Briona D
Instruments: Voice
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Folk, Country, R&B, Musical Theater, Opera, Showtunes, Spirituals
Briona D
Instruments: Voice
Styles:
Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Folk, Country, R&B, Musical Theater, Opera, Showtunes, Spirituals
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 3-80
Bachelor Degree: San Diego state university
Mrs. Phagan -Parade -working with Jason Robert Brown
Concert Solo Vocalist - The music of Mary Poppins with Greg Sherman
Lead Vocalist for RCCL, PRINCESS CRUISES, CELEBRITY CRUISES, CRYSTAL, AND AZAMARA
Diane in Las Vegas Premire of Next to Normal
Hello, my name is Briona. I'm a Vocalist with ten years of work experience onboard the top cruise lines as a Lead Vocalist.
As a resident Vocalist onboard I had the opportunity to travel the world and experience cultural immersion from Europe, the Middle East, Australia, China, Japan, South America to the Antarctic circle.
My 1st year in college I was the worst student in voice I was pitchy and had no access to my Soprano range and through excellent vocal coaches I was able to exit college with paid opportunities and was surprised to learn a lot of my pitch issues was because I was a mezzo soprano who had always been taught to sing like an alto.
I believe in teaching and have experienced what a difference a good coach can do. I believe singing is a healthy activity that expands and challenges us weither you decide to pursue it at a career level, for scholarships or school work, or as a casual hobby that simply enables you to enjoy life in a new way.
My experience in teaching started on ships when people would approach me from different departments and ask to learn to sing. Most of the people were dancers who wanted to expand their skill sets to get higher paid positions.
It soon expanded to the other Vocalists who wanted to expand their range and styles. Particularly in Opera and with their belt range. I also did a lot of work with the guest entertainers who were more experienced as entertainers but had gone a long time performing on damaged chords and needed some touch up on making certain notes easier to hit 8 shows a week.
I learned very quickly the methods I was taught by worked well with most but it's a skill that is linked very close to psychology. Every teacher says "every student is different" but in singing it's at another level.
Many students came to me with past teachers who told them they were pitchy and their ear was the problem when pitch issues for vocalists is a sound placement issue, it's rarely ever hearing associated.
Not being able to hit certain notes can be physical or psychological. A good coach can suss out what the problem is and help which is why having a coach you can trust and feel comfortable with is important.
No matter what you are working on you should always feel like you have left the lesson with a game plan of how to tackle the next problem and have been given additional tools every time.
Our first lesson for beginning students I'm going to teach the warm up. How you set up your voice to sing is important for vocal health and will teach breath control.
For more advance students I want to hear what they are struggling with and what they want to improve. For most students it's belt range and pitch accuracy.
I'll give them a new warm up that will focus on expanding what they are looking to expand.
Most problems beginning and advanced can be worked on in song prep.
Example for advanced singers looking to improve belt range, a shortcut is to improve the soprano/mix range and then go backwards twords the belt. No one believes this works until they do it.
For beginners assigning the right material is the key. It needs to be something they choose to sing that is appropriate for their level. We want it to be challenging, ( ie -no more than 2 to 3 notes out of range), but it also needs to be enjoyable or no practice will get done.
For very young students we play a lot with placement of sound, singing in front of a mirror, and a lot of physical activity to engage the body during warm ups.
My goal is to get you to not need me as quickly as possible. Every singer needs not one, but multiple coaches over their lifetime. While you may have 1 main coach, many Vocalist find the best way to not plateau in their development is to work with several coaches to keep improving.
My goal is that you will eventually already know what I am going to say when you've finished your song and when you have that learned you will not need me. You can take the lessons and leave with the tools to hit every note and sing any song you want. Even if you can't do it perfectly the first try, you'll have the ability to get there using those tools.
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