Behind the voice
Mystory
From doubting vocal coaching entirely to building a teaching practice around it.
'I don't believe in vocal coaching', I said when I was eighteen. By then I had been attending lessons and singing eagerly at home for over six years. I wanted to sing louder and higher, to achieve that powerful, mysterious “mix” some of my tutors kept referring to. Yet my voice would break and I felt a lump in my throat trying to reach those notes.
I became disillusioned with expensive lessons after which I heard little improvement. So I went looking for answers: voice science, anatomy, recordings of the singers I loved, and hundreds of hours in the practice room testing what actually worked.
What changed everything was learning that the voice is a set of coordinations you can name, isolate and train. Once I could describe what my larynx, tongue and breath were doing, I could recreate a sound on purpose instead of hoping for it.
Today I sing jazz, record, and teach singers from beginners to professionals. My students come to me tired of vague advice — 'sing from your diaphragm', 'just relax' — and leave with a plan they can practise on a Tuesday evening.
That's what Vocal Lessons Online is: clear, kind, science-informed teaching from working musicians, wherever you are in the world.