Naomi Lee Schulke
About the researcher
Naomi is a singing teacher, vocal coach and researcher specialising in gender-affirming training for Musical Theatre performers. As an actor, musician and singer she worked for leading UK production houses including West Yorkshire Playhouse/ Lyric Hammersmith, Coventry Belgrade, Queens Hornchurch, Birmingham Rep and Pitlochry Festival Theatre, as well as on tour.
Naomi has trained in a wide variety of teaching approaches including Estill International, Vocal Health Education and Dr Kari Ragan and is a Vocal Process Registered Singing Teacher. She follows an explorative and voice-science-based approach to teaching singing and her sessions are student-led. She emphasises the individuality of voices whilst maintaining a thorough awareness of professional industry requirements.
Naomi is a lecturer on the Musical Theatre and Theatre and Performance BA degrees at Falmouth.
Research interests
Naomi’s interest in teaching trans and gender-diverse singing developed alongside her teaching on the AMATA BA courses, where she encountered multiple students who were nervous to sing because they felt their singing voices didn’t match their identity. As a performer, Naomi also encountered multiple situations where her own (perceived white) voice was picked out by industry professionals as not matching her (non-white) appearance. This has highlighted the urgent need both for specific gender affirming voice training in Musical Theatre and for further interrogation into perception, identity and voice.
PhD abstract
Thesis title
Gender-affirming singing training for Musical Theatre performers.
Abstract
There is a deficit of Musical Theatre singing teachers specialising in gender affirming training. Performance roles are largely split into binary, gendered voice types with no clear pathway for trans performers. Specialists in this area don’t focus on the specifics of Musical Theatre, and writers and casting directors have only recently begun considering this area (Trans Casting Statement created in 2020). Existing pedagogy deserves more detailed interrogation with greater allyship by investigating approaches in Musical Theatre singing training and developing technical approaches specific to gender-diverse singers.
What technical singing methods can facilitate and support gender affirming training for Musical Theatre performers?
Alongside the development of gender affirming techniques Musical Theatre singers the research will also examine the current industry landscape and interweave an awareness into training agendas in order that the training method itself is gender affirming.
By examining existing casting expectations, acknowledging that not all trans performers want to play trans roles and asking how the industry is responding to this nuance, alongside the development of a technically robust and widely available set of teaching methods, the aim is to enable trainee-professional and professional trans singers to feel technically and emotionally equipped to work in Musical Theatre.
Qualifications
| Year | Qualification | Awarding body |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Vocal Process Registered Teacher | Vocal Process |
| 2005 | MA Musical Theare | Royal Central School of Speech and Drama |
| 2003 | BA (Hons) Music | University of Exeter |
Areas of expertise
Musical Theatre singing, Contemporary Commercial singing, trans-voice training.