Your voice communicates your thoughts, ideas, and emotions. It is a vital part of you and how you communicate with the world around you. If your voice is impaired, it will change how people hear your message.
Nerves, poor health, stress, fatigue, and poor vocal technique are just some of the many reasons our voices may not be what we want them to be, either all of the time or some of the time.
Through exercises using anatomy and imagery, I will teach you a set of skills to improve your public speaking, find your healthy voice for day-to-day life, or a singing voice that is unique to you.
I will show you how to work with your breath and body so you can:
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Speak or sing with confidence, comfort, and presence
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Lessen or eradicate nerves
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Ease or eradicate strain
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Challenge the feeling that your voice shouldn't "take up space" in the world
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Improve projection/volume
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Remove the airy sound from the voice
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Have enough air to finish the sentence or phrase
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Speak and sing for longer periods without fatigue
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Speak and sing with a more full and natural timbre
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Eradicate vocal fry
I will share with you a reliable foundation of knowledge specifically designed to improve vocal health and use of the voice. The exercises draw mainly on my years of training as an opera singer (including an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Music) as well as from hands-on lessons learned from acting, yoga, Alexander Technique, and dance.
Lessons are available online and in person in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
Contact Amy with questions or to book a free consultation / meet-and-greet
Book a Lesson
Workshops
People rely on their voices for their work but never learn how to speak healthily over the long-term as part of their training. I offer 3-hour workshops to help protect against vocal fatigue, improve projection and volume, decrease nervousness, and more. The workshop arms you with tools to strengthen your voice, is fun, and may count toward Professional Development time depending on your organization or association. Get in touch to find out more or book a workshop for your team.
Singing for Health
Singing has been shown to help with Long Covid, COPD, Asthma, Anxiety, and Depression. It's a great way to gently explore and exercise the cardiovascular system while calming and resetting the nervous system. Check out this Globe and Mail article, and get in touch if you'd like to try singing for health.
Testimonials
I worked with other voice experts before Amy hoping to improve my clarity and projection. She was the only person who had a systemized approach that worked!
Phillip L.
Contractor
Best singing teacher ever!
Laurie B.
Optometrist
I had the opportunity to present an oral statement at the 35th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. Right before giving my statement I realized, looking out over the concentric circles of seats, that I was actually at the UN and I was actually doing this and I suddenly felt overwhelmed with nervousness and my voice started to tremble. I recalled the breath management techniques that Amy teaches and stopped and focused on breathing slowly and deeply into my belly through my nose, to calm myself and calm my voice. I focused on only reading the first words of my statement: “Mr. President.” The technique worked! My voice was clear and strong and calm for my whole statement! Thank you Amy for this amazing gift! It supported me through a critical moment in my career!
Renée M.
Lawyer
Before I started singing lessons with Amy two years ago, I would mouth the words to “Happy Birthday” for fear of singing out of tune. Amy has provided me with a very safe, positive environment to learn how to sing. She is always patient and encouraging, with an arsenal of techniques to help me through any challenges. I have enjoyed our journey together and am more than happy to now, quite literally, sing her praises. She is a natural teacher and gifted singer. I highly recommend her!
Valerie W.
Retired, but never too old to learn…..
Working with Amy was and is one of the best decisions I’ve made for myself both on a personal level as well as a professional level. Not only did I learn the mechanics of posture and breath to strengthen my voice, I also gained confidence and had many aha moments through connecting with the power of finding and using my voice. Amy is warm and funny and SO talented. She makes finding your voice (which sometimes can feel awkward) fun and rewarding and the container she creates always feels safe. If you have a desire to find your true voice, Amy is the one. Thank you, Amy!
Margo F.
Life Coach
I’m feeling happy and complete about my vocal training. I really loved working with Amy – she brings such effervescence, play, compassion, and wisdom to the space, and that created a real impact on my learning.
Colin S.
Life Coach
Amy helped me build the foundation that I needed in order to get the results I wanted with my voice. Before meeting her, I thought voice work was centred around one thing only. It hadn’t occurred to me that, before I could improve my voice, I would need to move past several behaviours that held me back, and welcome better practices into my daily life.
Because posture and breath played such a large role in the learning process, I’ve found that improving those things has cut down on the number of headaches I have, and enhanced my over-all well being and self confidence. The lessons would have been worth it for those improvements alone! But, of course, the development of my voice was the most significant gain.
As for the lessons themselves, if I didn’t understand a concept or had trouble relating to the terminology in a lesson, Amy quickly changed the examples or the wording she used until everything fell into place for me. She modified the exercises we worked on to play to my strengths so I could gain confidence quickly and then pick up the more challenging concepts with greater ease. She kept my needs in mind when it came to structuring the lessons and explained exactly how the exercises we worked on would help me realize my goals. Doing so helped me maintain the focus I needed to carry those lessons into my day-to-day life which, in turn, helped me see steady vocal improvements between lessons.
From what I’m saying, it may seem that there’s a lot of work involved to develop a better connection to your voice, and there is, but Amy’s humour and positive attitude made it fun – the lesson time would fly by. Even though I ended up with so much more knowledge and homework activities to consider, I always left those lessons feeling lighter and happier than when I arrived, and more confident. And, at the heart of my quest to improve my voice, ‘confidence’ was what I was reaching for and what I achieved.
As a side note, I had gotten used to avoiding social gatherings in large part because of how wispy and indistinct my voice used to be. I went to a party yesterday and, for the first time ever, no one asked me to repeat what I had said so that they could understand me. An entire evening of good conversations! I was smiling so much by the time I left.
Thank you Amy!
Treena W.
B.C. Government Employee
Workshop Testimonials
Projecting a strong, clear voice and avoiding vocal fatigue are key to my role as an educator. Amy’s workshop has given me the tools to develop these aspects of my practice that I believe are critical to anyone who uses their voice professionally.
Ian B.
Instructor, Camosun College
Our instructors have really appreciated attending Amy’s workshop, where they get to have fun and leave with solid skills and techniques to practice over time. Amy guides them through exercises to improve projection and comfort, and lessen strain and nervousness. We like to have her come every year. I highly recommend her workshop!
Martha M.
Educational Developer, Camosun College
I recently took part in a short introductory workshop with Amy, and walked away armed with a few great tips on body awareness and some insight into the science and art of breathing. I’ve had difficulty with my voice for some time, but even after this short class, I feel I have a better understanding of how I can work towards having a stronger voice. Amy possesses a wealth of knowledge on the subject, and is a delightful teacher.
Donna K.
Senior Legislative Coordinator, B.C. Government
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