Severn, MD Piano Lessons

Visit her website at http://melodysons.musicteachershelper.com

is unique and individualized to each student. I set personalized goals to make every lesson a success, and I push my students to get the most out of themselves just like I do myself. I'm always enthusiastic and humor driven to create a personable learning environment for students of any age. Music is my life, and I'm so thrilled to have the opportunity to share my greatest passion with the hope that my students, too, will fall in love with music!

*** Lesson Details ***
My lesson environment is laid back and stress-free. I like my students to feel inspired and encouraged as they begin or continue their music education. I introduce fun and innovative ways to build students' musicianship and creativity while retaining classical methods to develop strong technique and proper performance and practice habits.

For beginners, we'll be exploring the basics of either piano, or voice, while focusing on proper technique, basic theory, and a solid skill set. Within 3-6 months, my students are able to read music and understand the language of it.

For intermediate-advanced, we'll focus on building musicianship and skill sets by furthering studies in music theory, varying styles of repertoire, proper techniques that will greatly improve your piano and/or voice abilities, songwriting, improvisation, and live performance skills.

I ask that my students come prepared to every lesson with the motivation and commitment to learn something new each week! Lessons are a fun and creative way to discover yourself as an artist and a person, so let's get started!!

*** Studio Equipment ***
Kawai CN25 Upright Electric Piano, 13" MacBook Pro and iPad mini (Apple), A-Audio Elite HD Headsphones, BeatsStudio Studio Headphones (beats by dr. dre) and G900DX Studio Headphones (Gear One).

Will provide sheet music and exercises. My students should have a working instrument as well as any method book or sheet music we are working on.

*** Specialties ***
I teach all styles and genres

e encouraged to take risks, try new things, make mistakes, and most importantly be themselves.

I value the time I have with my students and expect each student to come prepared to each lesson with an open mind and willingness to work. With music, the best results come to those who put in 100% both during lessons and during individual practice time. This is key in any musical pursuit. Overall, I want lessons to be enjoyable while still maintaining a sense of progress for the student.

Here's a little more about me:
In 2005 I made my operatic debut in Italy with Operafestival di Roma in their main stage production of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro. While in Rome, I was also featured in Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. Over the years I've been featured as a soloist in other concert and oratorio works such as Villa-Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, Rutter's Requiem, and Mozart's Requiem.

Along with my classical training, I've taken on several roles in musicals such as, The King and I, Guys and Dolls, Oklahoma, and The Boyfriend. I am an honored NATS (National Association for the Teachers of Singing) competitor, Peabody Scholarship recipient, and Bland Music Scholarship recipient. Recently, I had the opportunity to work with the Richmond Philharmonic Orchestra on their spring and summer concert series and was asked to perform the National Anthem and God Bless America at Game 2 of the ALDS during one of the MLB's 2014 postseason games (Baltimore Orioles vs. Detroit Tigers). When I'm not singing, you may find me enjoying a run through the neighborhood, or enjoying some time with my cat CJ.

I earned both my undergraduate and graduate degrees form the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University.

*** Studio Equipment ***
Family Room: seating for parents
Studio space with piano, recording equipment, and parent seating available.
**PLEASE NOTE I have a cat in the home**
*** Specialties ***
Voice and Piano Lessons
Classical, Musical Theater, Pop, Jazz, Soul, and Country.

ncisely and properly diagnoses vocal issues from the very start.

She has a phenomenal ear, extensive experience in many styles and performance practices as well as a full working understanding of the mechanics of the voice.

She is not confused by the wide range and variety of various voice types, including highly unique instruments, or use of various technical approaches, style and artistic taste that can be misleading to many coaches. She can navigate easily and successfully through any of these challenges.

This type of insight is extremely valuable. Extracting and verifying what the voice is precisely doing allows for a real opportunity to work towards finding a more authentic and thus higher quality of singing that is based exclusively on the individual as a vocalist.

Therefore it is best to work with a professional who understands these fine differences.

Learning how one’s voice works optimally and fully allows for even greater flexibility in all singing ventures.

