Top Singing & Voice Lessons in Wolcott, CT

opera, operetta, and church music. With solid vocal technique my students are able to cross genres with ease, and sing whatever inspires them musically.

I currently play viola with the La Jolla Symphony, and have sung with the San Diego Master Chorale and the San Diego Symphony. I was concertmaster in several symphony orchestras and have played as section leader for viola in numerous groups. I also play in and manage a string quartet and am also currently coaching small group string ensembles. My siblings and I have played in our family string quartet for over 20 years, and still perform together. Most recently I was chosen to record a new song Glow for Disneyland's California Adventure World of Color Winter Dreams.

I am comfortable teaching with various different methods, and cater lesson plans to the individual student. With over 14 years of teaching experience, I have taught students that vary in age from 3 to 75 years old, and am very comfortable with teaching children.

*** Lesson Details ***
Lessons are fun. My philosophy is that students should have music in their lives and benefit from the lessons they take now for years to come. Learning to play a musical instrument will help students with math skills, study habits, and develop a skill that will last for a lifetime.

After 3 months students will understand the fundamentals of their string instrument or voice, know how to care for their instrument, warm up properly, be able to read and play/sing introductory passages. After 6 months the student will have learned basic music theory, how to read music, and have advanced through playing/singing multiple songs.

*** Travel Equipment ***
I have a violin and viola that I bring to assist in teaching lessons. I expect that the students provide an instrument and their books. A keyboard or piano is essential for voice students for vocalization. A student need not know how to play piano in order to take voice lessons.

*** Specialties ***
Vocal students are encouraged to pick songs from whatever genre sparks their interest. With violin and viola I use the suzuki method of training and follow the books and lessons, I use other books to supplement scales/technique.

teaching at the Hall Mead School gave him an opportunity to broaden his horizons. He developed a close relationship with British composer Dal Strutt, who composed several pieces for his voice and sang premieres of Strutt’s work at the Greenwich Festival, the British Music Information Center, All Saints Society, Essex, and other venues around London. The guitarist Martin Vishnick invited him to sing songs by the Renaissance English composers John Dowland and Thomas Campion on his recitals. Thomas performed as soloist with the Capella Singers, Ramsey Singers, and the Pink Singers, as their soloist in West Berlin for Hans Eisler’s “Die Mutter.”

Thomas sang the first performances of John Rutter’s “Shadows” for voice and guitar, with guitarist Ramona Hartmetz in Kansas City as well as Rutter’s “Mass for the Children” with the Philharmonia of Kansas City. He served as baritone soloist for Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral, KC, and on tour in Salzburg, Paris, Florence, Westminster Abbey and the cathedrals of Christchurch, St. Mary’s, Southwell, Ely, St. Patrick’s, St. Davids, Birmingham, Wells, Bristol, Worcester, Exeter and Norwich.

After singing opera throughout his college years, his first ‘professional’ opera was “Die Fledermaus” at New Haven Opera. Lyric Opera Kansas City hired Thomas in 1981 for the chorus of “Fidelio” and the rest is history! One hundred plus shows, and counting!

*** Lesson Details ***
I am a laid back teacher with a great sense of humor. You will also learn a lot of music theory and music history from me! My lessons begin with some training in reading music (Music Theory) and I suggest that you purchase Alfred's Music Theory Volume One or Two depending on your level of understanding.

After refreshing your music reading and rhythm skills, we will listen to you sing and begin to vocalize. I will develop exercises just for you, to help you develop your voice, making it stronger and more flexible.

When you have warmed up your voice with vocal exercises, we will work together on the music you wish to learn. It could be a song, an aria, a Broadway or Opera aria, or a religious piece.

*** Studio Equipment ***
Large 30 foot living room with two pianos, music stands, keyboard, couches, seating area.
Mac computer, multiple cameras and great sound system.

