Piano with Gabriella H.

I am a recent college graduate from Carthage College in Kenosha, WI with a degree in Music Education. I have been taking vocal lessons for 8 years and been providing vocal instruction and aiding vocal teachers for 6 years now. I am a soprano and can teach both Broadway style and operatic voice. My performance credits include: Dido and Aeneas (First Witch), Little Women (Aunt March), Seussical the Musical (Wickersham), and The Marriage of Figaro (Marcellina). My awards include: 1st Place Singsational Competition (Spring Grove, IL), 1st Place Lake County Fair Talent Competition (advanced to IL State Fair Competition), 1st place Gurnee Idol 2008, and 2nd Place Waukegan Idol 2007. *** Lesson Details *** Students should expect to learn about the vocal chords and how to manipulate them. My philosophy is that without the understanding of the vocal mechanism, students can not effectively learn how to use them. I, therefore, will do a lot of vocal exercises with students before they actually sing songs, so they learn all the different colors of their voice. I also like to put a lot of emphasis on performing, and not just singing! I help students really perform and feel the song, and not just sing the notes. I am pretty laid back, but I expect students to practice at home! But, if students are having trouble learning, I am very patient! *** Travel Equipment *** I do have a keyboard that I can bring with me if the student does not have one in their home. *** Specialties *** I teach my own version the Estill method of voice pedagogy which focuses on the actual vocal mechanism (vocal chords, nasal passageways, etc) and uses terminology that describes the look of the vocal chords (thick folds, thin folds, etc) which create different kinds of vocal sounds. I use this method to teach classical voice and broadway voice. I use the John Thompson method to teach piano to beginners, but I will adapt to whatever style or book method students with more experience are comfortable with.