Born into a singing family of Mennonites, solo and four-part a cappella singing from earliest memory, was always a part of my life. Although the participation was constant, it was never connected to the theatre until college. In my first year of college, at Chaffee Junior College, I was the baritone soloist for the concert choir. The new drama instructor, Ralph Strane (a chorus boy in the original Broadway production of OKLAHOMA), chose OKLAHOMA as his first production and asked me to audition for the part of Curley. Next year it was Woody in FINNIAN’S RAINBOW, and I was hooked.

Transferring to the University of Redlands upon being offered a full tuition scholarship, I switched from math to music major. There I was trained classically by Lara Browning Henderson and sang opera for 3 years.

The first summer after being graduated, I did the part of Joey in a Palms Spring production of THE MOST HAPPY FELLA . That fall I moved to San Francisco to study with a semi-retired baritone and voice teacher Robert Weede (the original Tony in the Broadway production of THE MOST HAPPY FELLA).

Being somewhat locked into an operatic vocal style of singing, Mr. Weede introduced me to the concept of talking on pitch. He was also teaching part-time at the newly formed American Conservatory Theatre. This provided an introduction to good acting classes and extraordinary theatre. This concept of talking on pitch and classes in acting technique opened up a whole new way of performing. While studying I did some straight acting (Major Domo in TOM PAINE), improvisational theatre on North Beach as well as Musical Theatre roles, (like Fitzwilliam Darcy in FIRST IMPRESSIONS and El Gallo in THE FANTASTICS).

I got my Equity card doing a production of YOUR OWN THING at A.C.T.’s Marine Memorial Theater, understudied the part of Dick in DAMES AT SEA then landed the role of Claude in an A.C.T. joint production of HAIR at the Geary Theater.

I found myself in the midst of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury’s happenings. Fillmore West was the hangout and friends included the band Big Brother and The Holding Co., and I enjoying meeting people as varied as Janice Joplin, Richie Havens, Ike & Tina Turner, Rudolph Nureyev and many more. It was a time like no other.

At this time, I also recorded an album for a small record company called Studio 10 with original material as well as some songs from HAIR. The main arranger on the album was the legendary guitarist Herb Ellis with a few arrangements by Brazilian guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves. It didn’t sell very well and although my voice sounded great it didn’t mesh with the music. It was an over-trained sound with 70’s pop tracks, (not quite what was happening then).

HAIR lasted 2 full years in San Francisco. I then did the show on Broadway for another 6 months, played Pontius Pilate in a concert tour of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and did a summer production of TWO BY TWO with Milton Berle before moving back to California to deal with a failing long distance marriage to my college sweetheart.

While living in Hollywood I continued studying acting and started writing music. An introduction to Roger & Julie Corman of New World Pictures led to Julie hiring me to score one of their low budget movies called CANDY STRIPPED NURSE. I took this task very seriously, assigning each character a musical theme, etc. and in retrospect it ended up sounding like a porno score but I learned an amazing amount about writing, acting and singing.

No one at that time was teaching rock-and-roll singing or (with the advent of Motown), how to access smoothly the head voice/falsetto part of the voice without screaming. I had in fact done some counter-tenor head voice singing in college and had a strong sound up top but couldn"t put the two together.

Yet people were doing it but couldn’t successfully explain how. I thought, "If people are doing it, there’s a way to learn how". So, I got a copy of Grey’s Anatomy and started studying. The first thing I found was that speech and singing are not a primary function of the vocal folds. This coupled with the fact that we are a wind instrument started laying the foundation for a new way of singing. Fortunately, I had been introduced to Swami Satchadananda via the one and only Sally Kirkland (who had also introduced me to the Cormans), and I was heavily into Hatha (physical) Yoga.

I began using the breathing techniques and this in turn led to release of tension and allowed the voice to respond more fully. From here it was a matter of connecting how the vocal folds function like lips of a trumpet player and I began singing in a new way.

The band I used for the film score (my friend Ted -J.C. SUPERSTAR- Neely’s band), noticed the difference and wanted to know what I was doing. I found that I was fairly good at explaining it, formed exercises for them and that’s how I began teaching.

By now my sweetheart and I had parted ways and at the same time that I was interviewing with Mike Post (the king of television scoring) I auditioned for a Broadway bound show called DR. JAZZ. The California director/choreographer, Donnie McHale fresh off his success from the Broadway show RAISIN IN THE SUN, hired me to understudy Bobby Van in the title role and I put my composing on hold and moved back to New York. The show ended up flopping at the Winter Garden Theater but I stayed on in New York City.

I then played the part of Paris in the Public Theater’s production of AGAMEMNON first at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater then at Central Parks’ Delacorte, went on tour with a wonderful 3 person revue called STARTING HERE, STARTING NOW, written and directed by the then unknown Richard Maltby, music by partner David Shire and then took a job as Musical Coordinator for the Broadway show ROCK-A-BYE HAMLET (you guessed it) a rock version of HAMLET by Canadian composer Cliff Jones. It was directed by the legendary Gower Champion. It too flopped, but I sure learned a lot.

All this time I continued to teach singing technique and finally, after I finished playing the part of Nick Arnstein in FUNNY GIRL at an An Evening Dinner Theatre in Elmsford, New York, I decided to take a six month break from doing shows and just teach singing.

I never went back to performing and since then have continued to refine the Shetler Technique. That was 1980. In 1983 I was hired to replace Layman Engel as the singing instructor at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre and via the schools group classes and a continued private practice have fully refined this technique.*

In 1990 I rented a loft space at 939 8th Avenue in Manhattan and converted it into 2 vocal studios, a classroom and an office in order to have my own teaching facility. Renting out the space to friends led to taking on more spaces and 17 years later I have Shetler Studios & Theatre Inc., a performing arts complex with 16 rehearsal studios, 3 theatres and a screening room. 3 Years ago I also formed a 501(c)3 not-for-profit company called Shetler Studios Theatrical Development Groups, Corp. (TDG). We currently have 3 divisions: The Bridge Theatre Company, Stepstone Films and TDG Connections. Formed specifically for graduates of The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre (much like The Acting Company was formed for Julliard graduates), the objective is to provide a forum for professional development where we can maintain and expand the integrity of the techniques provided there via interactive workshops, readings and projects with established professionals. The combination of responsibilities that comes with all of this keeps me very busy, but my main love and foundation is still the teaching. I take great pride and tremendous joy in passing on what was passed down to me with the addition of my research and knowledge. I so enjoy watching students as they take this knowledge and use their abilities to attain their goals, whether it be performing on Broadway, doing a movie or just singing for pleasure.