*** Specialties ***
Classical Bel Canto (beautiful voice) style, operatic singing, Broadway style, Art Songs (Lieder in French, German and Italian.)

le, with Hartford Opera Theater as Elise in Dawn Sonntag's Verlorene Heimat, Pythia in Nkeiru Okeye’s We’ve Got Our Eye on You, and as Miss Paige in Dan Shore’s An Embarrassing Position which was nominated for Best Featured Ensemble in a Musical through the 2015 Broadway World Connecticut Awards. She has also performed with Opera Theater of Connecticut, Connecticut Lyric Opera, Madison Lyric Stage, Greater Worcester Opera, Revolution Opera Alliance, the Simsbury Light Opera Company, and the Greater Meriden Concert Chorale.

Prior to moving to Connecticut, Rachel lived in St. Louis, Missouri, where she frequently performed with the St. Louis Symphony as a member of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus. She has also performed with Winter Opera St. Louis, Union Avenue Opera, and the Southern Illinois Music Festival. In 2012, Ms. Abrams had the opportunity to be a sponsored young artist with Winter Opera St. Louis where she performed the role of Echo in Ariadne auf Naxos, covered Musetta in La Bohème, and performed in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical review: A Grand Night for Singing. Ms. Abrams has also performed with Opera Fort Collins, Loveland Opera Theater, Victorian Lyric Opera, and Opera Classica Europa in Bad Schwalbach, Germany as an apprentice artist. Additional operatic credits include Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Giannetta in L’Elisir d’Amore and Miss Pinkerton in The Old Maid and the Theif.

A passionate performer of Jewish music, Ms. Abrams was featured as a soloist in Martin Bresnick’s puppet opera, Der Signál, with the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra during the 10th Annual Celebration of Jewish Arts and Culture at Charter Oak Cultural Center in October of 2014. As an active performer of art song, Ms. Abrams has collaborated with various musicians throughout the New England region to create diverse and accessible art song recitals. In April of 2015, Ms. Abrams and pianist Michael Korman presented a recital featuring the works of Schönberg, Ruth Schönthal, Previn, and Weill with the Maurice Greenberg Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Hartford.

Since the winter of 2016, Rachel has been an active performer with Lollipop Opera Outreach. This touring opera company brings the joy of opera to thousands of school children throughout New England. This season, she will perform the roles of the Mother/Witch in Hansel and Gretel, Babe in The Three Pigs – A Pig Tale, and participate in the premiere of a new interactive “culinary” opera adventure: A Fairytale Kitchen.

In addition to being a passionate performer and collaborator, Rachel is a private music educator dedicated to the success of her students. Ms. A maintains a private studio of voice students out of her home in West Hartford, Connecticut. In addition to her private teaching studio, she is the alto section leader at St. James Episcopal Church in Farmington. She has also taught at Farmington Valley Academy Montessori in Avon, Arts Place in Cheshire and Summit Studios in Manchester.

As a voice teacher, Ms. A provides her students with a holistic, healthy, and age appropriate technique based on her studies of vocal pedagogy, years of lessons from master teachers, and her personal experiences as a performer. Through personalized vocal exercises and repertoire assignments, students will learn how to achieve a proper vocal onset, management of air pressure, increase vocal stamina, and maximize vocal freedom through balanced resonance. While Ms. Abrams teaches "classical" technique, her students apply her pedagogy to all styles of singing including, but certainly not limited to: musical theater, jazz, gospel, barber shop, and even rock!

Before opening her own private studio in Connecticut, Ms. Abrams lived in St. Louis, Missouri where she taught throughout the region. While in Missouri, she served as an Adjunct Voice Instructor/Lecture Professor at East Central College and a Private Voice and Music Instructor at St. John's School of the Arts.

In addition to her teaching experience in the Missouri area, Rachel was a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Northern Colorado, where she was an assistant instructor for Music Survey and Music and World Cultures classes.

Ms. A holds a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Northern Colorado and a Bachelor of Music degree from San José State University. She lives in West Hartford with her husband Ben and their anti-social diva cat, Bonnie. She is currently accepting new students!

