FAQs
- What should the customer know about your pricing (e.g., discounts, fees)?
First 4 1/2-hours are $20 a piece. After that, it's my regular rate: 1/2-hour $45 1-hour $80 I accept cash, check, Paypal and Zelle (Bank-to-Bank transfer including Chase Quick Pay) I DON'T work with children. Students need a reasonably mature instrument to study singing. Before that, they can take general music, sing in school, in choir, study instruments. They can destroy themselves studying voice too young. It varies on physical maturity, but the youngest I'm comfortable with is about 13-14. This is in the student's best interest. I make my full-time living teaching singing. I lose money when I send people away. This is my ethics. 1-hour lessons are great, but if you can't afford that, 1/2-hour is all the same things, just less of everything. I don't give 45- minute lessons, but I want you to be able to see my profile and choose. Lessons are a luxury item. Get as much luxury as you can. I don't use contracts or package deals. Try a lesson. You have to pay for that one, but you don't have to come back.
- What is your typical process for working with a new customer?
The lessons themselves can be done online or in person within New Jersey. I do not currently service New York. We start wherever you are. No matter how much training you've had, you're new to me, so we have to go back to the beginning. We always do basic vocalizes. We review posture, pitch, diction, how to evaluate what you're doing. If someone has a strong background, we can progress to songs quickly. If you don't, it takes longer, but the journey always travels the same path. After however long is appropriate, if you can't read music, we work on that. We always work on the entire voice, not just one aspect of it. As you sing better, you stop straining, your range increases, you gain dynamics. It's all a package. You can't work just one aspect. It all comes together.
- What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
I'm a graduate of Oberlin College, major in music, voice applied. Since then, I've taken private lessons for 30 years and am still in contact with my teacher.