has presented original research at the Pan American Vocology Association Symposium, the Audio Engineering Society International Conference on Audio Education, the National Association of Teachers of Singing Conference, the Society for Music Perception and Cognition Conference, and his Lab at NEC has published more than 50,000 words worth of original research and special reports.
He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Capital University Conservatory of Music, a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music and Institute for Sacred Music, Worship, and the Arts, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the New England Conservatory of Music.

Kerrie Obert - Kerrie Obert is one of the world’s leading experts in voice training and pedagogical practice. An internationally acclaimed speech-language pathologist and singing voice specialist with over 25 years in clinical and private practice, her love of teaching voice and witnessing the remarkable responses from her clients/students/patients has been the driving force to her success.
Part scientist and part performer, Obert’s unique perspective on singing and the voice has always included a combination of research and clinical practice in conjunction with onstage experience. After completing her M.A. in speech-language pathology at The Ohio State University (OSU), Obert joined their clinical staff and worked alongside some of the top laryngologists in the country, performing thousands of endoscopies, and collaborating in research as a part of the voice and swallowing disorders division. She helped launch the singing health specialization at OSU and served as the director of medical arts for the program.
Ms. Obert is now exclusively in private practice and traveling extensively as an invited lecturer, helping clients achieve their singing and teaching goals. Ms. Obert Is noted for her groundbreaking discoveries on twang quality and the tongue. She is published in peer-reviewed journals such as Logopedics Phoniatrics Vocology, The Cleft Palate Craniofacial Journal, and Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, and has co-authored four books on voice, including The Owner’s Manual to The Voice. A frequent public speaker, she was an invited plenary address for the 2024 NATS conference in Knoxville Tennessee.
Patty Thom, professor emerita, The Boston Conservatory. Patty joined the Boston Conservatory in 2003 as professor of voice. She served as chair of voice until 2022.
Prior to joining the Conservatory, Thom was director of music at the Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick, Massachusetts, where she was also director of the New England Conservatory-Walnut Hill joint program. She is a former teaching staff member of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute's Young Artists Vocal Program and BU's College of Fine Arts. Thom has given recitals, performances, and master classes throughout the United States, Canada, Switzerland, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Asia. She also served as artistic ambassador for the U.S. Information Agency, touring, performing, and teaching in Southeast Asia. In her work as a collaborative pianist, she premiered new works for the composers' consortia NuClassix, Extension Works, and Underground Composers. Thom has been trained in Linklater work (freeing the natural voice) and yoga (Kripalu), as well as Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais.
Thom earned a B.M. from the University of North Dakota and an M.M. from Boston University. She also trained at L'Ecole Hindemith in Vevey, Switzerland, and studied Korean language at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Thom studied voice with Joan Heller, Phyllis Curtin, and Richard Cassilly, and she studied acting and voice training with Kristin Linklater, Brent Blair, and Christopher von Baeyer. She also studied piano with Carmen Leerstang, Allen Rogers, and Anthony di Bonaventura and was a student in master classes with Arleen Auger, Carlo Bergonzi, Helen Boatwright, Hugues Cuénod, Irwin Gage (Cleveland Art Song Festival), Margo Garrett, Benjamin Luxon, and David Willison. She is now a sought-after master clinician and gives master classes for young singers in colleges, high schools, and at festivals across the United States.
In addition to her work with the collegiate program, Thom was a codirector and instructor for the Boston Conservatory Vocal/Choral Intensive, the Conservatory's summer program for high school-aged singers. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Catherine McDaniel - mezzo-soprano, has performed major operatic roles in Europe and the United States. Her professional debut occurred during the Festival Lyrique de Belle-Île-en-Mer, France, where she appeared as Niklaus in Les contes d’Hoffmann and Mercedes in Carmen. Dr. McDaniel also performed the role of Clarina in Rossini’s La cambiale di matrimonio in the Teatro Accademico in Castelfranco Veneto, Italy. Among her other roles are Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Dorabella in Così fan tutte (multiple productions), Giulietta in Les contes d’Hoffmann, the Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors (multiple productions), Lola in Cavalleria rusticana, and the title role in Carmen. Local operatic appearances include Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Madeline Mitchell in Heggie’s Three Decembers, and the Mother in two productions of Amahl and the Night Visitors—all with Painted Sky Opera; and the inaugural performances of the Southern Plains Opera Ensemble (Così fan tutte and Pride and Passion: An Operatic Evening—both for past seasons of the Rose State Live concert series) and repeat engagements with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s Discovery Concert Series.
