Voice Lessons in Topanga, CA

Instruments: Piano Voice Drums Ukulele

For beginners, I firmly believe in establishing strong fundamentals. However, you can't spell fundamentals with out "fun"! So, even while building fundamentals, music lessons should be fun and geared toward what the student wants out of all of this. Whether that's learning a specific song, style, cool musically visual trick, or just jamming, I'm here for it all! Musical journeys are specific to the individual and therefore there is no one path that all students must follow. Read More

Instruments: Piano Guitar Voice Music Keyboard Electric Guitar Acoustic Guitar

I began teaching music in 2006 while still in college, and I have worked at a variety of different music schools and teaching companies, most notably at the University of Southern California. I taught and maintained a small voice studio of my own in New York City for four years before the pandemic forced me back to the west coast to care for my family. I typically work with a wide variety of students with different ages and backgrounds, and I pride myself on offering a holistic and trauma informed approach to the study of voice and singing. Read More

Instruments: Voice

I love seeing my students begin to understand how their mind and body can work together to sing beautifully. It's a treat when a student can begin to execute the necessary actions for singing with a degree of confidence and reliability that they at one point believed was beyond them. My style is one that fosters a student's abilities and is encouraging in their efforts. I make a point to be very thorough and analytical when it comes to how physiological events and mental focus are key to building a framework for this expressive artform. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Synthesizer Keyboard

I am passionate and hard-working. A great deal of my free time is spent recording and producing music. I enjoy watching my students grow as much as I enjoy finding new ways of growing and learning myself. I am often most inspired by the raw and vulnerable, simple and yet hear-wrenching melodies I come across. Moments as a listener, when a melodic theme takes over and everything else seems to dim out, almost as background noise, are my absolute farovite. Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Music

For students earlier in their journeys, I do believe a practical understanding of music and basic theory is fundamental to unlock both the art and the science of performing. After warm up exercises that help acquire the vocabulary and sonic principles of agile musicianship, I would immediately dive into material that the student finds engaging and personal! I am an advocate for storytelling in the arts first, with mechanical technique and instruction used as vehicles to empower the pure love of expression! Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Violin Viola Mandolin Keyboard

I also have great expertise working with retired active senior citizens. I headed up the gerontology arts division for Orange Coast College/Coastline College and taught music/acting at active senior sites for over 14 years. Many of my current students are retired seniors. I have written several text books on jazz theory, jazz piano, jazz vocal and musicology subjects that are used by schools and universities. As a professor of University of West London: London College of Music (US rep), I am able to offer internationally accredited music performance grades (1-8) for piano (classical, jazz pop), digital keyboard (pop, music industry), voice (musical theatre, opera/classical, pop, rock, jazz). Read More

Instruments: Piano Voice Trumpet Trombone Saxophone Flute Clarinet Drums French Horn Oboe

I truly believe that all learning, while serious in nature, should be fun and exciting in methodology. Living in the age of technology, there are so many ways to make learning fun and interesting for students. Whether it be sharing information from Youtube, educational sites such as The Teaching Channel, using digital music apps such as "Smart Music" for assessment, showing a student how to record themselves on their smartphones, all of these things can be brought in to the instructional experience. Read More