W. Stephen Smith

Smith was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas on December 18, 1950, the son of Buel Smith and Jolene (née Hooton).{{cite news |last=Martin |first=Fred |date=2005-06-30 |title=This Is Our Mr. Smith |newspaper=Clay County Courier |location=Corning, Arkansas}} He was raised in Pocahontas, Arkansas and Corning, Arkansas. His father owned a nearby Ford dealership.{{cite news |author= |date=2013-02-01 |title=Obituary: Buel Smith |url=http://www.thedailycitizen.com/obituaries/article_7f9bff45-8770-5568-be61-b3b76e378e5d.html |newspaper=The Daily Citizen |location=Searcy, Arkansas |access-date=2016-05-05 |url-access=subscription }}

As Smith's father did not approve of his musical interests as a child, his first job was mowing a neighbor's lawn every week in order to be able to afford to pay for piano lessons on his own.

After graduating as valedictorian from Corning High School in 1968, Smith attended Harding University, where he graduated with a B.A. in music in 1972.{{cite magazine |last=Marcussen |first=Jennifer L. |date=Spring 2006 |title=Finding One's True Voice: Juilliard's W. Stephen Smith Accompanies His Students on a Journey of Self-Discovery |magazine=Harding |location=Searcy, Arkansas |publisher=Harding University |volume=14 |issue=2}} Smith's voice teacher at Harding was Erle T. Moore.{{cite web |url=http://www.wstephensmith.com/bio.html |title=W. Stephen Smith: Biography |author= |website=W. Stephen Smith |access-date=2016-05-07}} He continued at the University of Arkansas, studying voice with Richard Brothers and graduating with an M.M. in voice in 1975.{{cite news |author= |date=2012-11-29 |title=Smith to Receive Honorary Degree for Revolutionary Voice Teaching |newspaper=Clay County Courier |location=Corning, Arkansas}}

He was then hired as a one-year sabbatical replacement choir director at Oklahoma Christian University, and remained on the faculty when a professorship was created for him the following year.{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=W. Stephen |last2=Chipman |first2=Michael |date=2007 |title=The Naked Voice: A Wholistic Approach to Singing |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195300505}}{{rp|7}} His teaching responsibilities included voice lessons, music theory, musicianship and stage directing of student operas and musicals.{{rp|7}} During his first year at OC, he became interested in the pedagogy of Inez Lunsford Silberg, who taught voice at the nearby Oklahoma City University. Smith enrolled in OKCU's M.P.A. program in opera performance, taking classes while continuing to serve on the faculty of OC, and graduating in 1981. He remained on the faculty of OC until 1987, when he was hired as the chair of the voice department of St. Louis Conservatory,{{cite news |author= |date=1987-06-12 |title=Professor Takes Post |url=http://newsok.com/article/2188979 |newspaper=The Oklahoman |location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |access-date=2016-05-08}} a position he held until that institution closed in 1990.{{cite web |url=https://www.webster.edu/community-music-school/about-cms.php |title=About the Community Music School |author= |website=Webster University |access-date=2021-02-06}}

Smith was appointed to the faculty of Moores School of Music of the University of Houston in 1990. In 1991, he began instructing apprentice artists of the Houston Grand Opera Studio. In 1996, he joined the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival and School. In 1998, he was appointed to the faculty of The Juilliard School. He resigned from the University of Houston but retained his position with Houston Grand Opera, commuting weekly between New York and Houston until he resigned from Houston Grand Opera in 2003.

In 2011, Smith joined the faculty of Northwestern University.{{cite web |url=http://www.claudiafriedlander.com/the-liberated-voice/2011/02/congratulations-steve.html |title=Congratulations, Steve! |author=Friedlander, Claudia |website=The Liberated Voice |access-date=2016-06-16}}{{cite web |url=https://www.music.northwestern.edu/news/2011/w-stephen-smith-joins-faculty-bienen-school-music |title=W. Stephen Smith Joins Faculty of Bienen School of Music |author= |website=Northwestern Bienen School of Music |access-date=2021-02-06}} Subsequent to his appointment, he founded the Naked Voice Institute, a summer program of Northwestern University that instructs students in his method of pedagogy.{{cite web |url= http://www.genebroberts.com/about.html |title=Gene B. Roberts |author=Roberts, Gene B. |website=Gene B. Roberts |access-date=2021-02-06}}

Prominent students Smith has instructed include Christine Brewer,{{rp|39}} Joyce DiDonato,{{cite web |url=https://www.houstongrandopera.org/hgo-studio/studio-artists-and-faculty/#pos_3510 |title=Studio Artists & Faculty |author= |website=Houston Grand Opera |access-date=2021-02-06}} Rod Gilfry, Brian Mulligan{{cite web |url=http://www.operawarhorses.com/2012/08/26/rising-stars-an-interview-with-brian-mulligan/ |title=Rising Stars: An Interview with Brian Mulligan |author=Burnett, William |website=Opera Warhorses |access-date=2016-06-16}} and Eric Owens.

