Why take voice lessons? I get asked this question frequently, especially with regards to the cost. Here are some of the reasons voice lessons are important and potentially life changing. (They certainly did all this for me!)

The process of singing: aka. the generally slow, usually painstaking, often beautiful, and sometimes exciting development of our voices so that they sound the way we want them to sound, do what we want them to do.

We must be open and flexible in our visions, with our student’s unique voices and personalities as our guides.

Spoiler Alert! This story has an extremely happy ending!

I learned to teach every voice type, gender, vocal problem, temperament, and musical style.

I taught sopranos, mezzos, soprano belters, mezzo belters, sopranos how to belt and belters how to sing soprano; tenors, bari-tenors, baritones, basses, and baritones who wanted to be tenors; dancers who had never sung before and actors who had never sung before.

It’s hard to know where to start in praise of Ms. Peters. She is extraordinary in everything she does on both stage and screen… There is simply no one like her. She is a unique and awesome talent. You know it is her immediately: that voice! that hair! (that physique!) She embodies seeming opposites that few can: she is adorable and tough. Strong and über feminine. Hilarious and deadly serious. Her eyes twinkle with mischief and passion, sparkle with tears and laughter.

I had to take a vocal pedagogy class in graduate school. It was supposed to teach us how to teach a voice lesson. I confess I learned the exact opposite: I discovered what I never, ever wanted to do if I were ever to be a voice teacher, which ironically at the time (1996) I thought I would never be. (Hilarious, I know.)

You and you alone are responsible for the precious gift that is your singing voice. Protect and treasure it.

A voice lesson must be a safe place to put it all out there, the good, the bad, the ugly, the embarrassing. If it isn’t, you are with the wrong teacher. And if you are a Musical Theatre belter, or desire to be one, please find a teacher who understands (and preferably likes) that sound and style and how to teach it.

You could say Julie Andrews was my first voice teacher. No, I have never had the great good fortune to meet the marvelous Ms. Andrews, but I have been listening to her sing since I was a child and subsequently learned vast amounts about singing (and diction and acting) from her immense talent. So in honor of her 85th birthday this week, I will sing her praises.

To me singing and acting have always been inseparable. This philosophy has both saved me and gotten me into trouble. Acting a song well got me through times when my voice was less than ideal and people noticed less because I was entertaining and emotional if nothing else. It is also one of the great joys of singing for me- expressing emotions that I cannot put into words, trying on different characters and feelings= fun!

In March of 1998, my life changed forever. This was when I first met Cornelius Reid, the man who profoundly changed my singing voice, the way I sang, the way I thought about singing, the way I taught, the way I thought about and viewed the world, musically and otherwise, gave me a career, a profession and a new passion.

I am especially proud of one of my students this week and I feel it necessary to brag about her publicly. However, I also want to tell her story (even as it continues to unfold) because I believe she is a perfect example of the extraordinary vocal transformation that can happen using Cornelius Reid’s vocal techniques and philosophies (as he taught them to me).

Functional listening is the cornerstone of the technique that I teach, taught to me by the late, great Cornelius Reid. This is the story of my introduction to both the maestro himself and the concept and transformative power on the singing voice of functional listening.