Susan Strick

lessons can be weekly, twice-monthly, or occasional. $50/45 minutes $65/hour

I begin by asking the student what sort of music they like to sing, and about their experiences, goals (both practical and "wildest dream" sorts of goals are relevant!) and anything else they want to tell me. My goal is to bring my knowledge and experience to meet their needs and hopes.

Undergraduate degree in music (Stanford University), MA in musicology with specialty in psychology of music (UCLA), and Diploma of graduate study in Opera Perfomance (University of Toronto) 30 years professional performing in many styles and teaching Currently, faculty at MusicWorks Northwest, Bellevue, WA

I have always sung, always loved music, and always loved teaching. In high school I taught folk guitar, and in graduate school began helping undergraduate singers (for free) who heard of my willingness to accompany them and help prepare their repertoire for performances and auditions. In my late twenties I felt ready to teach vocal technique as well as coach singers on performance skills.

My students range in age from 9 to 79, and sing in many styles, from pop, folk, and gospel through musical theater and opera. I have worked with many students who feel they cannot sing at all (but wish they could) and have seen wonderful successes with these would-be singers; most of my students are amateurs, but I also work with aspiring and current professionals. I respect their achievements, thoroughly support their efforts, and find myself able to help the advanced singers polish technique and prepare repertoire. As artists, polishing and deepening our skills is a lifelong process. IN short, I offer training in healthy vocal usage for any style of singing, plus coaching in repertoire and performance skills in multiple musical styles.

I produced a concert version of "The Magic Flute" involving 20 singers of all ages, both students and professionals. All participants were volunteers, including several piano accompanists and our flute. My motivation in creating this was to provide a positive experience for the singers; i thought our performance might be just a party for ourselves and a few friends. But the response from interested volunteer performers and their devotion to preparing ("scene teams" scheduled their own rehearsals) resulted in a full house at a public performance and a well-earned standing ovation!

Make sure you ask whatever questions are on your mind; make sure you pick a person you feel comfortable with. Choose a singing teacher whose communication style and whose teaching method is comfortable for you.

Prospective students might want to think of questions they want to ask a prospective teacher. Do you want to know - whether the teacher has experience with students like you (e.g. Can't match pitch, aspiring musical theater professional, autism spectrum, too busy to practice daily) - whether the teacher assigns songs, how much choice you have regarding repertoire - what the teacher's policies are re form of payment, need to prepay several lessons, cancellations) IN CLOSING, ABOUT STUDYING SINGING: There are no instant transformations, no magical shortcuts, but every lesson can be enjoyable, a positive step along a good path, and how much better you can become will amaze you!