Cesar B
Instruments: Voice
Styles: Classical, Pop, Blues, Country, R&B, Gospel, Musical Theater, Opera, Latin, Mariachi
Cesar B
Instruments: Voice
Styles:
Classical, Pop, Blues, Country, R&B, Gospel, Musical Theater, Opera, Latin, Mariachi
Where I Teach:
Ages Taught: 16-65
Associate Degree: El Camino College, Bachelor Degree: Cal State University Long Beach
I am a passionate and intuitive teacher who loves working with students to find their true singing voice. My interest in singing began in community college. I watched my peers perform on stage, singing on top of orchestras without using a microphone or any type of amplification and it made me want to know what it took to be able to replicate that. I found the human voice extremely fascinating and through the help of great voice teachers, I learned to sing efficiently. I continued my education and graduated from Cal State University of Long Beach with a Bachelors in Music, with an emphasis on Vocal Performance.
My experience as a teacher dates back to my community college years, as I began teaching privately in 2013. Something I have learned over the years is that regular and consistent practice time is our best friend as musicians. Singing is a form of exercise and the more we repeat healthy vocal habits, the better we will sing. This is why I encourage all of my students to set some time aside to work on their voice and music. I believe that vocal technique can be applied to sing any genre from classical to pop since singing is just breathing and phonating, why complicate it further? Finally, I encourage my students to set goals and timelines for themselves so they can track their progress and feel more encouraged by their own journey.
My approach to singing comes from the Bel Canto school of singing. Bel Canto is Italian for beautiful singing and while I was trained this way, I believe in meeting students at their vocal level and build from there. I don’t subscribe to the “one size fits all” method because we all perceive our voices very differently. Throughout my university years, I had some teachers who got frustrated when they instructed me to sing a certain way that I could not understand and I never want my students to be confused or feel misunderstood during our lessons. This is why I focus on having good communication with my students and try my best to be understood.
My lessons are pretty straight forward. We begin with understanding body posture and alignment for singing. Once in good posture, I encourage breath flow while maintaining good alignment. A good exercise for breath control and release is taking a deep breath in 10 seconds, holding the expansion or suspension for 10 seconds and then releasing (NOT PUSHING) the breath in an “s” sound, all while maintaining a tall and expanded posture. Next, we move on to scales from the middle of the voice to the lowest notes to get the voice warmed up. If the student is comfortable, we move on to the passaggio (where our voices crack). We will work slowly to ensure flexibility, healthy habits and good release. Exercising this part of our voice is the gateway to the famous high notes everyone wants to learn to sing. The second half of the lesson consists of singing songs which the student may choose and some that I may recommend in order to work on specific development of the voice. Things discussed during the second half may include style, interpretation, acting, color, dynamics of the song(s).
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