The Vocal Cue TTU Arts

Episode 10 of The Vocal Cue, with your host Hayden Browning, talks to Texas Tech University School of Music Assistant Professor of Practice in Voice, Musical Theatre & Commercial Music, Dr. José (Joey) Holland-Garcia. 

Joey's passion and love of teaching, especially in commercial and musical theater music, has established his reputation for excellence in instruction. His students have advanced and won awards through the Student Auditions for the National Association of Teachers of Singing and his private students have been accepted at some of the most notable musical theater programs around the country. In addition, his training and certification in massage therapy has informed his teaching and understanding of the vocal mechanism to aid in building body awareness.

Episode 9 of The Vocal Cue, with your host Tawny Ballinger, talks to Texas Tech University School of Art Associate Professor in Modern and Contemporary Art History and Critical Theory, Dr. Jorgelina Orfila. 

Dr. Jorgelina Orfila joined the Art History faculty in Fall 2008. Prior to coming to the US, she earned degrees in art history and museum studies in her country of origin, Argentina. Her Ph.D. is from the University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Orfila has curated numerous exhibitions and published several articles in her areas of special interest: modernism and the history of art history, Paul Cézanne, John Rewald, museography in the Interwar Period, and the use of photographs for the study of modern art.

In 2014, she cofounded together with Dr. Francisco Ortega-Grimaldo, Animationduo, a collective of art scholars committed to a teaching and research project focused on the history and theory of animation and its intersections with modern and contemporary art. Drs. Orfila and Ortega coordinate the Undergraduate Certificate in Animation Studies at the School of Art, a unique undertaking that examines animation as a cross-disciplinary field of practice and knowledge that brings together music, theater/performance and the visual arts.

Episode 8 of The Vocal Cue, with your host Hayden Browning, talks to Texas Tech University School of Theatre & Dance Assistant Professor of Practice in Dance, Melissa Brading. 

Professor Brading is a dancer, teacher and choreographer originally from Topeka, KS, holding a MFA in Dance from the University of Michigan and a BFA in Dance Education from the University of Central Oklahoma. Melissa began her performance career with Ad Deum Dance Company of Houston, TX, before moving to New York for twelve years serving as a teacher, dancer and choreographer, and then moving into higher education. Melissa has a passion for teaching movement and her research is focused on creating practices to keep students dancing longer and stronger. She believes the dance class should address all of the dancer—body, mind and soul, and is working to create safe spaces to explore the intricacies of the body.

Episode 7 of The Vocal Cue, with your host Tawny Ballinger, brings in Texas Tech University School of Music Assistant Professor of Music Education, Dr. Shauna Pickens. 

Dr. Pickens began her career at Texas Tech in the fall of 2023 but she was no stranger to the campus, having received her bachelors and Ph.D. at Texas Tech. Her love for teaching music is evident, whether it be teaching middle schoolers or college level courses. Listen in as we discuss her journey coming full circle from band camp to leading our future music educators.

In episode six of The Vocal Cue, your host Tawny Ballinger speaks with Texas Tech University School of Art Assistant Professor of Art, Travis Neel. 

Travis will take you along his journey through his latest project, The Mesquite Mile. His experience and research goes much deeper than just art and expands across multiple disciplines. Get ready to think about the way you live in your own neighborhood and the relationships you have to everyone, and everything, around you.

Episode five of The Vocal Cue features Dr. Christopher J. Staley, an assistant professor of movement in the School of Theatre & Dance at Texas Tech University. Staley is a teaching artist and scholar, as well as, a specialist in actor training pedagogy with a focus on the Suzuki Method of Actor Training, Viewpoints, Yoga, and Stanislavskian Active Analysis. 
In his first semester with Texas Tech, Staley discusses what brought him to Texas Tech, how Lubbock has become his home, his mentors along the way, and the research, involving the seen and unseen, we can't wait to hear more about.