Academics

Vocal Arts Academy > Other Teachers

Randall Manges, a native of Pennsylvania, has lived and worked in the Chicago area for the past twenty years. He earned degrees from Westminster Choir College (Princeton, NJ) and the University of Oklahoma (Norman). He is a sought-after accompanist (organ, piano, harpsichord), and has played in a number of English cathedrals. He is currently Director of Vocal Music at the School of St. Mary in Lake Forest, as well as Organist/Choirmaster for the Highland Park Presbyterian Church.

MaryJean Allen is a certified Andover Educator, teaching the workshop What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body. MaryJean Allen has taught What Every Musician Needs To Know About the Body for eight years to singers and instrumentalists at universities, colleges, high schools, and church choirs in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Missouri.  As a guest clinician, she has taught the What Every Musician Needs to Know workshop to the Midwest Central Region and Wisconsin chapters of The American Choral Directors Association.  

Participants learn how to apply Body Mapping, an efficient method that dramatically improves musical performance by understanding the body in motion.  Body Mapping takes the knowledge of human anatomy and applies it to movement. The process teaches all musicians how to improve their singing and playing by optimizing movement and body-mind coordination.  Participants also learn how to apply the beneficial tools of kinesthesia and inclusive awareness.