Lynn Helding, MM
Professor of Practice in Vocal Arts and Opera; Coordinator of Vocology and Voice Pedagogy, USC Thornton School of Music
USC Thornton School of Music
Email: helding@usc.edu
Lynn Helding serves as Professor of Practice in Vocal Arts and Opera and coordinator of Vocology and Voice Pedagogy at the USC Thornton School of Music. She is the author of the book The Musician’s Mind: Teaching, Learning and Performance in the Age of Brain Science (Rowman & Littlefield 2020) and over fifty academic articles, essays and chapters promoting “science-informed” voice pedagogy. She is recognized in her field for proposing cognitive science (with an emphasis on motor learning theory and expertise studies), as the “Third Pillar” in the field of voice science. Helding was the founder and first author of the “Mindful Voice” column in the Journal of Singing (2009-2017), and served two years as its editor-in-chief.
Professional honors include the 2005 Van Lawrence Voice Fellowship, induction into the American Academy of Teachers of Singing, and recognition as a “legendary figure in the field of voice pedagogy” by the Contemporary Commercial Music Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah University, receiving their 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award. Her stage credits include leading roles in opera, oratorio and musical theatre, and recital tours of contemporary American music throughout the United States, Australia, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Iceland.
