ThompsonTalk: Kourtney Austin

Performing Arts Health is an essential element in the lives of all performing artists. Ms. Austin’s presentation will encompass the areas of musculoskeletal, hearing, mental, and vocal health and give both a broad overview of current research in the field and immediately applicable guidelines for student musicians.  Awareness and knowledge of the concepts related to performing arts health can improve performance abilities, skill acquisition, and overall well-being.

One of a series of occasional guest speaker events. Webster University music students/faculty/staff are provided the link by email. Please contact music@webster.edu if you wish to view the event synchronously. The event will not be recorded.

Kourtney Strade Austin is currently a PhD candidate in Performing Arts Health at the University of North Texas. After earning her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Northwest Missouri State University and her Master’s in Voice from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, Kourtney went on to study Speech Pathology/Voice Science at the University of Iowa and became a Certified Vocologist. She used this expertise in her own business, Heartland Healthy Voices, providing vocal health seminars, voice rehabilitation, private voice lessons, and transgender voice training in Saint Louis, Missouri. She also spent 14 years as an instructor of voice for the Community Music School of Webster University and served as the Artistic Director of CHARIS, The St. Louis Women’s Chorus. Ms. Austin was most recently an instructor of voice and the director of choral activities at Grayson College, in Denison, Texas. Kourtney’s current research interests include using spectral analysis to quantify characteristics of the vocal onset, as it applies to vocal efficiency and fatigue.

Thursday, February 3, 2022 at 12:00pm

Virtual Event