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Bachelor Degree: Music Theater
Helen Hayes award finalist (Best Actor)
Hello, there! I'm Ken and I've been a professional actor for over a decade. I've performed on Broadway, television, film (indie and studio), and on stages across the country. I believe everybody can sing and with the right technique and the right mental approach, you can have a wonderfully rewarding journey as a singer. While I have a bachelor's in music performance, I've spent my life as a professional storyteller. Whether you want to perform on Broadway or nail it at Karaoke Night, I can help you become a more compelling, more vital stage performer. I hope we can work together!
Principally a stage performer, I've been teaching for about 5 years, beginning with a Master Class on Song Performance at the Shakespeare Theater Company. I've given individual lessons for about 2 years (professionally), specializing in musical theater and acting, helping young performers learn what I wish I had at their stage of career. These days, that often means translating years of theatrical training into on-camera audition technique (a specialty of mine). Should I be lucky enough to teach you, you'll hear the words "breath," "management," "stillness," "grounded," sometimes hyphenated with one another. My job, for a very long time, has been to stay vocally healthy for months on end, performing 8 shows a week; I know intimately what it takes to sing healthily and well at the same time, for a long time.
Everything we do on stage begins with breath. Sing, Acting, Dancing- all of these require disciplined breath management. Once a strong foundation of good breathing is laid, I tend to use visual-spacial prompts to get the singer to feel the changes rather than use pedagogical terminology. While this is a wonderful set of tools, I will always defer to the student's learning style. Everyone learns differently, and the most important thing a coach or teacher can be is a good, patient communicator. If we can speak the same language, we can accomplish common goals with staggering speed.
My studio is a place to sound bad. It's a place to make as many mistakes as possible. Your voice may crack, you may hate the way it sounds in your head, but good practice involves failure. If you are in my studio, you are here to work. Practice is not necessarily fun. Everyone wants to leave their first lesson belting for the rafters, but we won't go there until you're ready- it might only ingrain poor habits and set you up for failure down the road. I'm not a therapist, but performing live is a vulnerable act; I am here to share my experiences and to help you manage the inherent stresses of being on stage.