Lisa Forkish (SFYCA alum, 2001-2003) is a queer singer-songwriter, teacher and artivist, whose vocal arranging and music directing work has been showcased alongside Kehlani, Ben Harper, Michael Franti and Pentatonix. A SFYCA alum, raised in Eugene, OR, Lisa’s stint as director of her college a cappella group Divisi was the inspiration for the film Pitch Perfect and she was previously named Portlandʻs “Songwriter of the Year.” More recently, Lisa was the founder and director of 5-time national champion high school a cappella group, Vocal Rush, who placed 3rd on NBCʻs The Sing-Off.
Below are answers to some questions we posed to Lisa about her musical journey and experience with SFYCA. Enjoy!
SFYCA Alumni Profile Post #6!
SFYCA celebrates its 25th Anniversary this summer. SFYCA Alumni Profiles are one of many ways we will be celebrating SFYCA alumni (over 1200) who are doing amazing things in their careers today. If you are an alum, or know someone who is, please email Education & Operations Coordinator, Barbara Harris at bharris7@uoregon.edu.
1. In your own words, what does SFYCA mean to you? How has it shaped and informed your career?
My experience with SFYCA was hugely impactful for me as a high school musician. It gave me a sense of the vastness of the music world outside of my high school classroom. For one, working with Bobby McFerrin as a high school sophomore was a dream come true, and most certainly shaped the trajectory of my career! I also appreciated the way Dr. Armstrong and Maestro Rilling treated us like adult professionals; I remember feeling for the first time like I could see myself inside of the music industry as a participant, rather than an observer. Meeting other singers from other parts of the state was also really special, and the bonds formed during those weeks are ones I still carry with me.
2. Congratulations on the release of your new album, From the Ashes! Can you share how it all came together?
Thank you! Well, I went through some pretty major life transitions in 2019, and many songs emerged through that process. I sort of burned my life to the ground in the span of about a year: folded my non-profit, ended my 8-year marriage, publicly came out as queer, quit my job at an arts school where I taught for 10 years, entered my first queer relationship and then moved to an island with my new partner where we took care of a fruit farm out in the country. Whew! I knew I wanted to create an album that chronicled this profound journey, namely, coming into the fullness of my queerness and processing the grief that comes with divorce and vocational loss. You know, when COVID first hit in 2020, I watched my vocation disappear overnight –as did so many. I was already experiencing so much grief, and to watch the world on fire (literally and metaphorically) the past two years was powerful on the heels of my own spiritual death and rebirth. This also alongside our country’s collective “awakening” to the centuries of racial injustice, police brutality, native genocide and so much more… it just felt more and more like we have to start over in some ways. What would it look like to plant seeds of love and justice from the remnants of all that has been destroyed? To build a world anew? It’s not a new idea, and it’s certainly not one I can take credit for, as many abolitionist activists and thinkers have been in this work for centuries. But, this album came into being from my own, very deeply personal experience with destruction and creation, watching myself “die before I die,” as many ancient wisdom traditions teach. Every song on this album was written between 2018–when I first started realizing how I’d been asleep in my personal and professional life–and 2021.
3. “From the Ashes” is your fifth album — this shows success, experience, perseverance as well as a passion for creating songs and performing. As a working musician in the industry, do you have any words of inspiration, wisdom, and even caution for those who wish to pursue a career in the performing arts?
Oh gosh, I think the biggest hurdle for me has been tuning out the voice in my head that says I am not enough; it’s so true that we can be our worst enemy when it comes to our artistry. I have easily gotten caught up in comparative thinking, imposter syndrome and scarcity mindset, all of which destroy creativity and truth. I also let other people’s doubt and judgment get to me in my early years as a performing songwriter (e.g. “your last name is weird, you need to change it,” “your music isn’t brandable,” “this sounds like musical theater,” “your voice is so different,” “you’ll never be successful if you don’t fix your speech impediment”) Staying the course as a working musician doesn’t require that you be super tough and impenetrable – I’m a highly sensitive person, an empath and a recovering people pleaser. And, I believe it’s so important to be aware of how you are impacted by external feedback, social media, comparisons, etc. And to know what practices, mantras, experiences, people and other tools support you staying in/returning to YOUR truth as an artist.
4. You describe yourself as a queer singer-songwriter, teacher and artivist. This description is rich and varied – can you tell us more about how and why you chose these words?
I have identified as queer (though the term had yet to be reclaimed) since high school. But, I was in a 12-year relationship with a cis man, so for most of my adult life my queerness was invisible to the world at large. When I got divorced, a big part of that was embracing my queer identity. I had years of internalized homophobia which I think is common in folx who live into their queerness later in life. Being queer is integral to my identity and artistry at this point in my life, and naming it in my bio has felt very liberating. The term ʻsinger-songwriterʻ I have used on and off since the early 2000s when I started writing songs and cut my first demo at age 15. I grew up on Ani DiFranco, Tori Amos and Fiona Apple, so I wore this label with pride! There was about a decade when I shied away from it, because I felt like it would cause listeners to make inaccurate assumptions about my music. But now that indie music has become more expansive and genre labels are less of a “must,” I think it’s a great term because it’s simple and it’s accurate. I have been a music teacher almost as long as I’ve been a performing songwriter, so that feels important to share with the world. As for the term ʻartivist,’ it’s a succinct way to speak to the marriage of artistry and activism that threads through all of my work, as a singer,
songwriter, teacher and human.
