Singing with David M.

An Ohio-born baritone, David has always had a passion for music and singing. Strongly influenced by the musical pursuits of his older brother, David began playing the piano at age six and was captivated by the school musicals his brother starred in, as well as by the musical Disney movies popular at the time. David also showed aptitude as a young singer. He was frequently chosen as a soloist for grade school productions, and he would often compete in OMEA adjudicated events, receiving the highest scores possible. David's professional singing career began in high school after receiving recognition from singing the National Anthem at home basketball games, which were always highly-attended. He was soon being paid to sing at local holiday festivals and other community events, where attendance was often in the thousands. Notably, David won first place in both state-wide and international talent competitions for his performance of "If Ever I Would Leave You" from the musical Camelot. David soon attended Northwestern University, where he was classically trained in opera performance over a five-year period. While at college, he was active in several choirs and an a Capella group on campus. He also started teaching voice at that time, offering instruction to friends who paid him for lessons. One of his students sang in a band, another played the piano and wanted to learn to sing better while playing, several wanted to sing better in church, and a couple others with more singing experience simply wanted to improve their existing technique. After graduating, David played the role of Colline in the world-renowned opera La bohème for his operatic debut. In addition, he has performed songs in many different languages, including: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Russian. David currently resides in West Los Angeles, where he attends graduate school at UCLA, and continues to teach voice in his spare time. He is also preparing to release his debut solo album. So what can David do for you? He has a love for singing only paralleled by his passion for teaching. As such, David feels right at home teaching his students a healthy vocal technique centered around their goals. Please see "Lesson Details" for more! *** Lesson Details *** David teaches in his home studio, or can travel to your home. He is also available to teach students nationwide via Skype! David is a patient, friendly instructor who is understanding of his students' needs and is concerned about meeting their goals. He believes in helping each student gain confidence as a singer, because from this built self-confidence will come the enhanced ability to learn new technique and performance skills. Classically trained, David specializes in opera and musical theater. However, he has also taught students interested in singing in many other styles, such as pop, rock, gospel, and soul. He believes that the foundational singing principles of posture, breathing, and support can benefit students of all ages interested in singing in virtually any style. It is also important to David to teach a healthful, non-abusive, efficient technique of vocal production (which posture, breathing, and support allow for). He is as concerned with his students' vocal longevity as he is with their acquisition of an efficiently-produced, beautiful sound. Sample Lesson: David's teaching style consists of a situation-appropriate combination of vocal theory, exercises, and correction of vocal faults. David begins lessons with an explanation of various techniques, followed by a set of vocal scale exercises that both warm up the voice and exercise it to improve the many technical aspects of singing. After these exercises, he asks the student to sing a portion of a song to get a feel for the student's aptitude in the different areas of singing technique. That will then direct the exercises and theory he focuses more heavily on. Then, after the student has had the opportunity to practice and improve their technique, he critiques their singing to help them lessen their bad vocal habits and build up their newly-learned technique. This process is iterative, and with time, practice, and positive feedback, the student will improve under this teaching methodology. Sample Timeline: After three months, the beginning student will have gained confidence singing under most solo and ensemble performance circumstances. With this confidence, the beginner will also possess a reasonably strong foundation in posture, breathing, and support at that time. After six months, the student will likely feel confident enough with the foundations of singing to have gained proficiency in more technical, style-specific areas, such as a balanced tone, smooth transition between registers (range), resonance, and diction (pronunciation). The student will also feel at least moderately confident with emotional interpretation of the music. After nine months, the student can expect to have gained proficiency in virtually all technical areas of singing for their genre of choice. After one year, the student will likely begin to master singing in their chosen genre, and after 15 months gain proficiency in an additional genre, if desired. All this said, this timeline is not guaranteed because it will differ from student to student. Under ideal circumstances, where a dedicated student practices independently for at least one to two hours between scheduled lessons, they can expect to see these results. Learning any instrument takes dedication and motivation, and learning to sing is no different. The teacher is only able to steer the student in the right direction, but motivation and dedication must be put forth by the student in order to reach their set goals in a timely fashion. Lesson Logistics: David teaches students in his acoustically-treated recording studio. If he travels to your home, he cannot provide any equipment, but none are really needed in an in-home situation. And, the students need only provide themselves! In this unique instance, the human body is their instrument and all the required equipment to make music! *** Studio Equipment *** At his home studio, this is what David provides his students when teaching lessons: - Professional-grade, soundproofed recording studio (STC 55) - Auralex AudioTile acoustic foam - Full-length mirror for students to view the posture and action of their bodies when singing - Piano keyboard for warmup exercises and pitch-finding - Studio monitor speakers and headphones for listening to accompaniments *** Travel Equipment *** Since most of the items David can offer for a lesson are large, he will be unable to bring them if he travels to your home. If they have one, students can provide a mirror and/or piano/keyboard, but these are not essential for lessons. *** Specialties *** (1) Opera Vocal Performance; (2) Musical Theater (Broadway) Vocal Performance; and (3) Most other genres/styles since they all require the foundational principles of posture, breathing, and support that David teaches; ALSO: (4) Public Speaking (Voice) since many of these foundational singing techniques apply to speaking in front of large audiences; and (5) Music Recording and Production, including recording the voice and many other instruments such as drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, piano, synth, and violin. Under this category, he teaches microphone placement and mixing techniques. // David's singing teaching methods are based most heavily on the vocal instruction he received from Bruce Hall and Dr. Robert Heitzinger when a student at Northwestern University. David also bases his lessons on the writings of James McKinney ("The Diagnosis & Correction of Vocal Faults", 1994), Paul Mason and David Jones.