private voice lessons
“If you can walk you can dance; if you can talk, you can sing.”
Do you want to sing and think you can’t? Do you hate the sound of your own voice? Or do you sing all the time… but still feel like your voice is not an authentic expression of your most soulful self? Or maybe just the thought of having to “speak up” in public, much less sing, causes you to experience tension in your face, mouth, jaw and throat. If so, a private Embodied Vocals lesson might be just the thing to help you uncover your true voice, a relaxed voice that makes speaking and singing feel good, first and foremost.
Ellen Katharine guides people through embodied vocal exercises meant to open up and relax your entire system, so that vocalizing becomes less about performing for others and more about feeling good and expressing oneself in a way that feels authentic, relaxed and fully alive. She believes that singing is one of the most natural and joy-producing of all human functions, and can be a powerful healing tool for everyone.
She has seen hundreds of people who believe they “can’t sing” begin to sing powerfully (and even on key!) once they “get in tune” with how they are really feeling and relax enough to express that truth.
When she was nine years old, Ellen was fortunate to begin singing sacred music in the Scandinavian Lutheran choral tradition. Soon she was singing solos in front of her 10,000-member urban church in Minneapolis, MN. She continued to train as a classical singer throughout her twenties, and toured and performed with the CASA-award winning Middlebury Mischords throughout her college years. A soprano, her repertoire includes everything from Handel and Mozart to Joni Mitchell and Joan Jett. She has also performed with the San Francisco Choral Society, The Christ Church Cambridge Choir, and the University of California, Davis Chorus, where she was honored to sing under the direction of Jeffrey Thomas at the opening of the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.
Her Embodied Vocals work draws on her studies with Singing for Power founder and creator, Mouna Wilson (watch video) , who first introduced her to singing as a tool for healing and self-empowerment. Incorporating what she learned from Mouna with exercises gleaned from the work of Alfred Wolfson, Dr. Sue Morter, yoga and bodywork, and her Tibetan Buddhist studies, Ellen’s uses a multi-faceted approach to leave her students “singing for joy,” feeling open and expansive.
Ellen warmly invites you to sign up for an Embodied Vocals lesson and find out for yourself – in a nurturing, private space – what it feels like to sing from your soulful self, instead of from your protective personality.