About the Authors
Raina Murnak
Dr. Raina Murnak is an Assistant Professor and Studio Director of Contemporary Voice & Performance Artistry at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. She is the program director of FrostOnline’s MA in Popular Music Pedagogy, founded/directs the Frost Young Musician’s Camp Summer Songwriting Intensive, co-founded the renowned Frost Method of Experiential Musicianship, and co-created the widely successful MADE program at Frost where she has been innovating in higher education for the last 20 years.
As a multi-talented performer, vocalist, songwriter, producer, performance coach, visual artist, actress, and choreographer, with over 20 years of experience on stage, on television, and in the studio, Murnak brings great depth and breadth to her work with artists. Her extensive training in both classical and popular voice has afforded her the rare ability to fluently perform and coach a vast array of styles and genres, unleashing artists and helping them create compelling, honest performances grounded in freedom and expression.
As a clinician and thought leader, Murnak speaks on stage presence, popular voice, movement, and strength-centered pedagogies. She recently performed off-Broadway in her musical Belva, co-written with actress Janine Turner. She is also developing the music curriculum for Pharrell Williams’ school YELLOWHAB.
She holds BA and MA degrees in Vocal Performance and Composition from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a DMA in Music Theory/Composition and Vocal Pedagogy from the University of Miami. Additionally, she also holds a certificate in Instructional Design from Oregon State.
Nancy Kirsner
Ph.D., TEP, OTR
Dr. Nancy Kirsner's experiences in the “helping professions” began with her first career in Occupational Therapy in a Veterans Hospital during the Vietnam War. Her career has been a great source of pride, growth, and continued learning.
She has been a clinician in private practice, a psychodramatist, and university professor with degrees in several areas of expertise – medical, psychiatric, education, marriage and family therapy, a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and a certified positive psychologist through Kripalu and Whole Being Institute. Positive Psychology changed how she sees and experiences her world and thus, how she shares things with others. She has been practicing, teaching, or consulting for over 45 years.
Nancy loves to teach using action explorations with different populations including financial planners, lawyers, church and temple members, writers, and now music professionals.
Nancy co-authored a chapter in Action Explorations: Using Psychodramatic Methods in Non-Therapeutic Setting with Phoebe Atkinson (edited by Adam Blatner, 2019). Nancy is a past President of the ASGPP and past Editor of the ASGPP’s Psychodrama Network News for six years. Nancy has been translating Positive Psychology principles and research into applied practices utilizing action methods for the last eight years. This book emerged from this work.
More important than any or all of these “credentials” … Nancy cares about people and is a person of the heart. In the words of Chris Peterson, “Other People Matter.”
