William W. TakeLessons Instructor music, Voice, San Francisco, CA

I am a college student at San Francisco State University, looking into majoring in Opera Music.  I have been studying singing for a little over eight years, and have been giving underground lessons for the last year in different genres.  What I teach in voice is both mechanical techniques that apply to how to sing in a certain genre, and also techniques to developing voice techniques and muscles in general. In ear training and musicianship,I encourage students not to always use their sense of sight, but of sound alone to isolate and understand pitches as they are given. I am able to train for performances if people are in need of a little extra opinion or guidance. In which case I will happily help as best I can. I have been singing and taking musical instruction for eight years. During that time, I have also studied different subjects such as physics, martial arts, and sports. I have come to the conclusion that the voice can be trained in the same way as any other form of art can be followed. Voice training requires not only musical concepts but the understanding that comes from science and the physical training that is analogous to other disciplines and techniques. The same basic concepts apply when training someone to utilize their voice in a balanced but powerful manner, so that they can perform comfortably and well without falling dizzy after each show. Anyone can achieve this. My philosophy therefore, is that no matter how hard something is to do, you can be gradually trained to do it, but you must never strain yourself harder than you can actually go, no matter how tempting. 

In the beginning, I am  strict on certain unquestionable subjects such as posture, and mechanics.  as students become more and more comfortable with the technique they have gotten down, I give them a little leeway in order to allow them some expansion through their tone.  Although I discourage overwork, I am a hurricane of horror against lack of practice, so I try to enforce the necessity to practice upon my students.  I can not guarantee good singing without students being able to invest their own time into their technique as well as mine.

When you as a student get to work with me, you are given the opportunity to experience different sensations of singing technique.  You will be able to feel the position of your tongue in your mouth, and be able to isolate irritating muscles from spasing as you sing.  allowing you more breathing capability and more space for tone quality.  if you do anything like a sport or something, then the same technique might apply.

I specialize in Opera, but am able to apply some technique to several genres

I try to simplify learning pitch and ear training by making students listen to their pitches, and develop tonal patterns in their heads.

music, Voice,