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Research and Creative Consultation

My career has been about connecting artistic practice with deeper meaning, structure and inquiry. My work sits at the intersection of artistic practice, pedagogy, research and meaning making. I am a scholar-practitioner who is experienced in inter-disciplinary, trans-continental, multi-institutional research.

Research interests:

  • Performance Arts Research
  • Qualitative research methods
  • Arts-based methodologies and practice-led inquiry
  • Voice Pedagogy Cultural Studies
  • Musical Theatre Voice Pedagogy and Performance
  • Commercial Music Voice Pedagogy and Performance
  • Belonging, Accessibility and Equity in the Creative Arts

My book, based on my PhD research, was published by Routledge, Exposing the Chasms in Voice Pedagogy: Playing the Field  in 2024 and I am currently working on a co-edited collection, Voices of Belonging (due 2027), again published by Routledge. I co-authored the chapter on “Western Musical Theatre Voice Pedagogy” in the upcoming Oxford Handbook of Voice Pedagogy (due Spring 2026). I currently serve as the Co-Editor of Australian Voice journal, the journal of the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing.

PhD Research

In 2020 I received my PhD from the University of Southern Queensland.

The fields of research were, as stated by the fields of research, in accordance with the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC):

Field of Research 390101 – creative arts, media and communication curriculum and pedagogy. 
Field of Research 360304 – music performance

My thesis is titled In the Room Where it Happens: Teaching Musical Theatre and Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) Singing. My field-based, practice-informed research examined how musical theatre voice teachers in the United States teach other Contemporary and Commercial Music (CCM) styles like pop, country and rock, to their musical theatre students, and why specific vocal performance skills might be overlooked in academia.

I conducted a multi-sited focused ethnographic (MSFE) approach, visiting six universities in the United States and observing musical theatre voice teachers in action. I used observation, interviews and videos for data collection. During the research collection period I was a Visiting Research Scholar at Shenandoah Conservatory, Shenandoah University. For more information about this novel research method into one-to-one voice pedagogy, see this publication, co-authored with Dr Melissa Forbes, in Music Education Research here: https://doi.org/10.1080/14613808.2022.2138842

I am a Big Q qualitative researcher interested in a variety of research approaches, including creative arts practices in research (both research-enabled practice and practice-enabled research, see Batty & Zalipour, 2024). My specific field of research for my PhD was enabled by my practices and experiences as a performer and teacher of Contemporary and Commercial Music (CCM) and musical theatre singing. I am familiar with research methods, including the importance of knowledge-research paradigms as foundational to research activities, and highly experienced in qualitative methods, in particular ethnography. I use, among other analytic tools, Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun and Clark, 2020; 2022) and I am interested in the concepts of capitals, practice, habits, and field as articulated by Bourdieu, and the intersectionality of class with access to various types of creative and performance arts education and employment.

Collaborations

I have been involved in multiple research projects and am experienced with interdisciplinary research collaboration. Projects include an interdisciplinary study with voice teachers and psychologists from the University of Auburn and the University of Central Florida examining emotional safety in the voice teaching studio. Another project was concerned with gender equity in academic employment in higher education musical theatre programs which has involved researchers from Florida Southern University and Auburn University. Results from these projects have been disseminated internationally.

Publications

Foster, M., Cox, D., Saunders Barton, M. (pending 2026). Pedagogy of Western Musical Theatre. In J. Nix, J., and L. Scearce, (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Voice Pedagogy. Oxford University Press.

Cox, Dale (2024). Exposing the Chasms in Voice Pedagogy: Playing the Field. Routledge.

Cox, D. (2024). Accessing Speech for CCM and Musical Theatre / Accent Work. In Marci Rosenberg and Wendy LeBorgne (Eds), The Vocal Athlete: Application and Technique for the Hybrid Singer. Plural.

Cox, D. Sage, R, Mason, J.  (2024). Introducing MTEA Voice and the Development of a Musical Theatre Singing Voice Glossary. MTEA Journal. DOI 10.62392/KIAD3870.

Cox, D. & Forbes, M. (2022). Introducing multi-sited focused ethnography for researching one-to-one (singing voice) pedagogy in higher education, Music Education Research. DOI: 10.1080/14613808.2022.2138842

Cox, Dale (2020). In the Room Where it Happens: Teaching Musical Theatre and Contemporary and Commercial Music (CCM) singing. [PhD Thesis].  https://eprints.usq.edu.au/40200/7/DCOX%20THESIS%20FINAL.pdf

Book Reviews

Some reviews for Exposing the Chasms in Voice Pedagogy:

Exposing the Chasms in Voice Pedagogy covers topics that have wide-ranging implications for those in the profession. In particular, it should be required reading for all voice teachers working within academia. Cox pulls back the curtain on institutional biases that prevent degree programs from preparing students for the realities of the industry. Programs unwilling to address these biases and adjust as cultural tastes and opportunities shift risk contributing to their own extinction.

Brian Manternach, Classical Singer Magazine, December 2025
https://www.csmusic.net/content/articles/the-singers-library-vocal-traditions-and-exposing-the-chasms-in-voice-pedagogy/
Associate Professor (Clinical)
Department of Theatre
University of Utah

The book calls for comprehensive reform in voice pedagogy in higher education, which is long overdue. Cox provides a model for the future of qualitative research in voice pedagogy. Like the field itself, Cox’s perspective is complex, nuanced, and deeply principled. She manages to access perspectives that have been hidden behind closed doors. The work is deeply committed to discovering what is best for students, and exploring how to balance the competing needs of academia and the industry. Cox challenges outdated practices, dismantles hierarchical structures, and exposes the blind spots within a system built of ivory towers.

