Vocal Guidance

The thing that got me into opera was my love of the voice and its challenges. I was an instrumentalist so some of my earliest memories are playing my grandfathers piano and the night the local church school brought me violin at four.  I did not grow up around opera, and to tell the truth I didn't even know what it was until I was about nineteen. The operatic voice was an extremely new and exciting discovery for me. Coming from an instrumental background I had learned the hard lesson that the best way to truly master something is through deliberate and dedicated technical work; Something I had often ignored and skipped over in my younger years. Natural musicians want to jump right in; creating art, building phrases, and communicating something that is so near and dear to them. The voice unlike most instruments at first can be very intuitive. Singing a melody is probably the first thing young musicians do. It's quite easy to get proficient if naturally talented. But when jumping off the cliff into operatic work and dealing with roles that are much longer and more demanding than your standard art songs; problems arise. I was in the position of a being a naturally talented musician with no idea how to sing operatically. Luckily for me I was introduced to an extremely disciplined and intelligent tenor Steven O'Mara. This introduction showed me that the voice was like any other instrument and required the same amount if not more technical discipline.  I dropped out of school and worked in the service industry and construction so that I would not have the pressure and requirements of a conservatory or university. This decision gave me the opportunity to focus solely on technique. I did not have any performance requirements, no arias to sing, no songs to learn. It was all exploration and trying to understand the most natural instrument. I had mentors like Steve and Rick Christman that truly cared about my voice and its function. They helped me transform a voice that was constricted, lifted, exhausted, and limited into something that could grow and develop with age. They gave me the power over my own voice. “Your greatest teacher is staring at you in the mirror” -Rick Christman. I love helping people find power over their own voice. Its a long and exciting journey that once started on the right path can reach the summit with a few bits of help along the way. I'm not here to hold any ones hand, and I will at times be brutally honest. With the rise in inquiries coming through my management, friends, and even family I thought I would make a place where people interested in working can contact me directly. I will be occasionally putting some written guidance here on this page as well. Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

-Matt