Since the early 19th century, vocal pedagogy has made use of the vocalise as a means to present to the student specific technical challenges with an aim to solving those challenges in order to make a sound of ever increasing quality and consistency.{{Cite Grove |title=Vocalise (Fr.) |last=Jander |first=Owen |date=2001|url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/29567}}

Smith's pedagogy differs from this tradition in that he has developed a series of six vocalises, which he trains in sequence,{{rp|46}} that he has designed to first isolate two specific activities that produce vocal sound: phonation, as in conversational speech, and breath release, as in a voiced sigh.{{rp|45}} In isolation, these activities do not necessarily produce a pleasing or complete sound.{{rp|50}} Subsequent vocalises in Smith's progression seek to achieve balance between these two forces.{{rp|46}}

Smith's first vocalise, a slow, sostenuto declamation of the phrase {{IPA|[niːneːnɑːnoːnuː]}} on a single pitch,{{rp|51}} isolates intention to speak as the primary force of tone generation.{{rp|52}}

His second vocalise, an ascending glissando followed by a descent from scale degree five to scale degree one in major,{{rp|75}} isolates the release of breath (as in Bernoulli's Principle) as the primary force of tone generation.{{rp|67}}

His third vocalise is a legato ascending and descending arpeggiation of a major triad,{{rp|81}} utilizing the same phonemes as the first vocalise.{{rp|81}}

His fourth vocalise trains the balanced onset of phonation through the performance of a sequence of detached tones on {{IPA|[ɑ]}}.{{rp|86}}

His fifth vocalise trains continuous breath release through slow, followed by rapid, arpeggiation of the interval of a perfect fourth on {{IPA|[ɑː]}}.{{rp|94}}

His sixth vocalise is a swift ascending major scale encompassing the range of a perfect eleventh, followed by a descending arpeggio outlining a dominant seventh chord before returning to the tonic, on {{IPA|[eː]}} for the first four tones, {{IPA|[ɑː]}} on tones five through eight and {{IPA|[oː]}} for the remainder of the vocalise,{{rp|98}} to promote flexibility and range extension.{{rp|99}}

• Outstanding Alumnus Award – College of Arts and Humanities, Harding University – 1998
• Distinguished Alumni Academy (inaugural inductee in Music) – Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, University of Arkansas – 1999{{cite web |url=http://fulbright.uark.edu/alumni/da_99.php |title=Distinguished Alumni Academy 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609214435/http://fulbright.uark.edu/alumni/da_99.php |website=Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences |archive-date=2010-06-09 |url-status=unfit |access-date=2016-05-08}}
• Honorary Doctor of Arts and Humane Letters degree (D.A.H.) – University of Arkansas – 2012{{cite news |author= |title=Harding, Smith to Receive Honorary Degrees at University of Arkansas Fall Commencement |url=https://news.uark.edu/articles/19602/harding-smith-to-receive-honorary-degrees-at-university-of-arkansas-fall-commencement/ |newspaper=University of Arkansas News |date=2012-11-05 |access-date=2016-05-05}}
• New Horizons Faculty – Aspen Music Festival and School – 2001, 2009 & 2013{{cite magazine |author= |title=Faculty |url=https://music.northwestern.edu/sites/default/files/fanfare/2018-01/Winter%202015.compressed.pdf |magazine=Fanfare |location=Evanston, Illinois |publisher=Northwestern University |issue=51 |page=16 |access-date=2021-02-06}}

Smith is married to the former Carol Christine Mannen, and has two daughters, pastry chef{{cite web |url=https://www.facebook.com/SweetTreatsbyEmily.MI/ |title=Sweet Treats by Emily |author= |website=Facebook |access-date=2016-06-16}} Emily Smith Jobe and singer/actress{{cite web |url= http://www.abbycsmith.com/about |title=Abby C. Smith |author= |website=Abby C. Smith |access-date=2016-06-16}} Abby C. Smith.

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.wstephensmith.com/ Official personal website]
• [http://www.music.northwestern.edu/faculty/profiles/w.-stephen-smith.html W. Stephen Smith faculty profile] - Bienen School of Music

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Category:1950 births

Category:20th-century American male opera singers

Category:American male writers

Category:American operatic baritones

Category:Aspen Music Festival and School faculty

Category:Harding University alumni

Category:Juilliard School faculty

Category:Living people

Category:Singers from Arkansas

Category:Northwestern University faculty

Category:Oklahoma City University alumni

Category:University of Arkansas alumni

Category:University of Houston faculty

Category:American voice teachers