Classical Voice with Cherilyn B.

WHY I'M DIFFERENT AND HOW MY STUDIO WORKS Welcome to my voice studio. I’m delighted to get to know you and look forward to connecting soon. After having performed leading roles off-Broadway in NYC, in national and international tours, regional and local theatre since 1970, I've recently returned to Los Angeles where I was born and raised. I’m thrilled to be back home, in the global epicenter of the music industry. I’ve been blessed to be able to use my talents around the world to uplift and inspire. Teaching singing is my way of giving back and is the greatest reward. Well. Aside from everything I learned from raising 5 children, all grown and having families of their own now (16 grandchildren and counting!) Through the years, I've been fortunate to have developed a reputation of dependability, experience, connections, stability, and the expertise and skills needed to help you reach your goals and live your dreams. I’m fairly certain that this had some influence over my “Top 20 Best Voice Teachers in Los Angeles” rating. TO MY EXTRAORDINARY STUDENTS I'm also grateful to have received the highest ratings from my amazing students at Brigham Young University and Orange County School of the Arts. I currently serve on the Musical Theatre faculty teaching audition technique and repertoire and voice technique classes to the highest level of students California School of the Arts. I love working with singer-actors of all music genres and all ages in my private voice studio. Some of these incredible students have gone on to perform on Broadway. TO MY GREAT TEACHERS I offer a holistic approach to singing, merging the healthy voice techniques of all my marvelous teachers, to whom I owe everything I teach. I’m in debt to these voice teachers that have mentored me over the years and for the opportunity to give back by passing on to you the time-honored techniques that will help you reach your goals and live your dreams. I blend the voice therapy techniques of OREN BROWN, the father of healthy singing, with the song interpretation techniques of the masterful DAVID CRAIG. His protégé, and my NYC mentor, SARA LOUISE LAZARUS has given me permission to teach this incredible and somewhat forgotten technique in Los Angeles. Along with Sara, I thank the genius pianist-arranger ALEX RYBECK, and the I’ve-Got-A-Song-For-You-No-One-Knows MICHAEL LAVINE, who each helped me shape my song choices, which were always amazingly perfect. These techniques are anchored with a long-lost, but the most effective of all, breath control technique for all types of singing as taught to me in my Hollywood High School days by then 82-year old veteran Metropolitan Opera singer, MARGARET ROMAINE. Under her tutelage for those three years, I went from a most shy girl to a confident senior class soloist in the Hollywood Bowl, preparing for the regional Met auditions. (Margaret was devastated when I decided I preferred musical theatre and pop singing.) For the super octave classical range, I thank the angelic coloratura EWAN MITTON. I owe my belting technique to MY THREE SONS, who strained my vocal health daily during a challenging, vocal-gymnastics run of Side By Side By Sondheim. Having to shout at them to call them in for dinner after playing outside was painful to the vocal cords. Since no one taught the technique back then, I made it up. And it worked. Miraculously, a decade later when belting techniques were beginning to be taught, I learned I had been right all along. I studied these techniques with Betty Buckley’s Dallas coach RAY ALLEN and my NYC teacher BILL REED. Interestingly, I could not show up at an audition without an auditor asking, “Has anyone ever told you that you look and sound like Betty Buckley?” I took it as a compliment. Recently Broadway’s Candy Buckley, and my best friend from those Dallas days, texted me: “You were always lightyears ahead of everyone in technique!” Now, you should also know that I do things differently in my studio. I offer three options: Pro Track, Discovery Track, and A la Carte. THE PRO TRACK The Pro Track is a 13-week session (quarter) for those who are serious about singing professionally. The session includes 13 weekly 1-hour private voice technique lessons with 3 monthly masterclasses for all my students to work in front of their peers (the best way to learn). I feature my top students in a Cabaret Showcase at Miceli’s Pizza Pasta Grille, famous for its singing waiters, located in Universal City, California. Minimum: 4 students. THE DISCOVERY TRACK The Discovery Track is also a 13-week session for those who love to sing but who are not sure which direction they’d like to go. The session includes 13 weekly 45-min private voice technique lessons with 3 monthly masterclasses working in front of their peers. Minimum: 4 students So the way it works here at TakeLessons.com, you will pay for these sessions in three incremental payments of 5 lessons each. (Or you can pay in full in ONE payment for a discount). A LA CARTE The A La Carte choice is simply a TakeLessons.com bundle of 5 lessons, which is useful if you only need some coaching or audition prep. We can spread those coaching sessions out however you wish. SOON TO COME… I’m also setting up a new MASTERCLASS intensive – “BEYOND VOICE TECHNIQUE” Stay tuned! I hope this makes sense. BOTTOM LINE Whether your goals are amateur, professional, commercial, recording, theatrical, college or audition prep for any venue, including TV competition shows and pageants, my unique and personalized approach will take you beyond voice technique. I encourage a willingness to be vulnerable and to take risks that will develop courage and confidence, all the while learning in a safe environment on your journey to creating a stunning performance that is uniquely and authentically you. You will not only learn voice technique, but I will take you the distance and beyond to integrate voice-acting-song interpretation and audition techniques across the spectrum of singing from Pop – Rock – Broadway – Classical styles. FOR DANCERS You will be on a fast-track to become that "triple threat" required in today's music video and musical theatre market. FOR ACTORS Your skills will be exponentially enhanced, and your performance refined, by experiencing the musicality and rhythm of the delivery of every line through singing, in addition to traditional acting techniques. FOR PUBLIC SPEAKERS Believe it or not, you will also benefit from the acting and musical theatre techniques I teach. Yes. They work! It will elevate your hum-drum speech and delivery to an unforgettable performance that will motivate and change people's lives. FOR VOICE OVERS Let’s talk. Acting and using the proper voice technique to create characters and commercial spokesperson types have so much in common with singing. But we don’t need to actually sing to reach your goals. You’ll be surprised how similar the voice over techniques are to singing techniques. I’ll help you with your voice delivery and together we can create a remarkable demo! I CAN’T WAIT TO MEET YOU. LET'S GET STARTED! MY BACKGROUND Cherilyn has had 40+ years experience as a working actor-singer, performing leading and supporting roles Off-Broadway, in regional and local theatre, on national and international tours, TV, concerts, commercials, cabaret and voice-overs as well as internationally with the USO. She is a member of SAG-AFTRA, AEA and NATS. She has appeared with Hollywood and Broadway celebrities Joel Grey, Alexis Smith, Ron Perlman, Kelly Bishop, Randy Graff, John LaMotta, Janna Robbins, J.P. Dougherty, Merlin Olsen and Victoria Principal. For four years, Cherilyn was a popular radio talk show producer and host, featuring an arts and entertainment show weekly. Cherilyn developed and produced the Backstage-rated BEST in NYC summer musical theatre program at Circle in the Square Theatre. For her New York City program, she assembled a stellar advisory board including Broadway icons: musical director Peter Howard; Theatre Wing President Sean Hartley; composer-lyricist Stephen Flaherty; musical director Jack Lee, actor-producer Harvey Keitel and former Madison Square Garden President David Checketts. She owns a voice studio on Woodland Hills where she teaches privately and coaches singer-actor-dancers in song technique and audition through her "Beyond Singing Technique" masterclasses. Cherilyn holds a BFA from Brigham Young University and a Mary Martin scholarship, Northwood University (Business of Musical Theatre) and was nominated for Best Actress of the Year in Dallas for her performance as Mary in Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along Southwest premier revival.