5. During your time as a performer, you’ve probably had the opportunity to work with several mentors. Who has been particularly influential in shaping your performing career?
I had two teachers/mentors in Eugene who were hugely influential for me as a teenage singer-songwriter of the Lilith Fair generation. First, it was my voice teacher Darcy DuRuz (founder of Girl Circus) who helped me embrace the unique timbre and naturally low range of my voice. I learned technique from Darcy that I still carry and teach to my students. Darcy was also a compassionate listening ear and an advocate as I navigated my early experiences of “not enoughness.” A couple years after I began study with Darcy, I took up piano and music theory lessons with Eugene pianist/vocalist/music director Vicki Brabham. Vicki played an integral part in my preparation for Berklee. I wanted to learn how to read chord symbols and accompany myself more confidently on piano. Vicki also supported me in expanding my harmonic vocabulary, without which, my songwriting would not have evolved in the ways that it did. And, I found great success in my theory and harmony classes at Berklee because of this musical literacy I gained in high school. Both Darcy and Vicki are still dear friends, and more like musical colleagues at this point in my life, which is really special. As an adult, my primary mentor has been Cava Menzies: choir director, composer, jazz pianist, visual artist, activist, visionary. Cava is founding vocal music faculty at Oakland School for the Arts; we met in 2011 when she hired me to teach at the school. I learned so much watching Cava teach, and we collaborated on a number of music projects outside of work too. She continues to inspire me with her work in the world.
6. In addition to performing yourself, you are also an award-winning teacher who directed a 5-time national champion high school a cappella group that placed 3rd in NBC’s The Sing-Off. This kind of success doesn’t happen overnight. Can you share your teaching philosophy and how this special experience came about?
Let’s see, my teaching philosophy in a nutshell: set the bar high, believing all of your students are capable of immense growth, AND always bring grace, patience, compassion and vulnerability; teach process over product, quality over quantity, community over ego, and love over fear. I think I am a teacher who is regarded as one who empowers my students and gives them a lot of voice. I try to leave my own ego out of my teaching, focusing solely on the music and its power to transform. I attribute a lot of my success as an educator to prioritizing relationship-building and cultivating connection – with the music, the audience, and especially with each other. I think I was able to quickly build rapport with my students because I didn’t pretend to be perfect and have all the answers. If I made a mistake, I acknowledged it, apologized and did my best to repair harm. It feels really important to model this human stuff; we build more authentic bonds when the vulnerability goes both ways. I don’t believe in the hierarchical teaching model that was imposed on me, and is still the dominant educational paradigm. The group you refer to is called Vocal Rush, and was the most fulfilling and challenging work I have done in my life. I founded Vocal Rush within the first few months of teaching at Oakland School for the Arts, and what started as an informal after-school group grew into an internationally-renowned scholastic a cappella group and a local Bay Area institution. In 2020, it was a huge honor to pass the baton to a founding student member of Vocal Rush (and Berklee grad too!), Sarah Vela, who continues to direct the group. As for The Sing-Off – that’s a whole other interview, ha! So many wild and surreal moments, as well as life lessons that shifted the trajectory of my teaching.
7. What is your favorite memory of SFYCA?
I have so many amazing memories from the three summers I spent singing with SFYCA. One that really stands out as not just a memorable SFYCA experience, but also one that I refer back to often as my first spiritual experience with music: in 2001, the SFYCA was invited to sing the Brahms Requiem with the OBF orchestra and chorus, under the direction of OBF founding maestro, Helmuth Rilling. I had experience singing European Classical music before, but this was my first time getting to sing a large work. And most certainly a first singing alongside professional musicians from around the world! It is a challenging piece to sing, with German text that translated into a heavy message for a 16-year-old. I enjoyed the rehearsals, singing next to some extraordinary adult professional altos, and getting in on some of the OBF orchestra/chorus inside jokes. But, the spiritual experience wasn’t until performance day. The piece itself, Brahms’ longest work ever written I believe, is over an hour; it’s a marathon to sing, and following a professional conductor who isn’t spoon feeding cues like most high school choir directors do… let’s just say it’s an intense 75 minutes or so. With the audience in the house, and the energy of all these professional musicians –with their human experiences and depth of feeling put into the performance of the piece– I was singing and I was in my body, but I was also somewhere else. By the end of the final movement, I felt outside of my body, watching all of us, from audience members to performers, in this inextricable relationship. As the final chord reverberated through the Hult Center Silva Concert hall, there was total and complete silence. The pause between the lift of the bows from the strings and the moment that audience applause began felt like at least three or four whole minutes. I stood on that stage, tears running down my face, never more present to the beauty of life, to our interconnection, to God. I tell this story as the beginning of my relationship with music as a spiritual practice.
7. What “one” word best describes your experience at SFYCA?
Transformative.
8. As SFYCA celebrates its 25th Anniversary this season, what advice do you have for a musician who is contemplating auditioning for SFYCA?
I would encourage any young musician to audition! What is there to lose? My advice: put your hat in the ring. Go for it! I didn’t know if I was “good enough” because I’d only sung in choir for two years prior. But I got in! So, stay curious and open-minded, and don’t be afraid to ask for help. So many musicians want to support young folks, and the OBF team has always been full of resources.
