​

Welcome to my website. It's nice to have a visitor!

​

I am  a singing practitioner-researcher and educator at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. My path to the professional practice of music and then academia has been circuitous, having spent a good ten years devoted to the study and practice of law before studying music as a mature-aged student. I also studied English literature during my first stint at university. Given my favourite subject at school was maths, I'm clearly interested in lots of different things!

 

Please check out my blog which contains musings on life as an academic and issues in music education. 

​

I love being at home with my family and my two dogs, Mr Chips the (mad) dachshund and Shine, the (even madder) Italian Greyhound. In addition to always working on improving my singing, I am learning to play jazz piano online, a source of equal parts joy and frustration! 

​

SHORT PERFORMANCE BIO

​

Melissa Forbes is an Australian singer whose voice has the ability to seamlessly move between genres.  Melissa is equally at home singing jazz, rnb and soul, blues and folk music. Brisbane News described her sound as the "best of Ella, Etta and Aretha". She has released two albums, No More Mondays, and The Intimacy of Distance which was a collaboration with Brazliian singer and guitarist Bianca Obino. Performance highlights include appearances at the Queensland Music Festival, Port Fairy Folk Festival, Brisbane Jazz Festival, Women In Voice 21 and 23, featured vocalist with David Hobson and singing backing vocals for Michael Buble with a cappella super group Naturally 7. Melissa has performed nationally and internationally in Japan, Singapore and the USA.

​

SHORT ACADEMIC BIO

 

Melissa is Associate Professor in Contemporary Music at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. As  an educator, Melissa helped tranistion music at USQ from a classical to contemporary/popular music program in response to changing local and global educational contexts. Melissa has been the recipient of fellowships and awards, including the Churchill Fellowship. This Fellowship enabled Melissa to travel to the USA in 2011 where she studied with leading contemporary singing pedagogues Jeanie LoVetri and Robert Edwin. In 2012, she was also privileged to study with eminent voice scientist Johan Sundberg at a short course held at his summer house in rural Sweden. In recognition of her extensive contributions as an educational leader, she was made a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) in 2021.

​

Melissa is a singing practitioner-researcher who researches the lived experience of singing across a broad range of contexts, from elite, professional singers to  community groups. Her research uses qualitative methods to position singing as a unique health
and wellbeing practice from which all can benefit.

 

Melissa's PhD thesis (2016) explored collaborative learning for music practice and performance in higher music education. In addition to her program of research on singing, Melissa researches music performance pedagogy, collaborative learning and social theories of learning.

​

USQ staff profile and ePrints listing

​

Researchgate profile

​

ORCID profile

​

Google scholar profile