teaching philosophy

Anybody can learn to sing with the love and guidance of a good voice teacher. While raw talent is an excellent advantage to any singer, it is by no means essential to the cultivation of a healthy and beautiful voice. Intonation, musicality, and pleasant tone can be developed over time. However, it is essential that a student of voice have a desire to improve. The voice, much like any other artful skill, can only be mastered through many hours of healthy, mindful practice.

Through daily engagement with the technical and creative process, the details on which we focus in the studio become transferred into the singer’s implicit memory. As a result, a singer gains the ability to focus on musical expression and artistry in performance, while still subconsciously recreating the healthy production that was refined during practice.

My teaching philosophy concentrates on the process of singing, rather than the resulting product. I help voice students achieve a healthy vocal technique by releasing unnecessary tension, creating pure vowels, and consistently connecting to a grounded and engaged breath. Through this process, students will see large improvements, and great singing will result. This process provides students with all the tools they need to understand the subtleties of the vocal technique regarding respiration, phonation, support, registration, resonance, and articulation. If students can learn to trust in this process itself, rather than relying on the sound, their voices will thrive.

Finally, my primary goal as a teacher is connecting to the student’s individual needs, both as a singer and as a student, in order to communicate my knowledge in the most productive and comfortable way possible. I understand that not all students excel in the same type of learning environment. I strive to be mindful of this while teaching, so that I can tailor my lessons to the specific student, always prepared to tackle any problem from several different angles.