Barbara Doscher

---

Barbara M. Doscher (September 20, 1922 – June 26, 1996) was an American singing teacher, pedagogue, and author of articles and books on singing technique and vocal literature. She was most widely known for her book, The Functional Unity of the Singing Voice (Scarecrow Press, 1988, 1994), which has been a commonly used text for vocal pedagogy classes since its publication.

Biography

Barbara Doscher was born September 20, 1922. She received a B.A. in French and History from Grinnell College in Iowa in 1944, worked a variety of jobs, including as a legal secretary, then returned to school at the University of Colorado-Boulder in the early 1960s. At Colorado, she received a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance in 1965, a Master of Music in Voice Performance in 1967, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice Performance and Pedagogy in 1971, with Berton Coffin as her major professor. She joined the faculty at Colorado that same year as a part-time instructor, continuing at that rank from 1971–1978. From 1978–1979, she was a full-time Instructor, then began as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in 1979. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 1982 and Full Professor in 1989. She was chair of the Vocal Area at Colorado from 1987–1993. She ended her teaching career at Colorado as Professor Emerita. Her students won many major competitions, including the Pavarotti Competition (2 winners), the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (2 winners), and the Mozart Concours International de Chant. Students also were selected for opera apprenticeships with the Chicago Lyric, Santa Fe, Houston Grand, Central City, Cincinnati, Tulsa, and Des Moines Operas, and four of her students were selected for the NATS Intern Program. She was chosen to be a master teacher at the first two NATS Intern Programs in 1991 and 1992. Barbara Doscher and her husband John had one adopted son, Stephen, who predeceased them. She passed away from cancer at her home in Arvada, Colorado on June 26, 1996.

Books

• Doscher, Barbara (1994). The Functional Unity of the Singing Voice (2^nd ed.). Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow.
• Doscher, Barbara (2002). From Studio to Stage: Repertoire for the Voice (ed. John Nix). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow.

Articles

• Doscher, Barbara (1975). “The Beginning Voice Class.” NATS Bulletin 32(1): 31–33, 45.
• Doscher, Barbara, and Julie Fortney (1980). “A Mile High! 1980 National Convention.” NATS Bulletin 37(1): 26–30.
• Doscher, Barbara, and others (1981). “Point Counterpoint.” NATS Bulletin 37(3): 8–15.
• Doscher, Barbara (1984). “Heads Up!” Choral Journal 24(10): 5–8.
• Doscher, Barbara (1984). “Translate and Communicate.” American Music Teacher 34(2): 24–26.
• Doscher, Barbara (1984). “Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad, Wolf?” NATS Journal 41(1): 38–41.
• Doscher, Barbara (1987). “Breathing: The Motor of the Singing Voice.” Choral Journal 27(8): 17–22.
• Doscher, Barbara (1991). “Exploring the Whys of Intonation Problems.” Choral Journal 32(4): 25–30. Also published in The Journal of Research in Singing and Applied Vocal Pedagogy 15(2): 27–38.
• Doscher, Barbara (1992). “Teaching Singing.” Quarterly Journal of Music Teaching and Learning 3(2): 61–66.
• Doscher, Barbara (1995). “He Wrote for Specific Voices.” Journal of Singing 52(1): 33–36.

Interviews with Barbara Doscher

Blades-Zellar, Elizabeth (2017). A Spectrum of Voices: Prominent American Voice Teachers Discuss the Teaching of Singing. 2nd edition. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow. Doscher is one of many elite teachers interviewed for this book.

Web materials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6WeEEilzVc

Video of Doscher teaching a portion of a graduate pedagogy class. Recorded in 1984.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ3cEC5Q88I&t=21s

Audio recording of a lecture on Vowel Modification, plus Q&A, given by Barbara Doscher at the 1994 NATS Intern Program. Recorded June 22, 1994 in Boulder, Colorado.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-ARY33z5vE

Audio recording of a lecture on Vowel Modification at the July 1992 NATS Intern Program (July 25–August 5, 1994). Much the same content as the 1994 lecture, but delivered with more humor and more deliberate pacing.

References

This article "Barbara Doscher" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Barbara Doscher. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

---