How much do lessons cost?
My hourly rate is $65, but I offer both 45 minute and hour lessons at that rate. This is a standard rate for my experience level in the Austin area.
Can I take lessons every other week?
If you are dedicated with your practice, we can make alternate-week lessons work, but be aware that you will find faster progress with weekly lessons. Alternate-week lessons also really need to be hour lessons. If you do not practice consistently, you will make no progress at all with alternate-week lessons.
How much should I be practicing?/I don’t have much time to practice, is there a point to me taking lessons?
That depends both on what music you are working on and on what you want to accomplish. You will almost always benefit more from short periods of intense focused practice with a specific goal than from hours of singing through repertoire lackadaisically. You can get a lot accomplished in twenty minutes a day, or even two fifteen-minute sessions, and I can teach you how to do that. Sometimes you will need to spend more time singing than that, and I can show you how to organize your practice sessions to get the most possible out of the time you have.
I’m (in elementary school or younger) and I’d like to take voice lessons!
I strongly recommend students still in elementary school join a local choir and/or take piano lessons, rather than jumping into vocal lessons immediately. You will benefit immensely from the musicianship and music-reading you will learn in choir and piano, and when you’re a little older, you will progress much more quickly for it. Unlike with some disciplines (violin, piano, ballet), there is little benefit to beginning vocal training very early. You will lose nothing by waiting. (This is excepted if you have been cast in a show or are regularly performing- in that case, there are definitely things we want to work on to make sure your voice remains healthy.)
Can you help me be famous?
I am no guarantee of fame. I can help you improve vocally, but that is the limit of my abilities.
I’m a singer/songwriter, will you work with me?
I’ll be happy to! I have worked with a number of singer/songwriters or performers other than standard classical or musical theatre singers. I’m very comfortable adapting our lessons to your vocal needs and helping you continue to sound true to your style while working on healthier technique.
I’m trans, can you work with my voice?
Absolutely! I’ll have some general questions for you- where you are in your transition, what your general vocal goals are for yourself, where you’re comfortable speaking and singing, anything that may exacerbate dysphoria- but I’m very comfortable working with trans voices.
How many lessons do I need?
As much as we might wish otherwise, lessons don’t work that way. Taking a dozen lessons and then not continuing to study further will lead to little long-term vocal growth or progress; to see true vocal change and ensure that it continues, vocal study is measured in years, not numbers of lessons. If my voice lessons were a person, they would be old enough to drink; despite being a professional singer and voice teacher, I am still an active vocal student, because we can always improve. Great professional singers at the Met still have voice teachers.
I want to go to college for voice, what’s next?
I will work with you as your voice matures so we can see if that’s a reasonable goal for you. We will work on vocal diction and languages and in a very focused manner on technique and I will encourage you, as you improve, to participate in other non-school-based competitions and recitals to help prepare you for college auditions. You will want to take hour lessons weekly starting your freshman or sophomore year in highschool and make sure that your practice time is commensurate with your long-term goals. If you want to focus on musical theatre, I will encourage you to take dance lessons as well as voice lessons. If you are a senior in high school and want to go college for voice without prior study, weekly hour lessons are strongly recommended if you choose to study with me.