I have been a singer since childhood. I added self taught guitar at 11
years old, which furthered my desire to use my voice. In my 20's, after many
years of singing harmony in different musical groups, and yearning to
sing with better power and control, I finally began voice lessons with
the late Nadine Patton. Her background was in operatic vocal
production, although at the time all I wanted was to sing lead in a
barbershop quartet. I studied with her for five years and realized much
of the vocal potential I had, and went into performing musical theater
for a number of years. I also became aware of how to share that craft with others.
Now I'm actively teaching vocal technique to
students who want to learn how to generate free resonating sounds, sing
higher notes without strain, and perform more confidently. I'm even working as a short course private voice lesson instructor at University of Virginia for Spring 2009! I believe that freeing the human instrument makes for
a lifetime of vocal expression. Because I
believe that the source of vocal success is so clearly linked to proper
breathing and support, I usually don't even begin in-person lessons until a
student has used my free breathing excercises and concepts and then
worked on developing better breathing techniques. When they can
demonstrate a 30 second or better metered hiss, then we are ready to
create sound. I've included some of those breathing thoughts and
excercises on this page:
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| Sheridan directs a vocal chorus warmup (photo by Mark Blumenstein) |
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