Vocal Training

I didn’t start voice training until I was in my thirties after I had recorded albums and sung in Hagood Hardy’s group The Montage and appeared on stage for years. I started to recognize places where I was struggling in my voice and then a teacher showed up, Carolanne Clouston. I had known her as an Opera student at UBC and loved her voice and dedication. She was a wonderful teacher who got into all the nooks and crannies of my voice with a positive, holistic approach that didn’t let me get away with anything. In other words she listened very carefully and intervened immediately whenever a habit, of which I had many at that age, surfaced.

When Carolanne decided that she wanted to go to the Middle East to study Arabic music and rythmns she approached me about becoming her apprentice to learn how to teach her method which included relaxation techniques, Christina Linklater, lay therapy to unlock creative and energy blocks and traditional vocal ease. I resisted at first, thinking that teaching and performing were mutually exclusive. I will be forever grateful to Carolanne for offering me the opportunity and teaching me to teach in a way that has impacted not only hundreds of new singers but my own performance as well. I studied with Carolanne as a student and apprentice for 3 years.

A philosophy of uncovering or discovering one’s natural voice that I got from Christina Linklater and Carolanne is what pervades my teaching. Having the nature of the individual voice be nurtured and strengthened I feel is a healthier approach to singing than imprinting a style or forcing a voice to go where it doesn’t want to go. Guiding a student to make friends with his/her own natural sound is a sometimes difficult but rewarding journey. This process reveals students questions, method of working, attitudes regarding their body, their life, performing and connection to their repertoire. All of this needs to be examined along with learning the distinctions of the voice and singing before technique can be developed. It’s a very interior journey and all my training in different arenas; voice, fitness, counselling, communication and coaching help me create a very safe space for the student.

With the student I discuss what they need to work on and what they want to achieve. We set goals then we get to work. In the class we work on:

a) relaxing and loosening up the body
.getting in touch with their breathing and how that works in the body

b) exercises to distinguish where the vocal strength comes from

c) exercises to strengthen vocal muscles and create throat ease

d) bringing technique into the actual singing, phrasing and where to breathe

e) We also do a lot of work on the repertoire, what music has the most meaning for the student , how to bring out that meaning and how to access how one feels about the song consistently.

I am committed that my students have an intimate knowledge of their voices, clear distinctions around producing their best sound, a high level of confidence, capable of training themselves and a clear sense of how to achieve their goals.