Joyce McLean 1928-2022 | In Memoriam

Longtime Extension voice teacher dies at 93

Joyce McLean, who taught in what was then the Evening Division from 1989 to 2011, died January 27 at age 93. She is survived by her son, Alex Pociernicki; granddaughter; and nieces and nephew.

Born November 22, 1928, in South Mountain, Ontario, where her father was a Presbyterian minister and her mother directed the church choir and glee club, McLean grew up in Montreal, where she and her sister Jean sang with their friend Joan Fontaine as the Three Js. She studied at the McGill Conservatory of Music, the University of Toronto Opera School, and the Guildhall School of Music and Dramatic Arts in London.

In the early 1960s, McLean and her then-husband, singer and poet Daniel Pociernicki, moved from Toronto to New York, where she began teaching and where she stayed for decades. Over the years, she adjudicated for the Canadian Opera Company, ran master classes, concertized in Japan and Israel, and led the New York City chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

As an Extension faculty member, McLean “was fierce in her beliefs and giving of heart,” recalled Myra Vassian (Extension faculty 2007-17). “We spent hours after auditions trying to do the best job we could to find a spot for everyone who loved to sing.”

One of Joyce’s Julliard students, John Gee, described McLean as a mentor and friend who “nurtured me through an encyclopedic breadth of vocal literature [and] taught me so much more than singing. We discussed Kierkegaard over sherry. She introduced me to the poetry of Pablo Neruda when we studied canciones. We chatted our way across Central Park to the Asian Art wing of the Met Museum, and then dined in Chinatown. We went to Yankee Stadium, enjoyed hot dogs and beer, and talked about sports. We spent evenings at the Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall.” He added, “I shall forever treasure all that we shared. And I am glad I had the chance to tell her—often—how much I loved and valued her.”

After McLean retired from Julliard in 2011, she continued teaching weekly classes in her studio for former students she called the Alums, a group that would continue visiting her even after she developed Alzheimer’s and moved to a nursing home, where she continued to sing until the end of her life.

This obituary is excerpted from one compiled by McLean’s niece Margaret Oldfield