Alysha S  
Instruments: Voice, Latin Percussion, Music
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, Country, Gospel, Musical Theater, Funk, Electronic, Showtunes, Spirituals, Soul, Punk, Avant-garde

I began teaching singing lessons as a youth mentor more than a decade ago. I helped these young people develop their voices and performance skills, and supported them to perform songs in front of their school communities and families. I started teaching Balkan singing and percussion workshops with my band a decade ago. Around the same time, I was involved in a program that developed trainings and curricula for group and individual musical facilitation for individuals in hospice, inter-generational community ensembles in nursing care communities, and people with memory loss. I facilitated individual an group musical collaborations, and helped train people to do the same via workshops I facilitated at conferences. I have also led community singalongs, and taught individual students vocals and percussion over this time. I'm a big believer that everyone can sing and everyone can drum, and that music is a gift inherent to being human that we all can share and rejoice in. I encourage students to become comfortable with vocal and rhythmic musical expression, and teach tools and techniques and exercises that can help develop their skills and craft. I also teach techniques for becoming more comfortable with performance.

I teach a number of vocal warmups, exercises to extend vocal range, breath support workouts, physical stretches and grounding techniques, and coaching to refine vocal quality. For percussion students, I teach hand exercises, foundational formal techniques, and traditional rhythms. I help students find repertoire they want to develop, and teach techniques for learning and performing music. For students of Balkan singing, I also teach pronunciation, vocal ornamentation, and vocal placement which varies between place. I work with each student to support their needs and goals.