Saundra A  

5

  5.0 (3)

Instruments: Voice
Styles: Jazz, Pop, Rock, Blues, Folk, R&B, Musical Theater, Funk, Electronic, Showtunes, Spirituals, Swing, Bossa Nova, Soul, Punk

I have been teaching private voice since high school, where I took on my first 8 year old student. I continued teaching lessons all through college, giving private instruction and theory tutoring to my classmates and fellow vocal performance students. It was there that I found my knack for repertoire and audition preparation; as a board member for the Berklee Musical Theater club, club members would often seek me out to select appropriate repertoire and rehears for their auditions. When I take on a student I am committed and dedicated to his/her musical journey, and I want to offer them everything I can. I've always had a focus on performance and believe that the confidence and courage that come with performance experience translate into all areas of life.

I believe it is important to build a strong technical foundation and knowledge of the mechanics of the voice, while also focusing on performance and real-world musicianship. With contemporary music theory (beginning to advanced) integrated into each lesson, students learn to understand and apply a musical vocabulary that is necessary to communicate in the industry. As a vocalist myself, I think too often singers have trouble communicating with their bands in a rehearsal setting or with producers and engineers in a recording setting; therefor I see the benefit in students being able to identify the grooves and "feels" of their selected pieces as well as being able to count-in a band. I also believe that being able to perform live is crucial, especially in today's festival age where people are (thankfully) demanding more and more live music. But most of all I want my students to be inspired-- to leave a lesson and go home and keep singing because they just want to continue exploring and learning.