Erin Hackel’s talent and love of vocal music landed her on stages singing opera and musical theater. She puts that experience to work as an associate professor at CU Denver’s College of Arts and Media, in the Music and Entertainment Industry Studies Department, which she joined in 2003.

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The Virginia native’s expertise is in classical singing, having earned three classical vocal degrees, including a doctorate at CU Boulder. Yet at CU Denver, she plunged into a world where student demand necessitated understanding contemporary vocals.

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“The difference between the two is a technical one,” Hackel said. “It’s a different way of producing the sound. It involves different usage of the vocal folds, the mechanism itself. That’s one piece of it. Another piece is the physical height of the larynx: It tends to be quite low for classical singing; it creeps up for belters. They’re two totally different ways of using the voice. To my mind, one is not any better than the other, they’re just different.”

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The mother of two sons, she’s also a voracious reader who loves to cook.

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Dr. Erin Hackel is an Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado, Denver. Her award winning a cappella groups, MIX and Lark have traveled across the United States and Europe competing and performing. Her research and publications center on the lives of female composers and performers, and inform her work with young women today. Erin has given many lectures and classes at vocal festivals around the country on healthy contemporary singing, seeking to demystify the pedagogy of modern singing styles.

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