Welcome and Introductions.....

Hello readers!

Welcome to my page. This is my first blog ever, and is an extension of my webpage. Let me take a moment to introduce myself....

My name is Brad Jenks. I am a Vocal Instructor in the Chicago area, a sometime singer, and a casual writer. I have been involved with, in, or around classical vocal music at all levels, amateur to professional, for over 20 years, and been a teacher for almost 9 years.

As the son of a minister, choir and regular singing were a normal part of life from very early on. Solo singing was as nervous a thing for me as it is for anyone, but singing was a very natural part of everyday life. I grew up with all the music of the last 60 years in my household, and stumbled randomly into the world of classical vocal music, falling in love with it at an uncommonly young age.

What follows are the stream of my observations on the subject of singing as a craft, born of my last 2 decades of both singing and working; working with singers, working administratively in opera houses and festivals, singing with various colleagues and various groups. And of course, teaching...

Thanks to the wonderful group of individuals I have been blessed to advise, I have also had the opportunity that only teachers know, to learn about singing from the position of having to guide another as they begin their own journey.

I hope that some of my thoughts prove helpful, or at the very least, entertaining!

-Brad