Elizabeth Benson, Professor of Musical Theatre
Theatre and Dance, College of Liberal Arts
Auburn University

This should be required reading for anyone teaching or considering teaching musical theatre and contemporary singing.

Deonte Warren, Assistant Professor of Practice, 
School of Theatre, Dance and Film, 
Texas State University

Research Experience

  • Qualitative research approaches within performing arts education and performance settings.
  • Innovative use of multi-sited focused ethnographic research into the performing arts conducted in six academic institutions.
  • Experienced in supporting faculty colleagues and students in arts-based methodologies and practice-led enquiry. Able to identify underlying themes in artistic works and pedagogical practices and translate these into clear research pathways.
  • Strategic intuitive thinker who can bridge creativity, critical thinking, artistic practice, cultural awareness while maintaining academic rigor.
  • Experience at identifying underlying themes and synthesizing ideas to explore and create practical structures for communication, training and dissemination.
  • Experienced at the identification of epistemology and ontological alignment with research methodology and research methods.
  • Experienced in the use of conceptual frameworks for qualitative data analysis where required. In particular, extremely familiar with the use of Bourdieu’s thinking tools and Shulman’s Signature Pedagogies.
  • Deep insights and pattern recognition. Experienced in the use of data analysis processes, in particular Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun and Clark, 2024).
  • Experienced at dissemination of research through presentations, posters, journal publications and books.
  • Understanding of and experience in archiving research materials in accordance with national standards.
  • Integrity: Strong understanding and experience in practice of Ethics with training in both Australian and US (CITI) Responsible Conduct of Research / Human Subject Research Protection requirements.

Presentations, Workshops, and Papers

  • Musical Theatre Educators Alliance International Conference: Harmony Across Borders: Global Perspectives in Musical Theatre Education. July 23-25, 2024. Collaboration and co-operation: Cross disciplinary training in conversation. Panel moderator. Guildford, UK.
  • National Association of Teachers of Singing: 58th NATS National Conference. June 28 – July 2, 2024. Playing the game: Identifying the invisible forces at work in the field of voice pedagogy. Knoxville, TN, USA.
  • The Voice Foundation 53rd Annual Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice. May 29 – June 2nd, 2024. What is Your Position? Identifying Systemic Structural Forces in the Playing Field of Voice Pedagogy. Philadelphia, USA.
  • Women and Allies in Music, Coastal Carolina University. Gender Equity in Music Education. December 4, 2023.
  • The Voice Foundation 52nd Annual Symposium: Care of the Professional Voice. May 31 – June 4, 2023. Accepted. Belonging and Excluding: Who Can Play in the Field of Voice Pedagogy?  Unable to present due to visa requirements. This was an in-person only conference.
  • Musical Theatre Educators Alliance (MTEA) January 4-6, 2023. Keynote speaker. Exposing the chasms in voice pedagogy: Playing the field. Open Jar Studios, New York.
  • ICVT 2022 August 3-7, 2022. Registrational pitch parameters for contemporary singing training: Considerations, research, and practice. Collaborative project with Dr Kathleen Bell. University of Vienna.
  • ICVT 2022 August 3-7, 2022. From Theory to Embodiment: Considerations of cross training for classical and contemporary voice teachers. Collaborative research project with Shelli Hulcombe (Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University). University of Vienna.
  • Musical Theatre Educators Alliance (MTEA) Conference January 4-6, 2022: The Gender Gap: Faculty Equity in Musical Theatre. Co-presenter with research partners Dr Elizabeth Benson (Auburn University) and Dr Christianne Roll (Florida Southern University). (Online)
  • Musical Theatre Educators Alliance (MTEA) Conference January 4-6, 2022. Position Paper MTEA Voice. Glossary of Terms for Musical Theatre Professionals. Lead Author with Raymond Sage (Penn State University) and Joseph Mason (Valdosta State University). (Online)
  • Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing: National Conference. Come Together. Online. The year that changed my teaching: Ethnographic research into music theatre and CCM voice pedagogy. (October 2020).
  • National Association of Teachers of Singing: 56th NATS National Conference. Online. Versatility for employability: Current music theatre training, research, and practice. (June 2020).
  • Musical Theatre Educators’ Alliance (MTEA). Riding the Wave of Musical Theatre. San Diego. Riding the Wave of Change: Creating Life Changing Professional Development (January 2020).
  • The Voice Foundation, Philadelphia. The Use of Focused Ethnography as a Methodology in CCM Voice Pedagogy Research (June 2019).
  • Shenandoah Conservatory. Bodywork for Singing Teachers, (October 2018, May 2019).
  • Musical Theatre Educator’s Alliance (MTEA). Beyond Broadway. Orlando.
    Presenter: You’re from where? Australian music theatre performers and the quintuple threat: singer, actor, dancer, instrumentalist and entrepreneur, (January 2018).
  • ANATS, The Young Singer’s Journey. Co-Convener NSW, Australia, (May 2018).
  • ANATS Voice Building for all Ages: The mature voice, (March 2018).
  • Auburn University, Alabama, USA. Music theatre in Australia: opportunities and partnerships, (January 2018).
  • Overcoming Performance Anxiety, Brisbane. Presenter and workshop facilitator, (August 2015).