First Assignment

Hello!

I am 20 years old. Basically I am a severely out of shape vocalist. But, I REALLY want to get back my old ability that is tucked away in my vocal chords somewhere and continue to grow my range and fine tune my talent. I would like to be on the worship team at my church, but I am too embarassed to volunteer at this point. I do need someone that is affordable. =-)

Thanks bunches!

Dear Bunches:

I assist singers like you all the time.

I will have you do a lesson with me every three weeks. We will also do telephone follow-ups to make sure you are doing what you need to do to make your goal. It dosen't get more affordable than this!

Here is your first assignment:

• Eat and sleep right.
• Drink eight 8-oz glasses of water everyday.
• If you are ill, do what it takes to get better.
• Exercise so your body has strength and stamina.
• Sing (really SING) at least three times a week for at least 45 minutes.

It doesn't matter so much WHAT or how you sing or exercise or eat or sleep, but THAT you sing and exercize and eat and sleep and all that.

Contact me soon.

Gary Shannon, Portland, OR
503-761-1837
mentor@voice-mentor.com

Cover Letter

2008-02-16

Dear "Find A Job" Client:

Normally, when applying for a management position, I carefully research your corporate values and purposes before deciding to apply. My cover letter would underline aspects of my own goals, purposes and activities unified with your mission. Since I have no idea who is seeing this document, let's skip researching you and tell you about me. If we're a match, you'll work that out for yourself.

In physique, I am perfectly average - you won't notice me twice on the street. Maybe you'd notice I dress well, but nothing bling. In speaking and communication, though, I am anything but average. I listen a lot more than I talk. I get jokes. I don't solve your problems unless they really are mine to solve. What I do say resonates. I will show you what I think is best. I don't insist on my own way. I am deeper than I seem (so are you, and I know that).

I have unusual training and experience. I am certain you do not need to hire a professional vocalist and music teacher and conductor. Consider, though how those skills and abilities to work solo or in ensemble, as a leader, follower or enabler, translate into your field. In these positions, I planned or assisted in planning the budget, dates, venues, repertoire, and marketing. I auditioned and coached choristers, soloists and instrumentalists. I wrote, arranged and improvised music as needed, and directed rehearsals and conducted performances.

Tedious details here:
As a vocal musician, my skills include conducting and directing; keyboards (including piano, organ, MIDI and electronic keyboards); vocalist (tenor, counter-tenor, baritone in Classical, Theater, Opera, Ancient, Rock and Pop styles); composition and arranging (part-songs, reductions, theater music, chamber music); teaching.

Education: BA in Music Theory/Composition and BA in Music Education from San Jose State University in 1979 under Dr. Charlene Archibeque, with minor studies in Voice, Keyboards, Accounting and Theater.

Awards:
Portland Yamaha Organ Competition, Grand Prize Winner, Senior Division, 1992
California Association of Community Theatres, "Best Actor in a Musical" 1975

Employment: I served as: Music Minister for Unity Church of Portland from May 2005 to March 2007 Substitute Choirmaster/Organist at All Saints Episcopal Church since 2002, Rehearsal Director (1986 –1993) and Arranger for The Dickens Carolers since 1986, Chorus Coach for Cabaret Magnifique (1996) and Unicorn Theatre (1973-1980), Performing Arts Teacher for The Delphian School in Sheridan Oregon (1976-1979), Guest Conductor/Music Director for Oregon Repertory Singers in 1995 and 2000, Director/Organist for Portland Scientology Celebrity Center Singers (1993-1999) Director for Rose City Timberliners SPEBSQSA Chorus since 1998, Tenor Section Leader for Portland Symphonic Choir since 1998

I served as a professional actor, chorister and/or vocal soloist with: Choral Cross-Ties, Portland Symphonic Choir, Oregon Repertory Singers, Dickens Carolers, The Musical Company, Cabaret Magnifique, Portland Symphonic Choir, North West Chorale and several local churches (All Saints Episcopal, First Methodist, St. Mark’s Anglican). I in English, Latin, Italian, Russian, German, Spanish, Hebrew, French, and other languages. Private voice coach, voice teacher, piano teacher and accompanist since 1992. http://www.voice-mentor.com/

Other jobs I've held include sound recording engineer, website-designer, IT specialist, computer applications coach (I've successfully coached users with new applications using my broad knowledge of software and hardware), private school chef, short order cook, caterer's assistant, and fast food manager.

"To Love, in spite of all, is the secret of greatness." I donate and volunteer regularly to several causes: Goodwill Industries, Food for the Poor, Portland Symphonic Choir, the Barbershop Harmony Society, Catlin Gabel School, David Douglas School District, the Lutheran Synod, All Saint Episcopal Church, the Citizens Commission for Human Rights. I look for similar passions in my fellows.

Summary:
What else might you need to know? I prefer part-time work. I love living and playing in Portland Oregon. I have allergies I control by diet. I rarely take any drugs. I think outside the box - sometimes that thinking says, "Use the boxed solution." My happiness does not depend on your approval. (Yours doesn't depend on mine, either.) I smile easily.

Contact me anytime, any method.

Gary Shannon

4022 SE 100th Ave., Portland OR 97266
503-761-1837 garyshanno@aol.com http://www.voice-mentor.com/
Skype: voice.mentor
(8-{D} <-- Balding, bespectacled, mustachioed, happy guy

MY WEBSITE EXISTS

Well, it's only a start, but here it is. My son himself informs me that my website is terrible. I figure, for a beginner, it's more important to MAKE it, then go back and make it better. As long as I'm not mis-representing, I can't really get in trouble.

