Singing a woman's life: How singing lessons transformed the lives of nine women

ANN PATTESON is a performer and teacher of singing. She is a graduate of the Artist in Community Program at the Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, where she is currently finishing her Master of Education degree. Her thesis deals with the transformative effects of singing in her own life and in the lives of six of her women students. This work explores how singing has allowed these women to achieve the ability to both express and influence their experiences of the world. Ann has been teaching singing privately for the past fifteen years and for the past ten years has been teaching oral and written communication skills at St. Lawrence College, Kingston. Ann is also a visual artist and has studied art therapy techniques; she is frequently invited to lead music and art workshops and to lecture on the relationship between arts experiences and well-being. Ann's research interests include gender issues in music and the application of critical theory perspectives to the field of music. Ann hopes to make these the focus of her up-coming Ph.D. studies.