She has connected what are the absolute fundamentals to all types of singing and is not distracted by any and all variables that are expected to arise. This gives clarification to what exactly makes a voice authentic or not.

Therefore she works immediately to address the core of vocal issues by adding what is necessary for the technique and what needs to be removed.

This can be challenging work, that requires working honestly, but it brings extremely rewarding and higher quality results.

Personal note to all students:

I hope that you are feeling more inspired and inclined to work together after reading briefly a few of the things I can offer as a coach.

With that said, please consider that regardless of how great a coach is, it is important for the student to acknowledge that they must take command, initiative and responsibility for their instrument, including committing to the process and guidance given fully and to the best of their abilities.

You are absolutely in control and must not wait or avoid to be self-directed and take ownership of your voice in this discipline. It is important that you feel empowered to make your own decisions as a student.

***Advice that should be heeded before considering lessons with me or any serious professional who values their work***

It is important that I address attitude, emotion and state of mind:

Please know that I am extremely generous and kind. I assure you that I am highly confident in my abilities and work. Integrity and value are a part of who I am as an artist, coach and person and you will come to find this. If I don’t know something, I say it.

I offer all my insight and expertise to my students. That is why I think it is important to understand and possibly workout and finally accept what I am asking to build a successful working relationship.

I absolutely understand and appreciate that we are all coming from somewhere and with that said please keep in mind:

Learn to not judge yourself while you are sorting out your technique. Be completely open to reworking every aspect if necessary without feeling defeated. Reserve judgment and do not assume something is not for you regarding technique if you have not fully mastered it yet in application and comprehension.

That type of opinion is reserved for professionals who have both mastered and understand the technique only. Until then it is important to accept that you need to keep working and stay humble and positive.

***Your emotional state of mind and attitude absolutely matters. Do not underestimate the influence of your mind on your body. We are not aiming for perfectionism, we are aiming for personal excellence!***
Part of that is being willing to try the way I am asking because and trusting it is only for your benefit. You don’t have to come here perfect by any means, please don’t think this. You just have to be in reasonable enough shape to work productively.

Perfectionism leads to disappointment and limited thinking that undermines progress. You must be open, resourceful, adventurous and experimental in your singing. Perfectionism will fail you in this regard. I am a recovering perfectionist so I know:)

You cannot offer your most excellent work if you are resistant, fearful or emotionally (exhausted) nor prepared for working honestly due to past discouragement or carrying unrealistic expectations that typically stem from not being willing to invest the time, effort, or financial means in yourself. No one can help you if these factors are put between us and things always surface if they haven’t yet. Be prepared. Know that we are all facing the same issues more or less in this journey.

That is why I suggest making amends with any and all of these factors before working with me because they will influence the outcome of our work.

Some I am sure will immediately disagree with what I am say and decide that this is not what they need or in actuality really want to give (themselves truly), and find another coach who agrees with what they are willing to do, even if that severely limits their growth.

This is absolutely my professional opinion and I believe it is true for everyone. I know what I am saying can sound overwhelming, but it is not. Remove the ego from the equation. It is actually realistic and practical. I am telling you that you are absolutely in control of your outcome.

My hope is that students will come to terms with the reality of what is necessary to finding success in their singing first and worry about whatever is next last and not attempt to displace their end of the deal.

Start with very small, manageable steps and say yes to what you are saying no to or battling in your mind. That is actually more exhausting than the work itself and needs to be left at the door when we work.

Other professionals might agree with you or say differently about what I have expressed to save your business. Finding others who agree doesn’t make it true. Confronting things honestly is a choice that the teacher must make as well as the student.

I say this because it is the truth and it is a disservice to you as a singer and the necessary foundation to the relationship to go into it any other way.
It is already difficult enough to find direction when we are being lead without honesty and it must begin with us.

This is exactly what every student needs to realize because this is a tremendous part of what is holding them back. If you have understood what I am saying, it is actually a very empowering message.

It might even be all that you needed to hear to find a real path to success. :)

If you acknowledge what I stated above and are willing to commit to the work, I can assure you that I promise to do my part and help you move toward success in your lessons.

