Can you share your process for designing a personalized curriculum for students with specific goals, such as preparing for exams, auditions, or professional performances?

My process for designing a personalized curriculum begins with assessing each student’s level through various activities and materials to identify their skills and needs. As a Master of Music, I select an appropriate book for each student that aligns with their goals. I also incorporate Kodály activities, such as ear training and theory, to enhance their musical understanding. Additionally, I encourage participation in an online piano recital twice a year, which helps students become more confident performers. This approach ensures that the curriculum is tailored to each student, fostering both their technical skills and performance readiness.

Bernie Telsey told me at a TONY® event in 2018 that he can always spot one of my singers when they audition for his projects. “Their audition material is noticeably specific and always true to who they are, unlike the rest who come in singing the same ten songs on repeat.” It might be the best compliment I’ve ever received, from the world’s top casting agent, who just so happens to hire my singers on a regular basis.

The final products that my singers present to Mr. Telsey during auditions are the results of the hard-working actors bringing material to life that I’ve curated for the purpose of showcasing their best, most authentic selves. And my secret to creating these personalized lessons and portfolios for them is so simple that it seems like all the other coaches in New York City and Los Angeles aren’t engaging with it the correct way, or perhaps they’re missing it completely. All you have to do is listen.

To illustrate my point, allow me to provide yesterday’s success story, which actually involves one of my newest Fiverr voice students! Most people are surprised to hear that I do not allow my new singers to sing during their first lesson with me. Instead, I focus on something far more important: getting to know them and what makes them tick. This new student of mine from Fiverr came to me never having sung a note in her life, but it was clear from our conversation that she had quite impressive knowledge about many genres of both contemporary music and music throughout history. She liked the idea of one day being able to release cover songs on her social media platforms, finally telling me that this would be an ultimate goal for her, but she lacked any foresight as to what that may look like in the future. She also loves to play video games and told me stories about several remarkable achievements across many industries, which were proof enough to me that she has a healthy appetite for mastering new skills in never-before-seen formats. From her speaking voice, I surmised (correctly) that she has an extremely stratospheric (and rare) coloratura soprano voice.

I arrived at this Fiverr student’s second lesson with a customized plan to set her up for success. “I contacted a man by the name of X who composed the entire soundtrack for Y video game. He’s given me the orchestrations from these pieces he’s written, along with his permission to use them as source material for our brand new cover release of them, which we can roll out when they're ready, no pressure and no rush,” I announced proudly. She was ecstatic at first, then her spirits fell a bit as she asked, “But there are no words… how will I sing them?” “I will arrange the music in the style of a vocalise, which will showcase your voice as an instrument without words. We will imitate the themes played by the flutes, panpipes, ocarinas, and English horn, singing the melodies on whichever vowels are most comfortable for you at this stage in your vocal development. Of course I will orchestrate something epic for orchestra to underscore your vocals. We’ll use these pieces to learn about breath support, breath management, phrasing, shaping different vowels in your upper head voice and whistle tone registers to optimize healthy phonation while also wowing any listener who might have a hard time believing that the sound they are hearing is actually a human voice, not a professional flutist. It’s a great introduction to singing for you, and we’ll create something that's never been done before that reflects an authentic version of yourself through music.”

Of course, we would not have proceeded if she hadn’t been completely on board for this kind of project, and she was.

The reason it is yesterday’s success story is because after only 4 lessons, we released her first cover in this series just yesterday, and after only being live for 9 hours, it had nearly 200k views, most of which surely made their ways to the video by ways of a very devoted video game music fanbase. This morning, the numbers have more than doubled. Needless to say, the budding superstar singer is very, very happy.

To help create a fully-formed artist, the successful teacher or coach must not only meet the student exactly where they are when they begin lessons, but they must also learn their motivations instead of forcing their own upon them. The successful coach envisions a new path forward for each student and presents it in such a way as to lead the student to their own discovery of the magic that already exists within.

And the secret is listening.