Loraine Sims

Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick Professor of Voice

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Biography

Loraine Sims is Edith Killgore Kirkpatrick Professor of Voice, Vocal Studies Division Chair and Vocal Area Coordinator at Louisiana State University. Recent presentations include “Teaching Lucas: The Rest of the Story – Ten Years After Testosterone” at the National NATS Conference in Knoxville in the summer of 2024.

This presentation was an update to the March/April 2017 NATS Journal article “Teaching Lucas: A Transgender Student’s Vocal Journey from Soprano to Tenor.” Other recent presentations include “Gender Neutral Voice Pedagogy: It’s Not just for Transgender Singers Anymore!” for the International Congress of Voice Teachers (ICVT) in Vienna and the National NATS Conference in Chicago in the summer 2022. Recent performances include “Comedy in Song: Humorous Art Songs in English” at the 2017 International Congress of Voice Teachers which she also presented at the 2016 National NATS Conference. 

Other professional activities include Voice Masculinization and Voice Feminization: Vocalises for Trans and Gender Expansive Singers for the 2020 NATS Virtual National Conference as well as co-chairing the Plenary Session, The Ethics of a Profession: Diversity and Inclusivity. Previous activities include a pre-conference workshop, “Teaching Outside the Gender Binary: Working with Transgender and Non-Binary Singers” for the 2018 National NATS Conference in Las Vegas as well as two other sessions on this topic. Dr. Sims was invited to present a workshop, “What the Fach? Voice Dysphoria in the Transgender and Genderqueer Singer” for the Voice Foundation’s 2018 Annual Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice in Philadelphia. Other presentations include a session at the national ACDA Conference in Kansas City in 2019, “Honoring and Validating Transgender Singers in a Choral Context II: Healthy Vocal Pedagogy for Transgender Singers”, “Training Transgender Singers for Opera Performance: Gender Bending Beyond the Pants Role” for the 2017 NOA Conference, “Teaching Lucas: A Transgender Student’s Vocal Journey from Soprano to Tenor” at the 2017 ICVT in Stockholm, Sweden, the 2016 National NOA/NATS conference, the 2016 National MTNA Conference and the 2016 National NATS Convention, and “Training the Terrible Tongue!” for the 2014 Chicago NATS Chapter, and the 2012 National NATS Conference. Other presentations include “Using Technology in the Voice Studio” at the 2015 Louisiana NATS Workshop, "Practical Applications for the Spectrogram in the Voice Studio: A Demonstration," at the 2007 CMS/ATMI Conference and the 2007 Southern Regional Conference of NATS. 

Dr. Sims is a past Southern Regional Governor of NATS and is also a member of NOA and MTNA. She enjoys giving master classes and her students have been winners in national and regional competitions, are singing in regional opera and concert venues, and are teaching in schools and universities in the US and abroad. Dr. Sims has also been a mentor for the NATS National Mentoring Collaborative. Her areas of strength/expertise include working with transgender singers, balancing an academic career with research or performance goals, and voice pedagogy.