If you fully follow my guidance in your mind and heart, you will eventually find your way. I am open to what a student says they initially need, but that said I tend to show my students the light eventually on whether something is truly helping or hurting. I have good instincts on exactly what a person is ready to take on, but it’s typically a bit more than what they might want to do. That is because the mind is often behind the body. I have to be several steps ahead to keep the work progressive.

I always tell my students that I will only teach you what you need, not what you want, expect to learn or already know. You should be interested in this too. Please allow me to do this. I focus on fixing the weakness that we prefer to avoid and incorporating our strengths.

I understand that what I am saying is challenging for most students because it is so often the glaringly obvious aspects of our technique that we have been avoiding and battling before we walked through the door.

Know that I have faith in you and I want you to find faith in yourself because that is more empowering and valuable than millions of people believing in you. You don’t need that, you need belief in self only.

Believing in yourself with the mindset as worthy to go forward is what will help you get through the difficulties and challenges with confidence and assurance. Problems that will arise and cannot be avoided.

You will see that you will start to be led in a much different direction just by changing your thinking.

If anything I said makes you feel nervous, overwhelmed or uncomfortable because it does not align with what you were expecting, regardless of being a beginner or a professional then I say just confront it, own it for what it is and accept it because you are now ready to work at an elevated capacity.

I placed this deliberately in between my profile to make sure people will read it.

Continuation of Christine’s profile:

Christine’s extensive experience and knowledge as a professional adult contemporary vocal artist includes a highly in-depth working understanding of a range of various styles and specialties in vocal intonation that is truly hard to match by other professionals in the field.

This along with her continuous education (over twenty years) and dedication to the authentic Italian traditions of bel canto has allowed for her to develop an approach that can extended into all legitimate styles of singing. Her personal approach to the voice is beyond comparison, and can only be described as world class.

She has a phenomenal ear and can make rapid and highly accurate assessments of technical issues in a very brief sitting. Christine is exceptional at explaining vocal pedagogy and directing students on how to make corrections for themselves.

Christine is a dramatic coloratura soprano and is very confident and experienced with large instruments (that are more difficult to train for various reasons and require more specialized training). Having an extremely rare and large voice herself has given her invaluable insight toward fully understanding all other voice types and the discipline necessary to achieve efficient technique.

Many teachers can be limited in their view and teach "their technique" as opposed to helping the student develop their own technique and what works best for them. Christine has a great talent for figuring out what a students needs to do in their approach in order to achieve the results and keep the lessons progressive.

Developing proficient technique in a complete and effective way leads toward discovering the full capacity and beauty of our instrument without compromise. We need to find our voice to find ourselves as artist.

Her methods in vocal intonation translate directly and indirectly into all styles of legitimate singing, which she coaches many varying styles and will direct student toward appropriate repertoire. Students will learn the full potential of their instrument under her guidance. It is her belief that technique should always lead toward one sounding natural, no matter the style and that one fully learns their instrument’s capability to access endless artistic choices as a performer.

Christine offers very traditional based vocal lessons with a focus on improving technique through practical exercises and song repertoire designed for each student's unique vocal needs. She will offer necessary guidance and adjustments to ensure the student's continuous development.

Her goal is for her vocal students to discover their authentic voice and to find freedom in their technique and most importantly their expression as artists.

What you can expect to learn:

Vocal pedagogy and how the voice functions properly; how to effectively think about your voice to get the body to cooperate (aurally, physically, mentally, emotionally, etc.);

Integrating the body to fully support the voice Rebounding the body to continue to move the air efficiently. These are the basics of support, but often times very apparently neglected because most trained singers/teachers from even the highest institutions do not understand how it works or do it effectively themselves. It is sadly becoming a lost art. This is the most advanced concept of singing and yet is absolutely necessary to master in order to access genuine support. Christine clearly demonstrates and explains how this concept functions and her refinement of it is by far not common knowledge.

