Vocal Instructor
In 2014, Resa and her husband decided to start performing again as the local duo IvoryBlu. They play the music they enjoy listening to classic and current rock and blues covers and the originals they’ve written over the years. They have played locally and in the Lehigh Valley at various venues including The NazJazz Fest, the Allentown Arts Park, the Palmerton Fest, the Dream Come True Telethon at Penn’s Peak, The Blue Shamrock, Bonnie and Clyde Pub and Grill, the OneTen Tavern, JoeyB’s and The Mansion House in Summit Hill, as well as for many private parties. In 2016, Resa joined the Palmerton Area Junior and Senior High School Drama Club as their Musical Director. She has worked with the students there on the productions of Guys and Dolls, Little Shop of Horrors, Mulan Jr., The Sound of Music, The Lion King Jr., Mamma Mia!, The Little Mermaid, Jr., the Alumni Broadway Revue, and this past year’s Big Fish, which due to Covid they were sadly unable to perform. This year, Resa has been asked to take over the High School Chorus as their director, as soon as the school board allows the resumption of vocal music.
Resa has over forty years of vocal performance experience. In high school, she concentrated on classical choral work and musical theatre work. It was then that she earned the basics of my technique as she studied with a phenomenal vocal coach. In college, though she continued working in local theatre, Resa moved mostly into the genres of rock and blues. Resa has spent almost twenty years honing her craft, studying for a bit with a private coach, and working in various bands in the Philadelphia area, performing in the genres of rock, blues, and jazz. Along with her husband and their bandmates, Resa polished her songwriting and vocal chops. Resa is particularly proud of the work she did with the band The Electrics, performing originals and blues on the Philly circuit – and as a regular band performing at Philadelphia’s iconic club J.C. Dobbs on South Street.
For the last few years, Resa has taken on some private vocal students, though she feels it necessary to let you know that she is not “academically trained” as a teacher. What she brings to her students, both at the High School and through her private lessons, are her love, joy, and experience in vocal performance.
Resa centers most of her teaching on proper breath control, support, and vocal technique. She wants her students to learn how to sing properly so that they don’t blow out their voices during a gig or a run of shows. Also, Resa strongly reiterates with her students that though good technique is essential, they need to also learn how to emote the story of their lyrics, or their performance will be cold and fall flat.
She is very careful with the young students she takes on. The female voice, like the male voice, goes through a change at puberty. Resa prefers not to work, or to work very lightly, with girls that are too young, as she feels that a lot of damage can be done to a young voice by “pushing it” before it has matured. Her students are primarily interested in the musical theatre, as well as the pop/rock/blues genres.