Maple Grove Performing Arts Lessons for Adults

I have been working as a professional film composer since 2011, working on everything from 15-second commercials to feature-length pieces, ranging from rock to solo piano to full orchestral compositions. In our discussions, we will cover instrumentation, composing for video without pre-existing music, working with temp. tracks, co-creating with vision from the director, recording & syncing up your score to the multimedia at hand. The end goal is to sufficiently serve what's on the screen & support that through music, rather than detracting from the overall feel of the piece. This will be a quintessential cornerstone of our lessons. There are many ways to approach film scoring, being a very personally-invested medium, & my duty is to open as many doors & pathways to finding your unique voice as an aspiring film composer.

Sarah has been a professional actor in the Twin Cities since moving back from LA, where she worked as an actor and Commercial Casting Director for almost a decade. Sarah has taught acting classes for both on-stage and on-camera work to children and adults. Sarah is also a director and playwright mentor for the Chicago Avenue Project at the Pillsbury House Theater. She is also a crisis intervention trainer with the Department of Justice, where she trains officers in de-escalation techniques through high stakes improv scenarios. Sarah is a certified Mental Health First Aid instructor.

All levels of acting and directing for the stage taught and workshopped. From an acting or improv project to auditioning for your local community stage, to that professional performance.

Learn good breath control and resonance to strengthen your speaking voice using vocal warm-ups, posture and speaking exercises.
We will look at your speaking voice in terms of pitch, timbre, volume, pacing, register and prosody. Using a talk that you are practicing, readings or improvising real life situations, you will have lots of practice.
I recommend adults take from 45 minutes to 1 hour lessons weekly for skill building. The price of lessons DECREASES by 10% after each 5 lesson purchased for the first 15 lessons.

NEW Student Covid-19 Discount
First Lesson FREE with a package of 4 or more.

Effective Immediately for all students!
The coronavirus has hit us all! I am lowering my prices to help so you can continue learning.

In addition to the exercises mentioned in the singing section, we will work specifically on diction and dialect neutralization for teachers, professional public speakers, voice-over artists, actors, and politicians. I aim toward Standard American Speech, but I encourage you to keep your natural dialect and focus on clear articulation, supported vocal production and effective breath and speech patterns.