Sarah Katherine Stapleton
Areas of Expertise
- Community Music
- Music Education
- Vocal Performance
Biography
I am a Mezzo-Soprano and musical theatre artist with over 20 years of experience studying music, and am currently pursuing my PhD in Community Music at Wilfrid Laurier University. Prior degrees include a Master of Teaching in Intermediate-Senior Music and Mathematics, a Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology, and a Bachelor of Music with High Distinction specializing in Voice and Music Education. I have been privileged to study voice with a wide range of operatic and musical theatre teacher-artists including Kimberly Barber, Leslie Fagan, Amanda Brunk, Victor Martens, Doreen Taylor-Claxton, and Elizabeth Benson.
Outside of singing, I am the founder and clinical director of Counterspiral Care, a psychotherapy clinic and consulting practice dedicated to supporting queer, neurodivergent, and BIPOC individuals through actively affirming care. I am also a proud LivingWorks ASIST suicide first aid trainer, where I support individuals and teams in creating suicide safer communities and building life-saving skills.
Research Interests
I am an avid researcher in the fields of community music, trauma-informed voice pedagogy and DEI in schools. My doctoral work is an autoethnographic case study of my experiences in a community-music based undergraduate voice studio to investigate the impacts of such pedagogies on holistic health, well-being, vocal technique and trauma recovery.
Outside of my PhD, I am currently collaborating with Interim Dean Kimberly Barber on a series of articles about incorporation of community music principles in the university voice studio. I am also contributing to several articles for the Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education.
Languages
- English
- French