Artists PERFORMANCE SKILLS SEMINARS
New Triad for Collaborative Arts was founded in 2002 to introduce innovative performance techniques to classical musicians that make performances more accessible to audiences. New Triad’s performance specialists offer essential performance preparation and presentation skills steeped in musical collaboration, drama, movement, and psychology. New Triad group sessions and private coachings increase both artists’ expressiveness and the visual impact of their performances.
New Triad can be engaged to present one or more of these Performance Skills Seminars at your institution or organization or design a customized program to meet your needs, ranging from two seminars to a multi-day residency.
For information on how to present New Triad at your institution:
Contact Dr. Arlene Shrut at
(347) 350-7476 or ashrut@newtriad.org
“To me the New Triad experience was the powerful reminder of what we are ultimately doing on the stage as performing artists — telling the story. And that tale begins from the intake of air in the wings, with the first step on the stage; every gesture of our body is capable of drawing the audience nearer to our heart, to the essence of the music we play.”
- Konstantin Soukhovetski, 2006 Participant in New Triad Seminars,
Winner of Juilliard’s William Petschek Award and 2007 First Prize and Audience Favorite Awardee at the New Orleans International Piano Competition.
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CORE SEMINARS
Performance Preparation
Connecting to Your Music (all performers) - Debra Wiley
This seminar is designed to identify the dramatic impulses that can fuel a musical performance so that it becomes more expressive. The goal is to help the performers clarify and communicate the meaning and/or context of the musical composition through the interpretation of mood, feeling and intent.
Debra Wiley is a director, an internationally-acclaimed acting teacher and coach, and a singing voice specialist. She has taught and directed performers at major music and acting schools in New York as well as annual master classes in Europe. In her private studio in Manhattan, Debra teaches singing and acting techniques specializing in the integration of music and theater. She earned her Masters from NYU in both Acting and Opera.
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Body Awareness & Stage Deportment (all performers) – Alyssa Dodson
Performers discover their physical structure and learn to isolate muscles while identifying and releasing tension. Benefits include greater personality and relaxation while performing the music, entering and exiting the stage, acknowledging musical partners, and establishing a better flow between pieces in a concert.
Alyssa Dodson has performed with many distinguished dance companies that include The Martha Graham Company, Pilobolus, The Pascal Rioult Dance Theatre and The Metropolitan Opera Ballet. She has been on the faculty of Tanglewood, the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Program, NYU, Cap 21, Interlochen, and has participated in numerous master classes worldwide.
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Psychology of Partnership (all performers) – Michael Batshaw
The psychology of successful relationships will be explored in performing partnerships. Eye contact, body movement and breathing together will be discussed as well as the more abstract concepts of empathy, curiosity, playfulness and respect. Methods for overcoming musical and interpersonal obstacles, creating consensus and finding a shared vision in rehearsal will be introduced.
Michael Batshaw is a board-certified psychotherapist who holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University with a full-time private practice in New York City. He is also a professional opera singer and has trained with teachers from The Juilliard School and The Academy of Vocal Arts.
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Musical Dynamics of Partnership (singers/vocal collaborative pianists) – Arlene Shrut
The goal is mastering the musical and partnership skills leading to powerful performances of song and opera. These include clarifying the message of musical works, practicing inventively as a musical team and strengthening the awareness of art song recitals as chamber music.
Arlene Shrut is the Founder and Artistic Director of New Triad for Collaborative Arts. A faculty member of The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, Arlene is an admired keyboard performer hailed as a “strong and sensitive pianist” by the New York Times. She was honored in 2003 as the inaugural “Coach of the Year” in Classical Singer Magazine. Dr. Shrut formerly served on the faculties of Syracuse University, Mannes College of Music, and the Aspen Music School.
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Presentation Skills
(The following two related seminars are offered individually or as team-teaching classes)
Speaking with Your Audience (all performers) – Adam Marks
Speaking comfortably with an audience requires tapping into your confidence both as a person and as a performer. By exploring what to say and when to say it, performers will create more individualized performances while constructing a more comfortable and supportive atmosphere for shared musical exploration.
Adam Marks is an active solo pianist and chamber musician hailing from California. He holds a B.A. from Brandeis University and a M.A. from the Manhattan School of Music. Currently, Adam is a candidate for the Ph.D. in Piano Performance at New York University. He works as a soloist, as a collaborator with soprano Jennifer Beattie, and as the featured pianist of Chicago’s Fifth House Ensemble.
