I provide private coaching in person and via Zoom in the following areas:

Vocal Production

The foundation of voice is breath.  Breath can be influenced by many things – by how we stand and carry ourselves, by muscular habits (such as a clenched jaw), by impulse, by emotion.  By paying attention to our alignment and releasing unnecessary muscular tension, we can expand our breath.  By expanding our breath, we can expand our voices.  By expanding our voices, we can begin to learn that speaking is a full-body experience.  Voice starts at our centers and resonates outward like the rays of the sun. I will develop a personalized approach for you, based on your goals and needs.

Speech

A supported and expressive voice is only useful if you can be understood.  Speech is how we use our muscles of articulation to form vowels and consonants – and there are as many different ways to form each one as there are regions in any country.  Learning a more linguistically detailed speech pattern may help you book a job or get a new client. I will develop a personalized approach for you, based on your goals and needs.

Accents & Dialects

Need to learn an accent for an audition or a role?  It’s as easy as learning a new move for your tongue, lips, jaw, and soft palate.  I will provide you with audio samples of native speakers for any accent, written materials that include descriptions of oral posture, characteristic sounds, and melody & rhythm, and key practice words and phrases. Need an accent coach for a project?  Please contact me. 

Text

Speaking text is communicating thought.  When we have to speak someone else’s thoughts, it can get difficult.  For instance, we may not think in iambic pentameter, yet Shakespeare wrote all of his plays in iambic pentameter.  How can we train our body and mind to think in that way so that we aren’t simply making sound when we speak his characters’ thoughts?  How can we really talk to someone else on stage?  The word “inspiration” both refers to the birth of an idea and to the in-taking of breath.  By marrying those two things in the text, we can make our own thought processes sync with that of the author.

Public Speaking

A supported, expressive, and clear voice leads to effective communication.  Part of effective communication is ensuring that your audience gets what you give them.  Work on breath, voice, speech, and connecting to your audience – large or small – can help ensure that.  We can explore ways to make you less nervous in front of large groups, louder, more dynamic, and more specific as a speaker.