Vocal Training with Mary-Alexandra O.

I've been studying voice since I was about 14 years. I grew up doing Musical Theatre, Jazz, Choir-both church and school. I started to fall in love with opera when I was about 16 years and have not looked back. I grew up in the mid-west in the grand land of Fargo, North Dakota and then started my education in Voice Performance and Theatre in Minnesota. I received my masters degree in voice performance and a post masters degree in Opera Studies from The New England Conservatory of Music. During my time in school I have had the chance to perform both in the United States and throughout Europe in many different performance settings including choral, recitals, and operas. I have also been teaching a wide age range of students through out my masters and post masters degree. I have a long resume of performance experiences that I believe will be beneficial to my students. I have a love of both performing and teaching and am still actively on stage and auditioning. *** Lesson Details *** The key component to music of any kind is to have fun. If you are not having fun then it is not worth doing. The only way to run is to crawl, walk and then run so remember that with hard work and practice you will get where you need to go. I like to start my students off figuring out where they are in their musical studies and proficiency. For some students it is about having fun and for others its about getting ready for an audition or competition but in both situations we will focus on the major components of healthy singing which include: Posture Breath Control And relaxed vocal production We will always start the lesson out focusing on any questions you might have from your weeks practice time. If you might be confused on something that we did the week before- I think it is important to tape your lessons with some type of recording device but if that is too expensive I will write everything down for you. We then work on some of the old vocal warm ups/ vocalizes. These are not just about warming up but also working on technique at the same time. If there is a difficult part in your music I will try to find an exercise that will make it easier to do that section of music. And then we will spend some time on different music. I have a large variety of curriculum ranging from art song books, to aria and Broadway books. If I don't have something in my library I will try to find it so don't feel hesitate to ask if there is something that you might like to learn. *** Studio Equipment *** Home Studio with Keyboard, there is room for parents to sit if they would like to listen to their children's lesson. *** Specialties *** I'm classical trained soprano with a background in Opera, Art Song, Oratorio, Musical Theatre and Jazz. I am open to teaching many different genres of music but have all my students learn the foundations which include some classical music. I will also do some basic theory or music knowledge depending the skill level of the student.