Chanda Rule Bernroider im Gespräch mit dem mdw-Magazin
Chanda Rule Bernroider talks to mdw Magazine
What is PopVoxCon, and who should attend?
PopVoxCon is an international conference about popular voice: how we teach it, research it, perform it, and understand it today. It’s for voice teachers, singers, artists, researchers, students, music educators, speech and voice professionals, and really anyone who’s curious about contemporary vocal practice. For me, PopVoxCon is also about making space for popular voice to be taken seriously. Not as a niche, not as something secondary to classical singing, and not just through specific branded techniques, but as a rich and growing field with its own research, artistic questions, teaching practices, and cultural meaning.
There will be two keynote speeches. What can visitors expect here?
We’re super honoured to be welcoming two amazing keynote speakers, and I love how their presentations will feature different but equally important perspectives. Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin, chair of the Ensemble Department at Berklee College of Music and creator of Soul Ingredients®, will give a keynote entitled “Rhythm, Intention & Conviction: The Understanding and Application of Vocal Parameters for Soul Expression in Black American Music”. Her work is rooted in Black American musical styles and explores how rhythm, storytelling, improvisation, vocal nuance, and conviction shape what she calls “Soul Expression.” I’m especially excited because her keynote brings together artistry, culture, pedagogy, and very practical tools for singers, teachers, and ensemble leaders. Dr. Louisa Traser, senior physician at the Freiburg Institute for Musicians’ Medicine, is contributing a scientific perspective. Her keynote, entitled “Der Blick ins Innere: Neue Perspektiven auf moderne Stimmproduktion von Belting bis Growl mittels 3D-MRT” [The Inward View: New Perspectives on Modern Vocal Production from Belting to Growl Based on 3D-MRT], gives us a look inside the singing voice and explores modern vocal production through advanced medical imaging and voice science. She’ll share pioneering new research that uses advanced 3D-MRT imaging to reveal aspects of modern vocal production that have never before been seen in this way. For PopVoxCon’s first edition, this feels like a very special opportunity.
The conference brings together voice teachers, singers, artists, educators, and researchers. Why do you find it important to bring together such diverse fields, fields situated both in the academic world and beyond?
For years, so much institutional attention has been given to classical voice. And, of course, that tradition is important. But many of today’s singers don’t use their voices mainly in that way. They’re singing pop, soul, gospel, jazz, rock, R&B, musical theatre, experimental music, and lots of styles that don’t always fit neatly into older academic structures. There’s still sometimes this idea that classical technique is the “real” foundation while everything else is an add-on. And I think we’re at a point where we need to gather, share, and build the research, language, and pedagogy around popular voice in a more systematic way. Popular singing is not just a style or a niche—and it can teach us so much about the voice, the body, identity, creativity, communication, and how people actually use their voices in the modern world. That’s why I think it’s so important to bring different people into the same room. Singers know things from lived experience. Teachers know what happens in the studio. Researchers help us ask better questions. Speech and voice professionals bring along knowledge about health and function. And artists remind us why the voice matters in the first place.
What do you expect to be the conference highlights, or what are you most looking forward to?
Honestly, I’m looking forward to all of it! This is my first time organising an academic conference, which feels exciting and a little wild. But I really do love conferences. At their best, they’re inspiring. They bring together people who might not have met otherwise—and suddenly new conversations, collaborations, and communities begin. The Open Classroom / Learning Zone component of our event is something very close to my heart, because it will let us learn by watching how teaching actually happens. I’m also really looking forward to the Community Sessions, because it’s my hope that PopVoxCon will become a place where people feel connected, where new relationships are born, and where we can imagine together what popular voice pedagogy in higher education can become. And of course, I’m deeply honoured and excited to welcome our keynote speakers and all of the presenters. It feels very special to help create a space where their work can be shared.
PopVoxCon – The Popular Voice Conference
A meeting point for research, teaching, and the art of the popular voice
8.–10. Sept. 2026, mdw-Campus
