Client Profiles

Meet some of our wonderful clients!

Sarah Blacker

Sarah Blacker has been singing ever since she could talk. She says, "Ask my parents. It was just constant." It's no surprise that she turned her passion into a fulfilling career as a board-certified Music Therapist and singer/songwriter. These two vocations dovetail with her personal philosophy that music is universal. "It allows you to connect with pretty much anyone you come in contact with and communication gaps can be bridged. Music helps you process life's events."

Two years ago, Sarah's mission was threatened by a voice disorder. She noticed that she "lost the ability to easily produce sound". She experienced tightness in her throat, a raspy sound and she was having difficulty reaching her higher singing notes. Instead of her usual daily dose of joy, she found her work physically tiring.  She describes this as "the scariest thing ever. Everything I'd worked for and was doing on a daily basis I had to change."

It was these difficulties that prompted her to come to Voicewize for voice therapy. Over the course of treatment, she was able to regain her vocal range, eliminate vocal strain and fatigue and learn to project her voice without damaging it. With treatment, she was able to resume work on her album and with the autistic children she treats clinically. She states, "it definitely prolonged my singing career" and "I know what to do now" to overcome vocal challenges.

We were thrilled to help Sarah get back to singing and music therapy. Please enjoy a sample from her albums below!

Toni Kussman

Twelve-year-old Toni Beth Kussman of Newton has been singing for more than half her life. She loves to sing pop and rock, but is cross-training for musical theater. She has performed in seven musicals. She has performed in South Pacific and Bye Bye Birdie. She’s also been in a number of talent shows and school concerts. Toni says she loves having an audience and making people smile. She sings because music gives her a chance to express herself and ”takes her to another place.” Toni has been a student with Barbara and Voicewize for 6 months and says her lessons have allowed her to further her artistic
expression by weaving movement and acting into her songs.

Roderick Wilmore

By day 54-year old Roderick Wesley Wilmore is a dedicated and talented mental health specialist with the state of Massachusettes, by night he's a dedicated, talented and funny television, film and stage actor. And if all that isn’t enough, Roderick is also a fantastic singer. He has been taking voice lessons with Barbara for four years with a focus on fine-tuning his singing voice. While having sung in church choirs since 1984, Roderick’s first foray into musical theater was in 2003, when he was cast in the ensemble of Ragtime at The Company Theater in Norwell.

He says he enjoyed being able to express himself in song while entertaining an audience. Over the last 7 years he has participated in a number of shows in community theaters in Norwell, Brockton, Foxboro and Plymouth, including roles as Marty in Dream Girls, Reverend Sykes in to Kill a Mockingbird and Jacob in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. He’s also had roles in several major motion pictures including The Game Plan, 21 and the upcoming, The Company Men. He says his training with Voicewize has helped him not only improve his singing voice and ability to project, but has alsogiven him a new respect for the importance of training and protecting one’s voice.

Amanda Crimmins

Amanda Crimmins’ first passion wasn’t singing, it was sports, but a severe elbow injury at age 7 took her off the field and landed her on stage. Amanda began singing at school and was performing solos by age 9. A natural performer, Amanda quickly developed a passion for singing. It was now her world and she gave it her all, until injury once again interrupted her life.

While training with a vocal coach in RI, Amanda was encouraged “push through” hoarseness, due to a bout of pnemonia, in order to participate in the studio’s cabaret. When her voice did not recover after the show, Amanda went to see an ENT. At
age 11 she was diagnosed with vocal fold nodules. Amanda was devastated and worried she might lose singing the same way she’d lost sports and dance. Everything changed when Amanda’s doctor referred her to Voicewize for speech therapy. Barbara told Amanda there would be no singing for a while and therapy would be an involved process, but assured her there was hope.

When Amanda completed therapy and began singing again she stayed with Barbara for voice lessons. Amanda says Barbara helped her through a tough time and they developed a special bond that’s lasted more than 4 years. Now age 15, Amanda is
performing regularly at local community theaters and coffee houses. She has also opened for country singer Randy Houser, participated in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the last 3 years and last year she sang at Carnegie Hall in New York. Amanda is proud of her accomplishments especially given all she’s been through in her young life. She says she’s been given a gift, which she now wants to share with anyone who will listen. But, she says, without the love, support and guidance from Barbara, she couldn't have done any of it.

Dorothy Clark

Jamaica Plain’s Dorothy Clark is ageless, and some might say as timeless as jazz. Dorothy says she is drawn to jazz music because “it seems to offer a lot of vocal freedom.” Freedom she doesn’t get in her structured and scripted life as a journalist or even as an actress and voiceover artist. She says while she loves writing and acting, singing is one of her highest forms of creativity. Dorothy has been training with Barbara for more than a year, but has been performing for more than 20 years,
most recently with the band “The Elements.” Among her favorite songs to sing is “Fly Me To the Moon” and she counts Sarah Vaughn, with her rich warm voice, as one of her inspirations. She has this advice for young singers, “Don't try to possess the song. Be a channel for it to come through you.” Dorothy has performed in the New England Russian Theater Festival and the Boston Playwrite’s Platform. You can catch her in the upcoming webisode series “Talk the TALK.”