Other concepts include sustaining an open throat, creating a natural lifted and open internal space for better mix using the head voice and easier support, legitimate dynamics directed from the body and compressed air, anchoring the body to maintain the larynx low;

Various placement techniques, air that can rebound using breath direction and not from using the larynx inappropriately, centering the voice/cut internally by aligning the horizontal (mask) and vertical planes (chest, back of head, top of head and spine) support and placement that function together, developing a mixed middle sound that passes easily into low and high registers and broadens range; articulation free from the jaw and using tongue and other articulators as well as using breath direction to assist, posture that is conducive for support and keeps the body open and functional;

Various artistic and performance techniques, musical interpretation appropriate to context, time period and style, aligning the voice and body/acting to come across accurately in our portrayals and the process behind this, memorization techniques, execution of timing for expressive reasons and ways to think about timing that doesn’t conflict with the natural structure of a song, but allows for flexibility in phrasing, phrasal development and song development.

Piano that is geared exclusively toward vocalists and adult students only:

Teaching piano to vocalist is something I hold dear to my heart because I understand the difficulties and disadvantage as a vocal student to not be able to play and learn your rep on your own. I did not learn how to read music until I was in music school as a young adult. I believe reading music properly is just as important as learning Latin based foreign languages for success in opera. It has been my professional experience that it is often grossly overlooked.

I also offer working with adults students who are only interested in piano starting at age 20.

Christine is also a highly sought out piano instructor for her ability to establish an exceptional foundation in beginning piano students and those who wish to continue their studies and build upon the fundamentals. She specializes in reading skills and excellent technique.

She teaches Russian technique, which allows for flexibility, strength and tonal beauty of musical lines. This technique can be applied to all styles of playing piano such as pop, jazz and is not limited to just the classical repertoire.

Her goal is for all of her music students to become increasingly independent as musicians to where they feel confident to teach themselves and others and to ultimately find enjoyment in the process of learning music.

Her approach helps students advance their technique, reading proficiency, including music theory and expand their artistic capabilities.

Education and continuation of voice:

She received her music education in classical vocal performance from George Mason University and has vigiourously continued her studies in opera with Mrs. Fabiana Bravo, who studied with Luciano Pavarotti and Renata Scotto and has had a fabulous career singing at the Met. She has learned the Italian bel canto traditions as well as the Russian approach to the style. Christine specializes in Italian for classical rep.

General styles I coach:
Opera (bel canto and verismo) classical, sacred, hymnal, traditional, jazz, r&b, folk, and other variations of these popular styles.

Christine also has an international recording career as an adult contemporary artist.

Voice lessons begin at age 14-55 and piano at age 14 for vocalist interested in piano and 20 plus for adults interested in piano only.

Please no inquires about exceptions on age or travel, I will not respond. I teach from my home only, regardless of distance. I am worth waiting for and traveling to:)

What do I expect from students who are seriously applying:

Those who are very hard working and prepared to work on what they NEED, not what they want. Those that are motivated, passionate, dedicated, responsible, considerate, humble and serious about lessons and greatly improving as musicians should apply only regardless of aspirations as a hobby or professionally.

The most important thing necessary to finding real progress I have found is if a student is fully prepared to work HONESTLY. We must always strive to work honestly with our technique. Issues cannot be corrected when we chose to continue to avoid them.

I strongly believe that music is a discipline and this is the manner in which it will be approached during lessons. This is a teacher-STUDENT effort. Taking responsibility for your part is a must. This includes trying to the best of your abilities to put my advice and guidance into practice away from lessons is necessary to your improvement.

I am looking for potential long-term students who are willing and ready to work hard in a practical and realistic manner, regardless of experience, learning needs or proficiency. It will not work long term if a student is not making the time or effort commitment to apply the work from our lessons at home.

Singing is a long-term sustained process to develop that can absolutely not be rushed and I want students who understand this. I have very limited availability and I am only seeking serious students who have a positive, professional attitude and will value me as a teacher. You need not know anything about voice, just have a good work ethic and attitude :)

Thank you and looking forward to working together!

Warmly,
Christine Padua

you!

or voice recital. I aim to provide a leg up in sight-reading and ear training to give the student an advantage over their peers.

zt to the music of today.