I'm really happy with the domain name too.

http://www.voice-mentor.com/

I still haven't quite worked out how to make online payments work, but I supsect Paypal has all the tools I need. That will go in next.

Voice-Mentor.com

A Mentor is:

• a trusted guide
• an experienced tutor
• a selfless coach
• an aid to others toward their own dreams.
• informal, helpful, wise, encouraging and supportive.
• appreciated and valued.
• attentive and confidential.

A Mentor is NOT

• threatening or abusive
• overbearing or bossy
• gossipy, negative or a rumor-monger
• intolerant or judgemental

This is what I bring to my online voice studio at Voice-Mentor.com .

Acid Reflux

Disclaimer: I'm no doctor. This is simply what I learned and how it worked for me.

Here is how my Chiropractor cured my acid reflux with no medication involved, just water and massage.

I had it really bad, too. Every morning, sore throat like strep throat, bad digestion, bad breath, almost throwing up after meals. Couldn't sleep. Voice only a sliver of itself. Could still lay out a smooth barbershop tenor, but symphony and cantor and opera and musicals, not coming out okay.

Turns out that between my strong, tense abdominal muscles and singing from the diaphragm, the top bit of my stomach was squeezed up through the natural opening of the diaphragm into the esophagus. The little muscles that close off the top of the stomach were pinched oddly, being too high in my body. Thus, there was no way to close off the stomach acid from the top. Yuk. He called it a hiatal hernia.

Anyhow - here's what my Chiropractor had me do:

1. For a couple weeks, limit the diet to alkaline foods to keep the acid level down. I did fine on just about any herbal tea. Rice. Potato. Lean meat and veggies okay. Not most fruit. Milk/Dairy was okay, but I disliked 'em.
2. Twice a the day, self massage: Press fingertips of one hand into the center of the torso right below the sternum. Slide down slowly to center of belly to encourage the stomach to settle down into its normal place. This is not a comfortable action - pressure there made me feel nauseous, and I could feel it pulling under my chin.
3. An hour before bed, drink 16 oz. of water (yes, I had to get up during the night. tough.) As soon as it's all in, do this exercise to get the stomach down: a) stand on tiptoes, body erect, then b) bounce your heels onto the floor. Do this 30 times. The stomach full of water will settle into it's rightful spot. While you sleep, diaphragm and stomach get used to their new positions.
4. During all this, I learned to relax the abdomen while supporting my singing with the diaphragm so I wasn't continually causing myself more squeezing problems. Voice and ease of singing improved a lot.

After one week of this, nighttime reflux was gone. After one month, all reflux was gone. It hasn't come back, not matter what I eat or drink.

I'm no doctor, and I don't know if your reflux had the same cause mine did, but since you asked, there it is.

Gary Shannon

Music business

Nobody likes to see someone write about himself.

Here are a few neat Christmas gifts:

"Straight Up, No Chaser" 12 Days of Christmas



The Dicken's Carollers of Portland, Oregon














Searching for online voice lessons?

I've usually held two careers: one theatrical/musical and one accounting/managerial. I've usually had two avocations: computer programmer and enigmatist. Putting all those together, I am making my own web-based music business to teach voice lessons live on-line.

Biography

A prominent member of the Portland choral community, Gary Shannon graduated from San Jose State University with a Bachelor of Music in Composition and Education with highest honors in 1979, having written two musicals and an opera as an undergraduate. Immediately moving to Portland Oregon, he began serving as musical director for “Unicorn Theatre”, “The Musical Company” and “Cabaret Magnifique”. Later, he became music director and arranger for The Dickens Carolers, then guest director and arranger for The Oregon Repertory Singers in 1992, and then vocalist and counter-tenor soloist with the internationally recognized “Choral Cross-Ties”. In 1992, Mr. Shannon became the Grand Prize Winner in the Portland Yamaha Organ Competition. Local churches have regularly secured his services as a vocalist, keyboard artist and professional chorister, including All Saints Episcopal Church, Unity Church of Portland, Sunnyside Seventh Day Adventist Church, First Methodist Church of Portland, St. Mark’s Anglican Church, and the Portland Church of Scientology.

An accomplished actor, Gary has won numerous awards. He holds the second highest score ever awarded by the Association of Community Theaters to an actor in any performance (the first prize award in 1982) for his “Judas” in “Jesus Christ Superstar”. (Later, Henry Fonda’s portrayal in “On Golden Pond” scored one point higher.) Gary’s favorite roles include “Archy” in “Archy and Mehitabel”, “MC” in “Cabaret” and “Count Orlofsky” (as a counter tenor) in Straus’s “Die Fledermaus.”

Mr. Shannon’s was recruited for tenor solos for Oregon Symphony Orchestra’s concert version of Bernstein’s “Mass” then again for Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess”, and “Chichester Psalms”. These solos were reprised and expanded for the Cascade Music Festival to include concert excerpts of “West Side Story” and “Chichester Psalms.” His current repertoire includes tenor and counter-tenor solos from Bach’s “Wachet Auf”, Handel’s “Messiah”, Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise”, Gluck’s “Orfeo” and P.D.Q. Bach’s (Peter Schickle, ed.) “Bargain-Counter Tenor” in “Iphigenia in Brooklyn”

Currently Mr. Shannon is contracted as the tenor section leader for the Portland Symphonic Choir, the music director for The Rose City Timberlines Men’s Chorus and recently, the music director, organist, pianist and soloist for St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church. He lives in the Lents neighborhood in beautiful Portland, Oregon with his wife and two children.