Patricia L. Hales
Continuing Instructor in Music
hales@calumet.purdue.edu
Phone: (219)989-2627
Fax: (219)989-2008
Biography
Trisha was born and raised in Gary, Indiana where she was raised in a
musical household. Her mother was a nurse who sang in choirs all her life
and her father, a gas serviceman for NIPSCO, played the flute and piccolo
in the Northwest Indiana Symphony, U.S. Steel Carillco band and many other
professional musical organizations in NW Indiana. Piano lessons were begun
in third grade and voice lessons in ninth.
Upon graduation from Calumet High School in 1973 she
auditioned for and was accepted to Indiana University School of Music
where she studied with the late opera star Eileen Farrell. While at
I.U., she had the privilege of appearing in the world premier performance
of John Eaton’s opera Danton and Robespierre as well as
premiering the song cycle Songs for Patricia written by Alec
Wilder. She graduated with High Honors in 1977 with a Bachelor of
Music degree in Voice Performance and received her Masters in 1978 in Vocal Pedagogy.
Since returning to northwest Indiana she has been a substitute teacher and accompanist for Merrillville Schools, taught for
15 years at IUN and, after serving 3 years as an adjunct faculty member in
music, is now a visiting instructor at Purdue Calumet. She also recently
served as a grant review panelist for the Indiana Arts Commission/
Northwest Indiana Arts Association. In her spare time she teachers voice
privately and has had the privilege of seeing many of her students
performing professionally in national tours of Into the Woods, Joseph
and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and currently on Broadway
in Aida.
Trisha is also very active in community work
especially in the area of theatre. She has appeared on stage in the roles
of Laurie in Oklahoma; Marian Paroo in The Music Man; Sarah
Brown in Guys and Dolls Guinevere in Camelot and Sister
Helen in the Indiana premier of Do Black Patent Leather Shoes
Really Reflect Up. Much in demand as a vocal coach and music director
for regional theatre, she was chosen to serve as music director for the
gala theatrical opening of the Center for Visual and Performing Arts
production of Sweeney Todd.
She is a member of the National Association of
Teachers of Singing and is a voting member of the National Association of
Recording Arts & Sciences (Grammy Awards).
She has also been listed in the Who’s Who of American Women and Women in Education and has received the Lifetime
Achievement Award and several other awards and nominations for
"Outstanding Vocal/ Music Direction" from the Northwest Indiana
Excellence in Theatre Foundation.
Courses Taught
M203 Music for Elementary School Teachers
M250 Music Appreciation
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