"Secondary trauma is when you experience trauma second-hand. The trauma might not have happened to you specifically, but somebody shares with you their firsthand trauma and it impacts you emotionally, maybe physically. We don’t realize that we are very compassionate, empathic people, and we sometimes take it on without meaning to. It can impact us. I don’t think I can think of a teacher who’s never dealt with it.“

Dr. Lynn Ryan began reading music before she learned how to read English. A lifelong musician, she loves to bring the power and joy of music to singers and audiences alike! Lynn is a skilled conductor, soprano, pianist, and horn player – in addition to whatever instrument is lying around!

She has taught in Great Falls for the past fourteen years. As director of the C.M. Russell High School Choirs for ten years she developed a thriving program, leading the Chanteur Choir to four northwest regional conference performances and national recognition as finalists for the American Prize in Choral Music. Currently Lynn enjoys teaching 5th and 6th grade instrumental music at seven different elementary schools. She is also founding artistic director of the non-profit choral arts organization, the Electric City Choral Union. She is an advocate for creating singing opportunities that provide community and high-level artistry. She has served on the Northwest ACDA board, organizes the MCDA Central Montana Youth Sing, and enjoys guest conducting and adjudicating choral music all over the Pacific Northwest.

Lynn earned her bachelor’s degree in K-12 Choral Music Education from Pacific Lutheran University, her Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Northern Arizona University, and Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from St. Leo University in Tampa, Florida.

Outside of school she plays piano and handbells at her church and frequently collaborates with her choral director husband, Patrick. Together they have three children who are budding musicians themselves!

To get in touch with Lynn, you can email her at lynn_ryan@gfps.k12.mt.us, find her on Facebook (@lynn.fransenryan) or visit electriccitychoralunion.org .

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

Podcast music from Podcast.co
Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson

"For years, I felt that there was no connection with my hands and the sound. My perception of conducting at the time was that everything needs to be free and relaxed, no tension - and no tension when you sing. There has to be tension when you sing and conduct, because if there's no tension in the body, you're basically bones and skin on the ground. It's a matter of where the tension is. Is it good tension? Is it bad tension? There's an idea of feeling a sense of weight in the gesture, in the breath."

Dr. Gary Seighman is a Professor, Director of Choral Activities, and Chair of the Music Department at Trinity University. Under his leadership, Trinity’s choirs have earned numerous accolades, including invited performances at state and national conferences, tours across the United States and abroad, unique artistic collaborations, and commercial recordings. A charismatic and passionate artist, Seighman is highly sought after as a clinician, guest conductor, and speaker. He received the 2023 Innovative Concert Programming Award from the Texas Choral Directors Association and, more recently, the Guy H. Ranson Memorial Award for excellence in teaching, research, and service from the Carlos Alvarez School of Arts and Humanities. He is honored to conduct the 2025–2026 Texas Private School All-State Choir.

Since 2015, he has conducted in East Asia six times, including leading the Peking University Summer Opera Program, offering graduate masterclasses in Taiwan, and participating in engagements in Japan. In 2019, he was artist-in-residence at University College Dublin, with additional work in London, Cambridge, and Liverpool. He served as chorusmaster at the Classical Music Festival in Vienna (2018) and led the TU Chamber Singers on a 2024 tour of the U.K. and France, featuring a live-broadcast evensong from Winchester Cathedral. His Carnegie Hall conducting debut came in 2022, followed by returns in 2023 and 2025 to conduct the National Honor Choir.

In 2021–2022, Seighman served as a TU Public Humanities Faculty Fellow. He has authored over a dozen publications in book chapters and peer-reviewed journals, released a published conducting masterclass video with Forward Motion, and presented more than thirty sessions at conferences nationwide. Always eager to explore new artistic and creative outlets, Seighman has been signed as a model and actor with Avant Agency since 2018, appearing in print, online, on billboards, and in radio and television. His new book The Choir Playbook: Tools for the Imaginative Conductor is available from GIA Publications. In his spare time, he coaches soccer, softball, and baseball for his children, Gabrielle and Justin.

To get in touch with Gary, you can find him on Instagram (@gary_seighman) or Facebook (@gary.seighman) or email him at gseighma@trinity.edu.

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

Podcast music from Podcast.co
Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson

“We really wanted our choirs to be more embedded in the community. When I moved to Syracuse, I thought, ‘what does that mean for me?’ There are a lot of teachers out there who are just itching for a professional or pre-professional experience. They’ve been teaching notes all day. You know they want to come and sing, do something meaningful for their community.”

Dr. Wendy K. Moy is a conductor, soprano, educator, and nonprofit founder whose work centers on the culture of choral communities and the power of singing to foster belonging. She serves as Associate Professor and Chair of Music Education at Syracuse University, where she teaches conducting, choral literature, and music education courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and directs the Syracuse University Oratorio Society.

Dr. Moy is the co-founder and co-artistic director of Chorosynthesis Singers, the 2024 American Prize winners in Choral Performance, and the founder and artistic director of Ensemble Sonora, a semi-professional treble choir dedicated to performing music that engages with the issues and stories shaping our communities. Her research on singing communities is published in Resurrecting Song (Routledge) and in Oxford University Press's Together in Music. A third-place American Prize winner in Choral Conducting, she has led ensembles across the United States, Brazil, and China.

To get in touch with Wendy, you can visit her website, wendymoy.com, or find her on Instagram (@maestramoy) or Facebook (@wendy.moy1).

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

Podcast music from Podcast.co
Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson