Dr. Valerie Trollinger

Dr. Valerie Trollinger earned her Masters of Music and Doctor of Music Education degrees at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, with advanced studies in Vocal Performance, Bassoon Performance, Vocal Pedagogy, Instructional Systems Technology, Performing Arts Administration, and Opera Literature.  Her primary bassoon teachers include John Shamlian (Philadelphia Orchestra), Bernard Garfield (Philadelphia Orchestra), Kim Walker (Indiana University), Sidney Rosenberg (Indiana University), and Ryohei Nakagawa, (Tokyo Metropolitan Philharmonic and Aspen Festival).  Her graduate studies in voice and vocal pedagogy have included working with Paul Kiesgen (Indiana University) and with Alan Cemore (Indiana University) in the studio of Margaret Harshaw.

An active performer, Dr. Trollinger serves as principal bassoonist for the Reading Symphony Orchestra and also performs regularly with the Lancaster Symphony and Kennett Symphony Orchestras.  Additionally, she has performed in the bassoon section of the Philadelphia Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, Greensboro (NC) Symphony, Chamber Orchestra of the Triad (Durham, NC), Aspen Chamber and Festival Orchestras and served as a substitute bassoonist for the Cleveland Orchestra. She also has performed in many other ensembles in the USA as a free-lancer. Additionally, she has performed as a mezzo-soprano in art-song performances and operatic roles.

Prior to returning to PA to teach at KU, Dr. Trollinger taught at Indiana University (Bloomington, IN), Indiana State University (Terre Haute), Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland), and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  In 2016 she served as a Fulbright Scholar and taught at the Universiti Teknologie MARA in Shah Alam, Malaysia. Dr. Trollinger also taught public school music for over 10 years in schools in Southeastern PA and Philadelphia, at all grade levels and including instrumental, vocal, choral, and general music.

Dr. Trollinger's principal areas of research include the use of instructional technology in music and music education, child voice development and pedagogy, and performing arts medicine and musician health, specifically concerning laryngeal behaviors, pedagogy, vocal care, and voice damage in wind instrumentalists.   In addition to teaching at Kutztown, she is also an Adjunct Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Drexel University College of Medicine and serves as a wind instrument and teacher voice care consultant at Philadelphia ENT Associates. She has presented her research and papers, both research-based and philosophical, at national conferences and international symposiums in Denmark, Germany, Finland, Malaysia, and Greece, and serves as a member of the Vocal Health committee for the Health Promotion in Schools of Music project. She has published studies and articles in the Journal of Research in Music Education, The Philosophy of Music Education Review, The Music Educator's Journal, General Music Today, Journal of Singing, the Double Reed Journal, authored two books on technology in music education, contributed a chapter on Singing in John Flohr's "The musical lives of young children," published by Prentice-Hall, and also coauthored "Music in elementary education," also published by Routledge (2010). Additionally, she has co-authored several chapters with Dr. Robert Sataloff concerning child vocal health, laryngeal and respiratory behaviors in wind instrumentalists, hearing loss, and general performing arts medicine (with Dr. William Dawson), with several recently published in "Professional Voice: Science and Art of Clinical Care, 4^th Edition" (Sataloff, 2017) and "Vocal Health and Pedagogy, 3^rd Edition" (Sataloff, 2017). Her most recent co-authored book is “ Dentofacial Anomalies: Implications for Voice and Wind Instrument Performance” with Dr. Abdul Latif Hamden, Dr. Robert Sataloff, and Mary Hawkshaw, published by Springer-Verlag ( 2021).

Dr. Trollinger is a member of the Board of Directors of the Reading Choral Society, the Education Committee and Musicians Committee of the Reading Symphony Orchestra, is an article reviewer for the Journal of Voice, and serves on the Advisory Board for Plural Publishing. She also is a founding member of the Berks County Woodwind Quintet "Fyve."


Degrees:
B.M.E. - Susquehanna University, 1982
M.M. - Indiana University (Bloomington), 1984
D.M.E. - Indiana University (Bloomington), 2001