Singing with Emily H.

Singing and playing piano have always been a huge part of my life. I love to perform everything from opera and sacred music to music theater and jazz, and have been performing since I was very young. I earned my Bachelor’s of Music in vocal performance from DePaul University School of Music in Chicago. It was there that I fell in love with teaching, when I taught my first student as part of a course in vocal pedagogy. Since then I have built my studio to over 20 voice and piano students here in NY and CT. It has been thrilling to see all the progress they've made! I just completed my Masters of Music at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. I have had several excellent and truly inspiring teachers myself with different teaching styles, and so I have a variety of approaches to drawn upon in helping my own students. Vocal technique was not something that came easy for me, and was something I had to really work on. This work on technique has made me a stronger teacher. I know how many different approaches it can take to make something click, so I use the diverse experiences of my own studies to find what works best for each student. While I am classically trained, I am comfortable teaching all types of singers, because I believe that at its core, what makes a singer great is the same between all genres. My number one goal in teaching is to help my students use their voice in a way that is healthy and allows them the greatest ability for expression, because ultimately, I believe that is what music is about. Although singing has been a big part of my professional work in the past few years, I have also been playing classical piano since I was four and still love to play and share this love with my students. Most of my students are piano students, and I love seeing the progress they've made over the years. Students that started with me as beginners a few years ago are now reading music with confidence and playing works by Mozart and Beethoven. I am an active performer and am able to draw upon this experience in my teaching. This summer I performed in Manhattan with dell'Arte Opera Ensemble and won 2nd prize in their dell'Arte/Jeiven Awards. Past roles include Gretel in Hansel and Gretel at Brooklyn College and Zerlina in Mozart's Don Giovanni with Connecticut Lyric Opera. Other roles include April in Company with Westport Community Theatre, Despina (cover) in Mozart's Così fan tutte for Connecticut Lyric Opera, the messenger in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo at DePaul University, and Maria in West Side Story with the McLeod Summer Playhouse. I have a special love for early music and have performed oratorio by Bach with the DePaul Baroque Ensemble and as part of the Bethesda Music Series in New Haven. I also participated in the prestigious Amherst Early Music Festival for two years. I have performed abroad in Austria and Italy, and speak French, Italian, and some German. Because of my experience on stage in opera , music theatre, and recitals, I understand the skills it takes to engage an audience and create a well-rounded performance. I am thus an asset to any student preparing for a contest, audition, or stage appearance. *** Studio Equipment *** Living room: Piano, keyboard (close to full) weighted, music stand, seating for parents. *** Travel Equipment *** I can provide some music. You would have to have a piano or keyboard in your home. *** Specialties *** Opera, early music, new/contemporary music, French melodie, German lieder, art song, Classical Music Theatre, Oratorio. Diction coaching in French, Italian, German, English.