Astrid H  
Instruments: Piano, Voice
Styles: Classical, Jazz, Pop, Blues, Folk, Country, R&B, Gospel, Musical Theater, Opera, Spirituals

I have 10 years of experience teaching voice. My mother is an opera singer and highly successful voice coach in Vienna, Austria and she not only was the best voice teacher I ever had, but also taught me to teach. Sharing my passion with other people has turned out to be one of the most rewarding things in my life. The joy, fun and often surprised looks on my student's faces when all of a sudden a beautiful tone comes out of their mouths, is just priceless!

The vocal technique I teach is applicable to all singing styles. There is a healthy way to use the voice without straining it, by learning how to control your breath, supporting your tone with your whole body and getting your voice in the right position. I meet my students wherever they are at. I adapt my lessons to the needs of the individual student. Everybody works differently, has different challenges and a different body. While the technique is the same, the approach can be very different for each student. I first work on breath, then warm up the voice with exercices and then we sing and have fun. I accompany my students on the piano and encourage them to perform at recitals if they feel up for it.  Working with children is different: For piano only, I use the Faber+Faber material, it's a fun and easy approach and works very well. Children have a very healthy and natural connection with their voices, so I don't work on technique with them but just sing with them. Combining singing and piano in a half hour lesson works really well in my experience.