Richard Miller

Richard Miller (April 9, 1926 – May 5, 2009) was a professor of singing at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and the author of numerous books on singing technique and vocal pedagogy. He also sang recitals, oratorios, and numerous roles as a lyric tenor with major opera companies in Europe and America.

Early life and career Richard Miller was born April 9, 1926, in Canton, Ohio, as the youngest of 5 children. but then returned to singing, in musicals at Lincoln High School in Canton. He was drafted upon graduation from high school in 1944, assigned to the 7th Armored Division tank corps and sent to the European theater in January 1945, attached to the British First Army. Stationed near Marseilles after the end of hostilities, he took voice lessons with baritone Edouard Tyrand at the Marseilles Conservatory. before transferring to University of Michigan. While in Princeton he met his future wife, linguist and choral singer Mary Dagger. Accompanied by his wife, Mary Norman Dagger Miller, in 1951 he traveled to Italy, where the couple lived for two years. In Rome, he studied with Luigi Ricci. He then went on to sing for four years as leading lyric tenor at the opera house in Zürich, Switzerland. Two of the Millers' five children were born in those years.

He became internationally known for his abilities as a teacher of singing; for many years he gave teaching sessions all over North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. He authored eight books and hundreds of articles on the subject of singing.

Miller's collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic during the 1980s led to the development of the Oberlin Conservatory's Otto B. Schoepfle Vocal Arts Center (OBSVAC), an acoustic laboratory that measures vocal production and provides visual and auditory feedback to the singer. The vocal arts center at Oberlin was the first of its kind to be based within a music school.

Notable students Notable students of Richard Miller include:

tenor, Salvatore Champagne soprano, Megan Marie Hart baritone, Robert Sims bass-baritone, Donald Bell mezzo-soprano, Elizabeth Fischer Monastero soprano, Edith Wiens

Overview of work as teacher and voice scientist Richard Miller was Wheeler Professor of Performance at Oberlin Conservatory, where he taught 42 years. In addition to founding and directing the Vocal Arts Center (OBSVAC) at Oberlin Conservatory, he was a member of the Collegium Medicorum Theatri and American Academy of Teachers of Singing and was on the Otolaryngology Adjunct Staff of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.

Miller taught for 28 years at the Mozarteum International Summer Academy in Salzburg, Austria. He presented lectures and classes at the Paris Conservatory (Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris), at the Marseilles National Opera School, and at Centre Polyphonique.

In 2006, he retired from the Oberlin Conservatory, where he had taught for more than forty years. After retirement, he continued to teach some masterclasses. Internationally renowned for these masterclasses, he taught in Austria, Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and 38 US states. In 2006 Miller received the Voice Education Research Awareness Award from the Voice Foundation for his contributions to the field of voice communication.

Writings He has written articles for over 120 professional journals. He also edited several musical anthologies and collections.

His books include: National Schools of Singing (Scarecrow, 1977, reissued 1997) The Structure of Singing: System and Art in Vocal Technique (Schirmer Books/Macmillan, 1986) Training Tenor Voices (Schirmer Books/Macmillan, 1993) On the Art of Singing (Oxford University Press, 1996) Singing Schumann: An Interpretive Guide for Performers (Oxford University Press, 1999) Training Soprano Voices (Oxford University Press, 2000) Solutions for Singers: Tools for Performers and Teachers (Oxford University Press, 2004) Securing Baritone, Bass-Baritone, and Bass Voices (Oxford University Press, 2008)