In addition to giving singing lessons for kids and adults in Marin, I also love children’s theater. I’ve been involved in the Ross Valley Schools’ YES program as a music director for more than 10 years, shifting from one school to another with a variety of talented directors and choreographers that make up the “creative teams.” [...]
A recording device is an essential tool in my Marin singing and voice studio. What better way to review what you did in a session than by listening to it again when you get home? I find that if I don’t record my own voice lessons, I don’t remember all its intricacies. Your teacher may [...]
In my voice lessons for kids and adults, I like to introduce, early on, one of the Alexander Technique’s greatest gifts - the concept of Inhibition. No, it’s not psychology’s use of the word, as in “he was very inhibited.” It has to do with how we react or respond to the world. [...]
As a voice and Alexander Technique teacher who teaches singing lessons for kids and adults in Marin County, I have had occasion to work with students affected by Parkinson’s Disease. Parkinson’s, as defined by the Parkinson’s Foundation, “is a neurodegenerative brain disorder that progresses slowly in most people. …A person's brain slowly stops producing a neurotransmitter [...]
Sound Advice #13 – Integrating the Speaking and Singing Voice – A Personal Journey One of the games I like to play with children when I teach voice lessons for kids in San Francisco and Marin is “the speaking vs. singing” exercise. I ask the group, “What’s the difference between singing and speaking?” I get [...]
A few years ago, a friend of mine told me about a TED talk by Brene Brown called “The Power of Vulnerability.” I was in a place in life when I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to take both in my work – giving singing lessons for kids and adults in Marin - and [...]
Merriam Webster’s Dictionary defines the word energy as “a dynamic quality,” “a usually positive spiritual force,” “a vigorous exertion of power” or, more scientifically, “a fundamental entity of nature that is transferred between parts of a system in the production of physical change within the system and usually regarded as the capacity for doing work.” [...]
Every good singer knows that before singing a song, especially an operatic aria, it’s a good idea to warm up your voice. It’s like stretching before you go running. However, through the years of giving voice lessons for kids and adults in Marin, I’ve thought: What is it that we’re warming up? The vocal folds? [...]
The tongue is one busy, strong muscle. Among its many jobs, of course, is chewing and swallowing. But as articulator of vowels and consonants, it is often at the root (no pun intended) of vocal tension and freedom. Yet, many students who start singing and voice lessons with me are rarely aware of how the tongue [...]
Last year my beloved voice teacher of more than a decade, the soprano Karen Anderson, moved out of state. As a student, my pattern was to show up on her doorstep for intense vocal work whenever I had a concert or show to do. Then, once the performance was over, I’d take a hiatus and [...]
