Piano with Sylvia B.

Music has always been a huge part of my life, even before I knew it would become my career. I began taking piano lessons as a kindergartner and joined my first choir in 5th grade. I began taking voice lessons at age 15 and found my passion in opera by the time I graduated high school. I got my Bachelor of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where I sang with Chamber Singers and Concert Choir as both a choir member and soloist. I also sang the roles of Hippolyta (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Third Lady (The Magic Flute), the Mother (The Consul), and Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro). After college, I moved up to Seattle to get my Master's in vocal performance at UW, where I participated in Chamber Singers, and played the Witch in a whimsical production of Hansel and Gretel. After my first year at UW, my voice teacher and I decided that I wasn't really a mezzo-soprano as I thought, so I made the transition to soprano. I love being a soprano, since I get to sing all the Puccini heroines, not to mention tons of high notes! I've sung with the Seattle Opera chorus and with Opera on Tap Seattle, as well as with various ensembles around town. During the summer of 2013, I also had the remarkable opportunity of attending OperaWorks, a prestigious training program in southern California, as an advanced artist and just this past summer, I was a member of the Aspen Opera Theater Center at the world renowned Aspen Music Festival. I think that making music is one of the most important things in life, and anyone can do it with a little guidance! *** Lesson Details *** You take voice lessons for fun and enrichment, and with me, you will get an educational experience, but have fun while doing it! I've had the privilege of learning not only how to sing using imagery and "feelings", but how the voice works mechanically through study of anatomy and acoustics. I believe that voice students, even avocational ones, are too smart to be taught only through imagery. Learning how sound is produced at the respiratory level (breathing), the phonatory level (the vibrating together of your vocal folds to create sound), and the resonatory level (how your mouth and throat are shaped to create the most beautiful sound possible without pushing) is the foundation upon which good vocal technique is built. Then we can incorporate those ideas into songs and arias, and allow the music to unfold. Your first few lessons with me will consist primarily of vocalization: different vocal exercises where we can explore your voice and what it can do, and experiment with some ideas about breathing and singing. Then we can pick a piece (aria, song, musical theater number, or something else entirely) and begin to incorporate those ideas, adding musicianship, language and interpretation to the mix. We singers sure have to multi-task! To each lesson, please bring water, any kinesthetic "tools" I may give you, a tape recorder (optional), and most importantly an open mind! *** My Studio *** My piano is located in a room with tons of natural light, and there is seating for parents or other lesson observers. *** Travel Equipment *** I can bring my teaching tools, music, and my expertise, but you'll need to provide the piano or keyboard. *** Specialties *** I specialize in classical voice. This includes opera, art song (French melodie, German lieder, etc.), and folk songs. We can also explore musical theater (broadway), as well as other vocal styles. In addition to voice lessons, I teach beginning piano and I tutor French.