As mezzo soloist in Verdi’s Requiem, she has sung with Maestro Murry Sidlin in his A Defiant Requiem, in addition to performances with Canterbury Choral Society, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and the Fort Smith Symphony Orchestra. Further, McDaniel has appeared in performances of Handel’s Messiah with numerous orchestras in Oklahoma, Texas, and Missouri. Other oratorio credits include Honegger’s Le roi David, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and the Oratorio de Noël by Saint-Saëns. In May of 2009, she sang the Bach B Minor Mass with Canterbury Choral Society and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and she performed as mezzo-soprano soloist in Bradley Ellingboe’s Requiem in the spring of 2017 – the fifth time she had sung this work. An avid performer of new vocal works, Dr. McDaniel has performed a number of world and regional premiers over the years.
Prior to joining the voice faculty of the Bass School of Music (where she has taught studio voice and lyric diction since 2008), Dr. McDaniel spent over a decade as a member of the voice faculty at Oklahoma Christian University. Her current and former students maintain active performing careers on Broadway and national tours, and in companies such as New York City Opera, Portland Opera, Sarasota Opera, the Seagle Music Colony, Bay View Music Festival, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, and Music Theatre of Wichita. They include finalists in auditions for the Metropolitan Opera and the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and a large number have pursued advanced voice degrees at the New England Conservatory, the University of Missouri at Kansas City, the University of North Texas, and the Moores School of Music—University of Houston. She holds the Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in voice, both from Stephen F. Austin State University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in vocal performance from the University of Oklahoma, where her dissertation was an analysis of Tales Not Told, a song cycle composed for her by Edward Knight. She was a Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in both the Midwest and Texas Regions and a winner of the Advanced Division of the Texoma Regional Auditions of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Dr. McDaniel is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society, Mu Phi Epsilon, Phi Kappa Phi, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
The program is housed at Oklahoma City University's Wanda L. Bass School of Music - a world-class facility in the heart of Oklahoma City. The Bass Music Center has hosted artists and educators from around the world. Built to the highest acoustical standards, the building features 60 practice rooms, 40 teaching studios, high-tech voice lab, ensemble rehearsal rooms and a black box theater.
Participants who want to arrange their own housing can visit LODGING for recommended hotels near Oklahoma City University. Non-residents will check-in at Registration at 10am in the Atrium of the Bass Music Center (#522 on the printable map on this page)
Participants who want to stay on campus will be housed in one of our campus dorms. You will have a private bedroom in a fully air-conditioned one, two or four bedroom apartment. On-campus residents will only share apartments with other VPVI participants. You will need to provide your own bedding and towels. Participants can mail or ship bedding to campus prior to arrival and it will be available at check-in on Sunday.
For resident participants, all meals will be provided in our cafeteria. Optional meal plan includes dinner on Sunday the 13th, breakfast, lunch and dinner July 14 - 17, and breakfast and lunch on Friday the 18th.
Sunday, July 13 (residents only)
Noon - 4 p.m. | Check-in at Methodist Hall |
5:30 p.m. | Dinner available in the Caf |
Monday, July 14 (tentative schedule - subject to change)
8:30 a.m. | Breakfast (residents only) |
10 a.m. | Registration & Check-In for all participants - Bass Atrium |
9:30 a.m. to Noon | Introductions, Anatomy and Physiology, Body Mapping |
Noon | Lunch |
2 to 5 p.m. | Applied Mentored Teaching |
5:30 p.m. | Dinner |
6 to 9 p.m. | Masterclass |
Tuesday, July 15
8:30 a.m. | Breakfast (residents only) |
9 a.m. to Noon | Diagnostic Voice Teaching, Repertoire, Registration as We Hear It |
Noon | Lunch |
1 to 5 p.m. | Applied Mentored Teaching |
5:30 p.m. | Dinner |
6 to 9 p.m. | Masterclass |
Wednesday, July 16
8:30 a.m. | Breakfast (residents only) |
9 a.m. to Noon | Acoustic Pedagogy in Practice |
Noon | Lunch |
1 to 5 p.m. | Applied Mentored Teaching, Cultivating Young Voices |
5:30 p.m. | Dinner |
6 to 9 p.m. | Masterclass |
Thursday, July 17
8:30 a.m. | Breakfast (residents only) |
9 a.m. to Noon | Developmental Repertoire Classical |
Noon | Lunch |
1 to 5 p.m. | Applied Mentored Teaching, Aesthetic Recipes |
5:30 p.m. | Dinner |
6 to 9 p.m. | Recital |
Friday, July 18
8:30 a.m. | Breakfast (residents only) |
9 a.m. to Noon | Developmental Repertoire Musical Theater, Panel Discussion |
Noon | Lunch |
1 p.m. | Conference Ends |
1 to 3 p.m. | Check-out for residents |
All participants will need to bring writing utensils, music, colored pencils, water bottle & comfortable clothing. A lite jacket or sweater is recommended as classrooms can be cold.