Lessons
I teach one to one, in person, at two studios — Gaithersburg, Maryland on weekday evenings, and McLean, Virginia on Saturdays. Online lessons are available when distance or scheduling makes that easier, though I’d always rather have you in the room.
Every new student starts with a free hour.
What the free hour is actually like
It isn’t an audition, and there’s nothing to prepare beyond arriving with a song in mind.
We’ll talk for a few minutes about what you want to be able to do. Then you’ll sing, and I’ll listen — not to judge the voice, but to work out how it’s currently operating and where it isn’t. Most of the hour is spent working rather than talking. Nearly everyone hears something change within that first session.
At the end I’ll tell you plainly what I think is possible and roughly how long it would take. If I don’t think I’m the right teacher for what you want, I’ll say so and point you elsewhere.
Who comes to the studio
- Complete beginnersNo training, no music reading, no experience required.
- Choral singers moving to solo workAuditioning for a cantor or section-leader role, or simply wanting to stop dreading the exposed line.
- Adults returning to singingAfter years or decades away.
- Older adultsIncluding students in their seventies and beyond.
- Serious pre-professional singersRecent students have gone on to the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, and the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg.
- Musical theater and audition preparationRepertoire selection, cuts, and the sixteen bars that have to work.
- Classical, art song, and German LiedIf that’s where your interest lies.
The range is deliberate. The same principles apply whether you’re trying to get through a wedding toast or a conservatory audition.
Scheduling and rates
- Gaithersburg, MDWeekday evenings, 4:00–9:00 pm (Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri)
- McLean, VASaturday mornings and early afternoons
- OnlineAvailable on request
- First lessonFree — one full hour
- One hour$110
- Forty-five minutes$90
Weekly lessons are standard; every other week works for some students. I’d rather you decided after you’ve sung with me than before — which is what the free hour is for.