In spite of Linda’s early certainty that the master class she had attended was sure to squelch performer’s talents rather than develop them, the creation of her own workshop was to be postponed as her career yielded to marriage and motherhood. Only years later, after her divorce, did the concept resurface when Linda decided it was time to redirect her life and to offer effective professional instruction without the emotional trashing of those unwilling or unable to take the dressings down. In 1976, with the encouragement of some friends and a small group of singers referred by them, she took the first steps to providing coaching with compassion rather than with the attitude of a Marine drill sergeant. More than twenty yeas and almost four hundred workshops after that belated start, the procedures are firmly in place and she is idolized by many of the performers who have studied with her.

The workshops bring together serious professionals, dedicated amateur performers and avocational singers for a six-week intensive focus on their singing, its effect on their lives and vice versa. The workshop’s climax is it’s fully-produced live performance in one of the New York clubs. The participants will often be pros, inactive for a while and seeking the input of Linda and the other workshoppers to help restore confidence before returning to the stage. Dody Goodman, a major TV star of the 1950’s and 1960’s, and named as the greatest comedienne Julius Monk ever had in his revues, came to The Singing Experience to help polish a new cabaret act before her opening in Florida. Academy Award nominee Danny Aiello preceded his scheduled cabaret act at Harrah’s in Atlantic City with a workshop. Vocalist Lynn DiMenna, host of a cabaret-oriented radio show as well as a former band vocalist with Artie Shaw, followed a series of workshops, with Linda by presenting her own show at The Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room this past Spring. Susan Baum, a veteran of musical theater and TV commercials, now the MAC Board of Director’s Member-At-Large, credits The Singing Experience workshops with her 1997 return to professional singing after a decade long hiatus. Since Judy’s Chelsea opened its new quarters on Eighth Avenue early this year, Susan has appeared there several times.

Cabaret Scenes visited the most recent workshop, "Clap Yo’ Hands" (Burns names each one). There was the usual mix of pros and non-pros, some young, some not. A few were working on a forth-coming cabaret show, others were studying the unique qualities necessary to hold an audience in a small room. Many of them were no strangers to Linda and the "music is not having to say you’re sorry" methods she employs, having several times gone through the six-week sessions. (Occasionally, Linda will run a workshop for previous graduates only.)

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