Baylor Choir Professor Authors New Book on the Power of Singing on Girls' Self-Esteem
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Dr. Lynne Gackle, associate director of choral ensembles at the Baylor University School of Music, has long been an advocate for the power of singing as a catalyst for helping young women gain self-approval and encouraging self-esteem. Now, Gackle's new book, Finding Ophelia's Voice, Opening Ophelia's Heart: Nurturing the Adolescent Female Voice, has been released by Heritage Music Press.
This book is designed to enlighten and encourage teachers and choral directors of adolescent females, discussing symptoms of vocal change in the female voice, the physiological factors that affect it and techniques to help young singers successfully navigate the voice change. It comes packaged with a DVD that provides actual demonstrations by a girls' choir directed by Gackle.
In addition to the publication of Finding Ophelia's Voice, Opening Ophelia's Heart, Gackle's busy semester at Baylor has included a performance in Beijing, China, as conductor of the 2011 Senior High Women's Honor Choir, an 80-member group representing 26 countries. The invitation came from a UK-based organization called AMIS, the Association for Music in International Schools.
During the second week of March, Gackle will appear at the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Conference in Chicago, conducting the 300-voice ACDA National Women's Honor Choir. And in April, she will be in New York City to lead the 2011 National Youth Choir in a concert at famed Carnegie Hall.
This past January and February, Gackle conducted no fewer than three honor choirs: the Florida All-State Treble Choir, the Wyoming Mixed High School All-State Choir and the Delaware High School Women's All-State Choir.
Gackle has served on the Baylor music faculty since fall 2009. She conducts the Baylor Women's Choir and the Baylor Concert Choir and is an active clinician, conductor and adjudicator for choral clinics, honor choirs, workshops and festivals throughout the United States and abroad.
Gackle serves on the editorial board for the Choral Journal. She is the editor of Choral Artistry for the Singer with Walton Music and the Lynne Gackle Choral Series for Colla Voce Music Inc. She has written several articles for the Choral Journal and contributed to the Music Educators National Conference (MENC) publication, Music at the Middle Level: Building Strong Programs.
Gackle received her BME from Louisiana State University and her MM and Ph.D. from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla. She is a member of ACDA, MENC, the Texas Music Educators Association, the Texas Choral Directors Association, International Society of Music Education and National Association of Teachers of Singing.
Media contact: Lori Fogleman, director of media communications, (254) 710-6275