Integrating Singing and Theatre Voice Techniques
Joan Melton is a pioneer in the integration of singing techniques and voice-movement training for actors. The author of three groundbreaking textbooks, One Voice: Integrating Techniques across Performance Disciplines (3rd Ed, Waveland 2022), with Kenneth Tom, PhD, Dancing with Voice: A Collaborative Journey across Disciplines (Voice Theatre Solutions 2015), and Singing in Musical Theatre: The Training of Singers and Actors (Allworth 2007), she is an Artistic Associate with New York Classical Theatre and teaches internationally. Learn More
Joan trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and has Bachelors and Masters degrees in Music from the University of Mississippi, Oxford.
She started life as a child prodigy classical pianist, was the youngest soloist ever to play with the North Carolina Symphony—age 8—and continued to perform in solo recitals and with orchestras throughout her youth. She was a recipient of the Paderewski Gold Medal, and received the first scholarship ever awarded by the National Guild of Piano Teachers.
She has taught at leading drama and music centers in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, including the Manhattan School of Music, New York, the Central School of Speech and Drama, London, Lites2000 Drama School, Dublin, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and Toi Whakaari, the National Drama School of NZ.
Joan has been a performer, vocal coach and/or music director on productions in virtually all media, from daytime television to musical theatre, from new music premiers to panoramic theatre in Central Park. She is a published author and composer, a specialist in 20th Century vocal music, and a Master Teacher of the Fitzmaurice approach to theatre voice training.
From 1993 – 96, she was Executive Director, Voice, of Professional Edge, a national consulting firm for business professionals, and from 1996 – 2002, she was on the voice team of the Center for Voice, Western Medical, Santa Ana, CA.
During 2007 – 2013, she led exploratory research projects in the UK and Australia, focusing on breath management strategies of elite vocal performers across a wide range of performance genres. She now heads One Voice Centre for Integrative Studies, currently based in NYC, with co-founder Jennie Morton, osteopath and dancer/choreographer from London.
Joan is on the editorial board of Australian Voice, Journal of the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing (ANATS). For four years, she was Associate Editor, Singing, of the VASTA Journal, The Voice and Speech Review.