Lessons & Music Directing

If you’re looking for a structured path to developing musical skill, Suzuki training offers a proven approach rooted in listening and gradual development.

I have completed Suzuki teacher training in Voice Books 1–3 and Piano Books 1–2, and I offer focused 30-minute lessons for school-age students and older.

Suzuki Voice emphasizes learning to sing with minimal interference — allowing the voice to function freely while developing accuracy, clear tone, and ease. Simple folk songs are used intentionally to establish foundational technique first. Singers build accurate pitch and proficiency in harmony singing as those skills take shape.

These foundational skills support further study in a wide variety of singing styles, including musical theater and classical repertoire.

If you’re ready to build musical ability step by step, I provide the structure to help you do that.

If you want more than voice lessons — if you want to understand music from the inside out — the SPIRAL™ Strategy connects the pieces in a deliberate and energizing way.
 
I created SPIRAL™ to bring together the core elements that strong singers actually need: Singing, Piano, Inner Music Skills, Release, Accuracy, and Listening. Rather than treating these as separate subjects, the SPIRAL™ framework intentionally connects them so growth in one area strengthens the others.
 
A major focus of SPIRAL™ is inner music skills — the ability to hear music in one’s mind, process it, and reproduce it accurately. This is what allows a singer to lock into harmony confidently, adjust tuning in real time, and learn music independently. The stronger the inner musician, the stronger the harmony singer.
 
Singing is primarily an aural experience — we can sing only one note at a time. The piano adds visual and tactile dimensions to that learning. Students can see intervals and chords, feel their physical spacing, and control multiple notes at once. Many technical tendencies appear in both singing and piano playing; when adjustments are made at the keyboard — where they are easier to observe and illustrate — those improvements often transfer directly into the voice.
 
The result is visible growth not just in singing, but in musical understanding and independence.
 
SPIRAL™ works for motivated school-age students and adults alike. If you’re ready to think, listen, and sing at a higher level, this framework gives you the tools to do it.

Musical theatre is energetic, creative, and sometimes wonderfully chaotic — and it can also be a powerful environment for real musical growth.
 
In youth productions and theatre camps, I serve as Music Director with a clear standard: every cast member sings their own material individually before it goes on stage. Whether a student has a lead, a featured line, or is part of the ensemble, their singing is heard, refined, and strengthened.
 
Each performer sings their material individually for me or someone I designate and demonstrates correct notes and words. That preparation builds stronger harmony skills, clearer solo singing, and a healthy sense of accountability across the cast.
 
Students discover that every role matters musically, and that their own effort directly shapes the quality of the show.
 
Recent productions as Music Director include Beauty and the Beast Jr., Frozen Jr., and The Wizard of Oz.

For full-length musical productions, I serve in roles including Music Director, Rehearsal Pianist, Performance Pianist, and Conductor.
 
As Music Director, singers present their music individually for me or someone I designate and demonstrate correct notes and words before it is integrated into the larger ensemble. Whether a performer carries a lead role or appears primarily in ensemble numbers, their individual musicianship matters. This expectation strengthens the harmony singing in choral numbers and improves individual technique in solo sections, raising the overall musical standard of the production.
 
Beyond preparing a show, the goal is growth. Performers leave the production not only having learned their role, but having developed stronger vocal control, clearer pitch, and greater confidence in their own musicianship.
 
Recent productions as Music Director include Into the Woods, Fiddler on the Roof, and Legally Blonde.
 
I strongly prefer live music and real-time musical collaboration. In fact, if a character plays an instrument within the story, I work whenever possible to have that instrument performed live on stage rather than simulated. Live accompaniment supports flexibility and authentic musical interaction in a way that prerecorded tracks cannot replicate.
 
For that reason, for full-length shows I only seek productions where the expectation is live music.
 
Smaller budgets are not a limitation — I have played and conducted more productions from the piano alone than with a full band — but no matter the available resources, my preference is fully live music with no click tracks or sequenced playback.

Many ensembles work hard — and still feel stuck.
 
Rehearsals move forward, then slip backward. The same pitch issues reappear. The same technical habits resurface. Effort increases, but progress feels uneven because mistakes are repeated often enough to become permanent.
 
Real improvement happens when individual singers strengthen the foundational skills that shape every note they sing.
When singers develop:

rehearsals become more stable and gains begin to hold.

I step in to identify where habits are helping and where they are quietly limiting progress. Rather than offering broad comments to the room, I work to strengthen the specific skills each singer needs so that improvement is measurable and lasting.
 
A central tool in this process is the piano — not just as accompaniment, but as a teaching instrument. I use the keyboard to make theory visible and audible, demonstrating intervals and harmonic relationships so singers can see and hear how the music fits together.

Maybe you or your organization has musical needs that don’t fit neatly into one of the categories above.

Some projects fall into the miscellaneous — unique projects that require steady musicianship but resist easy labels.

If you are looking for a dependable musical presence within your structure, this section is meant to cover those settings.

And if the project feels unconventional or difficult to categorize, that’s fine. Unique projects are often the most interesting ones.

If it involves live music and collaboration, it’s worth a conversation.