Voice Lessons in New Midway, MD

Instruments: Piano Voice

Melissa started teaching during her senior year of college when she took her first vocal pedagogy course. Teaching has been an important part of her schedule ever since. Over the years, she has taught privately, through various community schools, through several national companies, and she served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Illinois State University for two years. Thus, she has experience teaching all ages and skill levels. Her students have ranged from beginners to university music majors, from age 3 to age 72. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Saxophone Bass Guitar Organ Music Keyboard

My teaching methods focus on building on the fundamentals of embodied proficiency with music (not just how to "read what's on the page", but first how to feel and delve into what's happening with all the moving parts and their many relationalities). For both children and adult students, before getting into structures and representations, the starting point will be the embodied feelings and experiences of and around music. In the first lesson, even my absolutely-beginner students will be having fun jamming, exploring and applying newly-learned things before we even talk about what a major scale is. Read More

Instruments: Voice

My method is the chest mix head method. I teach lessons about chest, mix, and head voice and how to smoothly transition between them and eventually have them become one. I help students find their range, I teach proper breathing techniques and warm ups that are right for helping them reach their full voice potential and even assist with choosing the perfect song for auditions and give audition confidence prep tips from someone who has auditioned and made performance roles in musical theatre productions in Pittsburgh Pa. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

I have over 20 years of experience teaching students of all ages from beginner to advanced. I started piano lessons at age 5 and voice lessons at age 14 and continued through college at Smith College, studying with Monica Jakuc and Kenneth Fearn for piano and Jane Bryden for voice. I have sung in operas and musical theatre productions, all types of church services, been a church choir director and accompanist, and accompanied for chorales, choirs, soloists, groups, and even my cat :D Read More

Instruments: Voice

I have a deep enthusiasm and excitement for helping young people reach their musical goals. I enjoy helping my students develop knowledge of the vocal apparatus and mechanics of singing and breathing. In the studio I can find examples of or demonstrate vocal techniques and styles. I have found that most students respond well to the use of imagery to extract the emotional component of singing and I find that my flexibility, energy, ability to maintain focus on objectives, and my ability to communicate musical concepts and instructions clearly is essential to getting my students to produce better sounds. Read More

Instruments: Voice

In working with diverse groups of learners, I celebrate each student’s uniqueness by empowering and encouraging my singers to bring their unique experience to their art. This is both a collaborative and individualized process. As an instructor, following the needs of each student is the key to finding an approach best suited for them. I accomplish this by listening to my student’s physical and metaphorical voice, acknowledging that their life journey is unique and vital to their full expression as an artist. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice

I work to foster a love of music and a desire to excel in each of my students. I want them to practice because they love it and want to succeed! I also feel that it is important to be a well rounded musician, so we will focus on theory, sight reading, composition, musicianship, performance-practice, and other important and fun aspects of music. I believe that it is important to be grounded in a classical foundation (for both piano and voice students), but I also make sure to bring in pieces of the student's favorite style- which I find helps motivate them to practice and enjoy lessons even more. Read More