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Developing Your Speaking Voice (all performers) – Rachel Schwartz
This seminar focuses on the how to communicate verbally in the concert setting. The goal is to release performers’ natural voices. Through a series of exercises, performers learn to free physical and vocal tensions that often inhibit natural expression, resonance and projection.
Rachel Schwartz has performed as a professional actor with many notable theater companies, including “The Diary of Anne Frank” at the Paper Mill Playhouse and with the Colorado and Virginia Shakespeare Festivals. She holds an M.F.A. in Acting from Columbia University, as well as a B.A. from Brandeis University. Ms. Schwartz has been a guest lecturer in acting at the University of Colorado at Boulder and Simmons College as well as an acting and vocal coach in New York City.
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COMPLEMENTARY AND ADVANCED SEMINARS
Performance Preparation
Connecting Art, Artists and Audience (all performers) – Rachel Schwartz
The goal of this seminar is direct communication. While the exercises introduced here are a must for all actors, musicians benefit from them as well. Artists will learn how to master the non-verbal signals they give the audience and collaborating musicians through eye contact and physicality.
Rachel Schwartz (see bio above)
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Creating Theme Recitals – (singers/vocal collaborative pianists) – Jennifer Beattie (instrumentalists) – Adam Marks
Through incorporating theme and storytelling, performers learn to build programs that are unified as well as creative and emotive. Repertoire choices and technical considerations are discussed. Poetry and spoken text are introduced as ways to innovate the traditional recital format.
Jennifer Beattie, soprano, hailed by Opera News Online for her “exuberant voice and personality”, is a versatile performer in styles ranging from opera to chamber music, musical theater and cabaret. She has been featured at The National Arts Club, The Juilliard School, Yale College of Music, Carnegie Hall, Texas Music Festival, the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. She holds a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music.
Adam Marks (see bio above)
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Individuality in Performance (all performers) – Jocelyn Rasmussen
This seminar introduces performers to breathing and contemplative techniques that help them synthesize emotion and physical execution. Performers are guided to discover the link between their individual purpose and serving the audience. Exercises are also introduced that de-stress musicians and offer ways to access fresh inspiration with each performance.
Jocelyn Rasmussen, soprano, composer and teacher, is the founder and CEO of MORE THAN SINGING, LLC, a company focused on creating tools and coaching options for singers as well as committed to sharing resources and skills to facilitate speakers and professionals in all aspects of oral communication. Ms. Rasmussen holds a M.M. in vocal performance and composition. Ms. Rasmussen performs, composes and teaches from her base in Manhattan.
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Poetic Text Analysis (singers/vocal collaborative pianists) – Vickie Karp
This course is designed to introduce artists to classical text analysis using a hands-on experiential approach. Text analysis is the skill set that connects music and drama and is the foundation for the art of acting.
Vickie Karp has written literary documentaries for PBS, A&E, and Bravo. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and an Emmy nomination for her televised poetry special, New Yorkers Remember September 11th. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, David Lehman’s Best Poetry anthology series, and Bascove’s Where Books Fall Open and Sustenance and Desire.
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Presentation Skills
Stage Presence (all performers) - Ellen Rievman
Building upon and in addition to “Body Awareness & Deportment,” this seminar focuses on how to engage the audience’s imagination by trusting and using your physical eloquence to communicate.
Ellen Rievman, a principal dancer as a member of the Metropolitan Opera for 24 years, performed in over 100 productions. Since leaving the Met in 1995, she has worked with singers to coach the drama, explore the text, and to incorporate these skills with gesture, movement, stagecraft, and physical eloquence. She is a Senior Associate at The Actors’ Institute working with business clients internationally and is on faculty for Martina Arroyo’s summer workshop, Prelude to Performance.
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Stageworthy Performance (all performers) – Debra Wiley
Prerequisite: Connecting to Your Music
In a stageworthy performance, the director helps the performer to identify the context in which their musical story is being told. This leads the audience on an exciting journey that unfolds in the performance. Topics include exploration of a unifying idea, expression of emotion through behavior, and integration of text and stage movement. Performers will gain an understanding of their potential as creative artists by drawing upon their own experiences while honoring the composer’s intentions.
Debra Wiley (see bio above)