*** Specialties ***
I teach classical technique, specifically focusing on proper resonance and breath control. This method can be highly useful to broadway, jazz, popular or any other style of singing.

e. There I kept studying vocal technique, solfege, classical guitar and music harmony.
I moved to LA 11 years ago and attended Musician's Institute earning a diploma in Vocal Studies and Vocal Performance and then I attended a Composition & Songwriting Program at UCLA for 2 years. I refined my vocal technique studying at Berkley College of Music for a summertime in a special program for Jazz Vocalists and I have been an Alexander Technique's student for now 10+ years.
I am a performing artist, I sing and teach privately for a living and, on the side, I help an Opera Touring company promote their tours. I have performed all over the country in some beautiful venues such as the Getty Center and Pantages Theater to name a few. Guitar is my second instrument but I accompany students with my piano during vocal exercises. My personal style of singing is modern, not operatic, I love many kinds of music but especially pop, jazz, and musical theater.

***Lessons Details***

**Singing: Teaching Adults**
There are two sides of singing that I like to work on with my students.
The first is vocal technique, which is first and foremost the study of how to use our instrument, our whole body, in the best and most useful way to avoid strain ad create beautiful sounds. I believe that when we relax and use the right posture, meaning the most natural one, then our bodies and our breathing mechanisms act as they are supposed to, and singing magically happens at its best. When we learn to use our bodies without strain, the right "singing" muscles are automatically engaged and exercised and we feel at ease. So I try to encourage a non-forceful way to use diaphragmatic breathing, which I have learned by studying Alexander Technique, which is a technique that teaches people how to stop using unnecessary levels of muscular and mental tension during any activity, especially during an artistic performance of any kind.
I try to notice bad singing habits the student may have formed throughout his/her life, (hopefully none!), and gently help them correct them. The vocal exercises I use are drawn from the Bel Canto tradition, a classical tradition, but I mix them with more modern vocal exercises to develop popular techniques like "belting" for example.
The second side of singing is simply to pay attention to song interpretation, to convey the message we would like to convey. I encourage the student to choose songs to work on they truly love, and I welcome any style of music. I give the students vocal exercises CDs to help them practice at home.

**Singing: Teaching Children**
What I described above is also true for teaching children, however I like to teach them "by ear" with simple vocal exercises and vocal games at the beginning of the lesson and try to ease them into the sound they naturally make. I like to create a positive environment in which the student can feel successful about even small achievements, whether it is standing in a relaxed way or having practiced the beginning of an exercise or part of a song. To help the student practice at home and keep the motivation alive without feeling overwhelmed I record each lesson (or let them record it) and give them the accompaniment for the song of their choice so they can have fun at home.

*** GUITAR ***
I teach young children using fun songs, games and classical guitar technique. I also teach adults and specialize in contemporary guitar. I welcome many styles of music, pop, rock as well as folk genres of Latin America. I emphasize good posture, tone and musicality, and always a high level of enjoyment with the process!

*** RECITALS ***
I plan and host 2 wonderful Recitals a year, one in January and one in June. I encourage all my students to participate, no matter how they may feel about their instrument level and preparation. Working towards a performance is one of the most effective ways to solidify your ever growing skill!

*** Studio Equipment ***
For students who come to my home studio, there is private guest parking right outside my building, in a gated complex of buildings and in a safe neighborhood just north of the 101. My studio is conveniently located just a few blocks from the freeway entrance. I have a comfortable sofa for parents and siblings to attend the lessons and a keyboard to use for accompaniment. Also, I periodically offer my students the chance to record one song in my studio, equipped with nice microphones and a professional recording system.

*** Travel Equipment ***
For singing lessons I bring my small and light master-keyboard and laptop or I can use the student piano/keyboard. For children's lesson I ask my students to bring a notebook to keep track of practice assignments.

*** Specialties ***
Music theory and Songwriting. Stage performance and how to feel comfortable on stage. Additionally I teach vocal jazz improvisation, Broadway singing and Italian song repertoire.

ts. I welcome all ages including adult beginners. Bilingual lessons offered

o become a better musician!