Voice Lessons in Monroe, WI

Instruments: Piano Voice

Modern vocal pedagogy informs my teaching methods. By finding balance in air flow, phonation and resonance, the development of the voice is promoted in a healthy manner. Once this balance is consistent, a singer is capable of communicating more clearly and effectively. I encourage students to delve into a variety of genres, languages, characters, and challenges. I cater to each student's expectations in taking lessons, as well as their individual technical, musical, and performing needs. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Organ Music Keyboard Acoustic Guitar

Ray has been hailed by Opera News as, "terrific!", the New York Times praised, "Ray C. was effectively cast...a solid professional with vocal elegance." The Taconic Press acclaims him as, an exceptional voiceleaving audiences cheering" with his performances being, ardent and utterly convincing." The New York Sun said of his stage craft: Ray C. makes the most of it, combining savvy stage business with a warm voiceexpertly straddling that razor thin line between parody and poignancyscored a direct hit." While the Berkshire Review simply calls him, "...Perfect!" His travels have led him to make appearances with Grandview Opera (General Co Artistic Director), the Light Opera Company Of Salisbury (General Artistic Director), Prelude to Performance (Associate Conductor), Amore Opera (Principal Conductor), the Opera Orchestra of New York, New York Grand Opera, Connecticut Opera, Connecticut Concert Opera, Greater New Britain Opera, Berkshire Opera, Bardavon Opera, Jacksonville Lyric Opera, Opera Ischia (Italy), Bronx Opera, New Rochelle Opera, Amato Opera, Bleecker Street Opera (Associate Conductor), Regina Opera, Long Island Opera, the New Britain Symphony Orchestra, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Staten Island Philharmonic, the Belleayre Music Festival, American Opera Preview, in collaboration with artists and staff of the Metropolitan Opera, at Carnegie Hall, Bechstein Hall, Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, and Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Synthesizer Keyboard

I have been a voice/piano teacher for 37 years, and have been known as the most patient and experienced teacher in Rockford. I am also nationally-certified. I have had students sing Off-Broadway, "The Young Americans," Grand Ole' Opry, sing opera at Carnegie Hall, teach at Interlochen and place 40 out of 5,000 out of American Idol auditions in Indianapolis. I am a graduate for songwriting from Academy-award-winning Molly-Ann Leiken (wrote for Neil Diamond and Karen Carpenter). Read More

Instruments: Voice

My teaching is rooted in the philosophy of functional singing, which means everything I teach has a purpose rooted in the physiology of singing. We do a lot of different exercises and say a lot of funny sounding words, but each exercise is carefully crafted to maximize training your voice's flexibility, agility, or strength. Similar to how you might do a bicep curl to make your bicep stronger, vocal exercises are part of a broader "vocal workout" regimen based on what your voice needs on any given day. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

I began teaching private music lessons a decade ago as an undergraduate music student. Working at a community music school, I volunteered to teach piano lessons and lead the choir. I fell in love with teaching and after receiving my Bachelors of Music in Vocal Performance, I began teaching private lessons and directing the commercial vocal ensemble at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville. While working at Trevecca, I taught many different genres of music to music majors, music minors, and elective students. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Drums Bass Guitar Keyboard Djembe Acoustic Guitar

My teaching style is very simple. With the fundamentals in place, it's possible to learn any song you want to. If there's a song that goes beyond a student's fundamentals, then that's what we'll learn next. As my music teachers told me, if you listen to a record and you find something on it that you don't know how to play, go back and learn how to do it! Listening and learning is essential to playing the music that you want to be able to play as quickly as possible. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

For beginning piano students who are children, we will typically either start with Alfred or Piano Adventures series. I find that both these series introduce the concepts of technique, theory, solo playing, and terminology in ways that help them learn effectively. Depending on the age, they will be placed in either early beginner's series or the beginner series. For adults, I look at what they are interested in and build a course for them based on that. Read More