We help you find your voice

26 Windaway Road
Bethel, CT 06801
203-744-5841

It was one of those days in which I was overhearing a series of voice lessons and every so often coming into the studio to accompany at the piano.  A young male high school student who had been studying voice for a year and a  half  was,  today experiencing a  breakthrough.  In a lyrical, theatrical ballad his sound began to pour out. Every few seconds the singer to be was emerging. I was at the piano no longer concerned with keeping him on pitch. For the first time we were,  at times becoming a duo and really making music.     

That same day a woman in her sixties took her first singing lesson ever.  I listened from the adjoining room as Christina introduced her to her method of vocal training. Very soon the woman’s initial fear of exposing herself to criticism gave way to excitement in learning to create a robust sound while learning physically about the many components that make up the singing voice.  She left eager to subscribe to a weekly program in voice training. Then there’s the case of an immensely talented college grad, a young man with a gorgeous baritone voice arriving for his third lesson. After a relatively short amount of warming up the voice I accompanied one song after another, delighted with what I was hearing.  Here was someone who could really sing, only he was ruthlessly self critical and openly admitted that the idea of performing frightened him.  

What did I learn that day?

All three individuals are attracted to singing for their own personal reasons.

The high school student persisted month after month, struggling to bring the technical elements together that would finally produce that clear, full tone that characterizes a trained male voice. He intuitively new that he wanted to find this within himself, that he had this potential and was willing to strive to achieve it. Honoring that personal desire Christina stuck with him, trying out many different types of music over months of trial and error.   

In the case of the older woman’s first voice lesson I realized that the fear that our prospective student spoke of was not about trying something new. It was the fear of someone criticizing her singing and telling her everything that she was doing wrong. Instead she discovered that there is a carefully formulated set of muscle training exercises that address each of the components that bring out the voice. She learned that if she were to apply herself her voice would  improve, her endurance would increase  and the art of singing would become increasingly pleasurable.

The college grad with the beautifully developed voice suffers from his own set of fears. Frequently, the technic of singing is addressed by dissecting a song and stopping a singer so often that they can hardly get through a phrase without every component of music-making being addressed at one time  -- resonance, pitch, phrasing, breathing, language etc.  The time to address many of these components is in well calibratedexercises that prepare a person to sing. Then, it is of prime importance that they be given the latitude to experience their singing voice without too much interruption.  The singer that is stopped too often may become hypercritical of himself, fearful to let the song flow, to express the singing soul.  Our work, to undo the inhibition that has set in, is to find the music that is most comfortable and let it flow - to sing, sing, sing. I began to write this little blog before the teaching day had ended.  I can’t omit the last two singers that followed the three that I described because they exemplify yet another principle.

Two young women, each possessing superb voices, brought in tremendously challenging repertoire, the first an intricate Baroque aria in Italian and the second an aria from the grand opera literature in French.  They had begun to study these on their own after Christina, seeing their potential introduced them to these pieces and then waited to see what would happen. Many months went by and it was the student who said I would like to try this.  At the end of the day I spoke to Christina about what had just happened and she said:

“There is something so thrilling about presenting a challenging piece of music to a student and then waiting to see if they pick up the challenge. Sometimes they decide months later that they want to study the piece, and you know that all that time, they’ve been listening to it and imagining the possibility of doing it.”

It was such a rewarding day of teaching.  After all, it’s self-motivation that keeps every one of our students coming back week after week. There’s nothing compulsory about private singing lessons. Add to that the desire to challenge oneself with the great virtuoso literature and do it well - what could be more satisfying to a voice teacher and her pianist? We wish you all a Happy New Year and many more months ahead of pleasure and accomplishment in the art of singing.

Howard and Christina