Private voice lessons for singers who want to work — classical technique, musical theatre, and college audition preparation, taught in Whitehall, Pennsylvania, and online.
Who I am
I am a classically trained dramatic tenor. I studied voice at Carnegie Mellon, where I took a minor in vocal performance and was cast as the lead in the voice department’s opera — as a non‑major, in a department full of people whose entire degree was about singing.
Before that, I was a member of PMEA District/Regional/All-State choirs for multiple years; I won multiple NATS competitions between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, and sang twice at Carnegie Hall, in choirs, before I was twenty. Since then I have spent roughly twelve years being paid to sing — as a section lead / soloist and ringer in a church choir, and at weddings and funerals, which is where you learn to walk in the cold and be correct on the first take (and never take direction from a spouse-to-be without the other one present to sign off!). I have also been part of various groups in the Lehigh Valley, ranging in size from a quintet to a choir of ~250 voices, performing in ensembles and as a soloist.
I still study - I believe singing is a lifetime pursuit, and while there are clearly masters of the craft, nobody is ever finished learning it. My teacher of the last decade is Harold Evans, who has conducted Pavarotti and coached Domingo, and whose students include performers who went on to lead roles on Broadway. What I teach is a real lineage with names you can look up, based on real anatomy — not a method I invented. Metaphor is a useful tool when it comes to the voice, but I believe it should be based in reality and science, so that is my approach.
What a lesson is
Forty‑five minutes, weekly. We warm up, we work technique, and we work repertoire — usually in that order, and usually with more time on technique than you expect in the first two months. If there is reason to do so (upcoming audition/performance, etc.), I will focus on rep coaching, but at my own discretion.
I play your exercises live rather than running a track, so the warm‑up can move where your voice actually is that day instead of where it was last Tuesday. You leave with a recording of the exercises we did, so the week’s practice sounds like the lesson.
What I am listening for, in order: Whether the production is healthy, whether the breath is doing the work, whether the tone is free and natural, whether the vowel is honest, and only then whether the pitches are correct (“the notes are right”). Most problems that present as range problems are not range problems, and range is not something to obsess over while learning how to sing anyway. My philosophy is quite technical, with a focus on anatomy, and I must stop myself here or you would be reading for many paragraphs.
Who this is for
- High school singers preparing an audition — a school musical, districts/regionals/state, or a college program.
- Seniors applying to music or musical theatre programs, who need repertoire chosen, prepared, and recorded on a deadline.
- Adults who sang once and stopped, or who sing in a choir and want to stop being carried by the section.
- Anyone with a voice that is bigger than their technique. I have that problem myself and I know what it costs.
I teach teenagers and adults. As a rule, I do not take young children whose voices have not yet changed.
One honest thing, so nobody wastes their money: this works if you practise. Twenty minutes a day beats two hours on Saturday, and a student who does neither will not improve no matter who they study with. If you are here because somebody else wants you to be, we will both be able to tell by the third lesson, and I’ll say so.
Rates
| Lesson | Price |
|---|---|
| First lesson45 minutes. A real lesson, not a sales call — we work, and at the end you decide. | $40 |
| Four lessonsWeekly, 45 minutes. The shortest block in which you will hear a difference. | $240 |
| Eight lessonsWeekly, 45 minutes. $55 a lesson — the rate for students who keep going. | $440 |
| Single lessonWeek to week, no commitment. | $70 |
Blocks are paid up front and have no expiry. Twenty‑four hours’ notice to reschedule, otherwise the lesson is used — that rule exists so the students who show up can keep their times. If money is the only thing in the way, write to me anyway; I would rather teach you than not.
Online lessons
I teach online and I will tell you honestly how it works, because most people selling it will not.
You cannot sing together over the internet. There is around a second of delay in each direction and no amount of good equipment removes it — it is the speed of light and the routers in between. Any teacher who plays live piano while you sing over video is giving you a lesson where one of you is wrong about where the beat is.
So I do not do that. I record your exercises and your accompaniment in advance and send them to you. You play them on your end, at your end’s tempo, and sing with them. I hear your voice, clean, with nothing lagging behind it. Everything else — listening, correcting, demonstrating, talking — is turn‑taking anyway, and turn‑taking is fine over a second of delay. There will be periods where I will segue to live accompaniment - we can’t schedule everything in advance - but the goal will be to keep those occasions to a minimum.
I spent thirty‑one years in information technology before I did this full‑time. The delay is not a mystery to me and I am not going to pretend it isn’t there. Taking lessons is infinitely superior to not taking lessons, and finding the right teacher is worth everything to a singer, but somewhere in the calculus, all else being equal, in-person lessons are better than online lessons; anyone claiming otherwise is lying.