Clarkia Cobb is a singer, musician, educator, and composer who lives and works in Seattle, WA.
She moved to Seattle in 2009 to attend Cornish College of the Arts and graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor of Music in vocal jazz performance. In 2015 she released her original E.P Farewell To Spring in partnership with Norris Song Productions in Nashville, TN.
In 2022 Clarkia received her master’s in music with an emphasis in music education from Western Washington University. Her time at Western was spent developing her classroom education skills, studying composition, and arranging and advocating for vocal pedagogy classes for ALL forms of contemporary commercial music.
Her Master's thesis, “Vocal Pedagogy With the Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) Singer,” presents extensive evidence of the lack of vocal and genre inclusivity in most university's pedagogy curricula. Her thesis includes a rationale for vocal pedagogy for CCM styles taught within the university systems, rooted in the teaching of Vocal Function from Cornelius Reid and expanded upon by Jeannette LoVetri, the creator of Somatic Voicework ™.
The culmination of her thesis was creating a university-based semester course designed to build vocal pedagogy skills in CCM styles, teaching students how to prepare and develop their voices. With the various stylistic parameters each genre needs.
Clarkia has taught in the Seattle area for seven years, first at Off The Wall School of Music (2016-2019) and as the choral voice coach at Eckstein Middle School (2017-2019). In 2019, Clarkia opened her private studio, Heart Song Studios.
Heart Song was inspired by Clarkia’s love of the voice and her three-year+ studies and mentorship with Five Element Acupuncture and Sufi healer Thea Elijah. Clarkia witnessed the power of teaching, living, creating, and performing with and from the heart. Seeking to bring these enriching healing and heart practices to her voice students and bring medicine without form to the voice, she created Heart Song Studios.
Clarkia was diagnosed with Muscle Tension Dysphonia three years into her teaching journey. (Where one vocal fold is larger than the other.) After significant research to find a solution, she found Somatic Voicework ™.
Through the guidance of Lesichen Moore, certified teacher of Somatic Voicework ™, Clarkia learned more about the voice in her lessons than in any of her higher education. After one year with Lesichen, her instrument performed better than it ever had!
In 2020, inspired by Leischen’s knowledge and teaching ability to assess all voices, she attended the LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework ™, completing level I and level II, led by Somatic Voicework ™ founder and master teacher Jeannette LoVetri. She finished her Somatic Voicework ™certification by completing levels II and III in 2021. Clarkia teaches using the principles she learned at the LoVetri Institute for Somatic Voicework™.
On stage, Clarkia is at home in any contemporary genre: Jazz, Rock, Pop, Funk, Soul, and Musical Theater. But the freedom of expression in improvisation within the jazz tradition—which allows everyone to express their voice within an ensemble—speaks to her heart the most.
She has spent the last three years working on her master’s degree, thesis, composition skills and her second album, Priestess. When she is not singing, playing piano, or making music in some capacity, she can usually be found in the mountains backpacking, or skiing, working out or spending time with her very vocal cat, Sir Isaac.
