If you merely want to rehearse with a pianist, please approach an accompanist. Likewise, if you merely want to rehearse with an audience, you can ask a friend.
We are here to help you perform comfortably at your best. If you want to improve your performance before an audition, we suggest you book 3 lessons as a minimum. While our experience is that one lesson can help, we find that for lasting habit change 3 lessons or more is highly preferable.
Casual voice lessons are $70 per 45 minutes or $95 per 60 minutes. Series of 10 weekly lessons is recommended for beginners. When you book a series or a term of lessons and pay at first session the cost works out cheaper. For instance $600 for 10 shorter lessons or $800 for 10 longer lessons.
Our shorter lesson length is 40 minutes. To prepare the voice, to practice skills and to enjoy freedom of expression, we find this an effective lesson length.
Our longer lesson length is 55 minutes. If you are working on performance pieces or learning to sing in a new language, you may find this longer lesson more suitable.
Valerie teaches singing in Italian, French, German, and Latin. I have also worked with singers of other Asian, European, and Pacific languages. Basically – give her a try. If you can bring a recording of the song you wish to learn by a reputable singer, this is helpful.
I think anyone can learn to enjoy opera. A small portion of singers we work with study and perform opera. Only rarely would this begin in their first of second year of study. Why? Opera singing is often quite agile or athletic and specific tone colours are expected in the various works/styles of opera. Another reason opera training takes longer than other singing trainings is that much opera is sung in foreign languages.
It is common to learn song repertoire and languages before studying opera.
If you are a beginning singer this can be very helpful. For adult male beginners, we highly recommend that you book with Jim.
Our experience is those who believe they can’t sing (in tune) have in childhood believed the (uninformed) opinion of a big, unskilled (and possibly scary) adult. We are here to support and give you helpful feedback on your journey. The journey to learning to sing better in tune is one that can involve movement, listening, and lots of fun.
Similarly, dancing (including Left Right Confusion) can be improved with some movement strategies and with patient teaching.
Both movement and voice learning are supported by rhythmic activities.
No previous training required. We agree with the proverb “If you can walk, you can dance. If you can talk, you can sing.”