Meet Kristen Ruiz
Singer | Singing Voice Specialist | VOCOLOGIST
Founder of Sonaura
Kristen Ruiz is an NCVS trained vocologist and the founder of Sonaura. She is an experienced teacher of voice pedagogy and atrainer of voice trainers. Kristen maintains an active schedule of workshops and masterclasses in the NY Metro area and online.
As an educator, Kristen’s experience includes directing NYU’s post-graduate advanced voice pedagogy program and teaching voice in academia, conservatory, arts organizations, schools and in private instruction. She also works with recovering voices as a singing voice specialist who partners with the medical voice care team.
Kristen’s experience working as a singer across genres enables her to understand the unique challenges singers face — vocally and otherwise.
As a researcher, Kristen is currently working on a project examining voice pedagogy through the lens of adult learning and development theory.
At a glance
Vocology Institute
Singing Life
Vocal Producer
3D Printed Larynx
Fun Media Project
Background Info
Kristen is an NCVS trained vocologist and the founder of Sonaura. As an educator, her experience includes directing NYU’s post-graduate advanced voice pedagogy program and teaching voice in academia, conservatory, arts organizations, schools and in private instruction. She also works with recovering voices as a singing voice specialist, partnering with the medical voice care team. She is an experienced teacher of voice pedagogy working as a trainer of trainers and she maintains an active schedule of workshops and masterclasses in the NY Metro area and online.
Kristen’s experience working as a singer across genres and touring for months at a time enables her to understand the unique challenges singers face – vocally and otherwise. Her performance experience includes an eclectice array of concerts (classical, musical revue, sacred & avant garde), cabarets, musicals, recitals and operas. She has appeared at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the infamous cabaret cineplex Don’t Tell Mama’s and a number of beloved regional & historic theaters. Kristen has been a featured soloist and creative director for a number of national and international tours. Her ensemble credits include performing with Grammy nominees and Dove Award winners (Chandrika Tandon, Steve Green). She worked closely with Stone “Bud” Widney (artistic consultant for Camelot with Julie Andrews) on Cric?Crac!, a project integrating culture, folk storytelling and musical theater. She continues to pursue creative projects and maintains an active performance schedule in New York.
Kristen’s signature approach to voice training is a synthesis of her own explorations and her studies of and with brilliant thinkers, researchers and mentors. Her training programs include keen attention to the physical vocal instrument, as well as the psychological, emotional, social and spiritual layers that make up the human instrument.
- Efficient function of the physical vocal instrument (anatomy, physiology, acoustics, issues of sustainability)
- How singers learn to operate that instrument (experiential learning, constructive-development, spiral learning models)
- And how the singers’ ability to communicate through song is situated within contextual social and power systems (critical theory, communities of practice, spiritual practice).
Her pedagogy is deeply influenced by the work of Dr. Brian Gill, Dr. Barbara Doscher, Dr. Terrence Keeney, Dr. David Kolb, Dr. Robert Kegan, Dr. Ellie Drago-Severson, Dr. Jerome Bruner, Dr. Etienne Wenger, Prof. William Wesbrooks and Prof. Marion Howe.
As a researcher, Kristen is currently involved in a research project synthesizing voice pedagogy and adult learning and development theory. More specifically, she is investigating the work of Dr. Barbara Doscher, examining her pedagogy through the lens of adult learning and development theory. And after listening to a recorded treasure trove of Doscher’s Jedi Master teaching, her ear will never be the same.
In the studio and out, Kristen is a card-carrying daydreamer. Is it a natural talent or something cultivated through years of practice? Who knows. But beware, she may force you to acknowledge:
- All cloud formations within view
- Any vibrant colors, muted tones, variegations of all sorts (she hasn’t met a color she didn’t like)
- Gardens, flowers, new growth
- Paintings, sculptures and random shapes or vignettes
- All things coastal
- Quotes. Lots of them. All the time. She even likes Oscar Wilde’s “I hate quotes” quote. She randomly assaults friends and family with favorite quips and quotes like
- Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. (Wilde)
- not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. (Emerson)
- A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry and see a fine painting every day of his life in order that worldly cares may not obliterate that sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul. (Goethe)
- Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth. (Thoreau)
And it seems she’s not the only daydreamer. She belongs to The Cloud Appreciation Society (yes, it’s a real thing) – its presence on this earth means there are lots of people like her. Everyone has a tribe.
Affiliations, Special Features, Adjudication, Client Representation & Client Features
education
Degrees & Certifications:
BM, MSEd, Advanced Certificate in Vocal Pedagogy, NCVS Vocology Certification, anticipated PhD completion: May 2023
Associations, Programs, Conferences, Presentations & Features:
National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), New York Singing Teacher’s Association (NYSTA), Elle Magazine, American Association for Adult and Continuing Education, Vocology Institute at the University of Utah, Pan-American Vocology Association, The Voice Foundation, (and yes) The Cloud Appreciation Society