What I know
Learning how to sing focuses on letting go of habits: habits of tension, resistance, and fear so that our true voice, our Higher Voice, can come through. Naturally, we cover this most vulnerable part of ourselves. We hide it in armor like throat, jaw, tongue, and breath tension so no one can hear our insecurity, our doubt, our human instrument that we think will never sound “perfect” enough. We work harder and harder to create less and less, never knowing the miracle was never out there at all. The way to sound our best wasn’t to listen at all. It was to feel.
But Hilerie, could learning how to sing really be this easy? Yes. Yes it can!
It takes an instant. The littlest bit of effort, a little willingness to try, and play and explore, and then, when you’ve turned the other cheek, out pops sound you never knew was possible.
Making that new feeling a habit takes time, but the miracle happens now: not in a month, a year, or a lifetime, but at this very second.
What We Do
I talk a lot about anatomy with my students. You can’t see your instrument, right, so once you know what’s going on in there, it instantly make SO much more sense. Why is your voice cracking? Why does it feel weak? Why does it sound nasally, or airy, or screamy? Why are you running out of air? It’s not magic. It’s not a “bad voice day.” It’s anatomy.
Once we know what’s happening and why, then we get to dig into the how. How do we let go of the tension that’s holding us back? Do we use voice exercises? Yes. Are there tricks? Absolutely. There are also very specific things you can feel, both inside and outside your voice, that you can control. By using more or less of these muscles, you can completely change how you sing and how you sound. Together, we’ll look at your instrument, eyes wide open, and then you’ll learn how to play it!
What Happens
I have no idea! Seriously! I’ve never heard your voice without tongue tension, nor have you! So when the tension releases I am just as shocked, delighted, and elated by the sound that comes out of you, as you are. There has never been an instrument like yours in the history of the world, nor will there ever be again. Our only job is to let go of whatever is blocking our instrument and then sit back and listen to all the extraordinary sounds come pouring out. We laugh, we cry, there are goosebumps, and both of our lives will never be the same. Best. Job. Ever.
Singing Career
My first love was musical theater
As a child, I had every broadway show memorized. At 3 years old, so the story goes, I saw the Easter brass at church, and right over all the noise and excitement, sang my favorite line from Gypsy to the shock of the entire congregation; “If you wanna bump it, bump it with a trumpet!”
Musicals, choirs, acapella groups, operettas, modeling and acting were my earliest performing experiences and I loved every bit of stage time. When I attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts though, they didn’t have a musical theater major in high school, only classical singing. I couldn’t get give up the voice & piano lessons I had been taking for 9 years, so I had to pivot and try something completely new and out of my comfort zone.
Which began my passion for opera
Singing classically was harder and more rewarding than anything I had ever experienced before: so many languages, fast notes, and loud, beautiful singing! I tried everything I could to sing for hours over the orchestra and without a microphone, but it didn’t take long for my voice to fail me. It sounded beautiful and impressed everyone, but I felt horrible. That’s when I had to actually learn how to sing instead of just sounding good. Feeling better became my only priority and, much to my surprise, the more tension I released, the more volume, beauty and freedom followed.
After receiving my Bachelor of Music at the Cleveland Institue of Music, I went to New York to get my Masters Degree at Binghamton University with Tri-Cities Opera, the oldest training company in the country. I went on to perform over 50 opera, oratorio, operetta, and musical theater works including Dorabella in Così fan Tutte, Tessa in The Gondoliers, Gypsy in Gypsy, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, Maddalena in Rigoleto, Mendelssohn’s Elijah , Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Hansel in Hansel & Gretel , Dido in Dido and Aeneas, and Nicklausse in Les Contes D’Hoffman with Spoleto Festival, Canton Symphony, Tri-Cities Opera, Lake George Opera, Natchez Festival of Music, and Pittsburgh Opera Theater, among many others.
And then I joined a rock band
My best friend was teaching guitar next to me at the music store in New York and kept teasing me, “You know, you sure do teach a lot of rock singers. Are you sure you don’t want to start a band?” That’s when I realized, if I was going to help all of these contemporary singers belt into the high heavens, I should probably put my money where my mouth is, and make sure I know what I’m talking about. So we started a band.
My week consisted of teaching voice lessons, touring a broadway show for children, rehearsing opera 6 hours a day and then gigging with my band on the weekends. I couldn’t tell my voice teachers & coaches I was singing in a band or they would have panicked and kicked me out of the opera company. At the time no one thought classical (aka “bel canto”), musical theater, and rock singing could coexist. I believed they could. So under cover of darkness, I got really resourceful and applied everything I knew about classical singing technique to contemporary singing. For centuries, classical technique had been keeping opera singers safe, so with some slight adjustments and many revelations along the way, I figured it out. My teaching improved, my singing improved, I still sang all the operas, oratorios, and musicals I wanted to, and our band performed around New York for years. Thanks to my great experiment, I know with every fiber of my voice, my body and my being that if you can sing healthy, you can in fact sing anything.
And wow, can my students sing!
My students are accepted to the top classical, musical theater, and contemporary music schools, including, but not limited to, Curtis Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, Cincinnati Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Juilliard, Rider, Otterbein, Coastal Carolina, NYU Tisch, Roosevelt, Point Park, Penn State University, Ohio Northern University, The Crane School of Music, Ithaca College, University of Southern California, Oklahoma City University, UCLA, Temple University, Belmont University, Cleveland Institute of Music, Berklee College of Music, Mannes School of Music.
My students attend summer programs at Interlochen Center for the Arts, Aspen Opera Theater, Stagedoor, Aspen Music Festival, Southeastern Summer Theatre Institute, The Glimmerglass Festival, ArtsBridge Summer Musical Theater Program, and Boston University Tanglewood Institute, among others.
They win the Presidential Scholar of the Arts Award from the US Department of Education, National First Place prize in the Classical Singer Magazine Competition, First Place in Talent in the National American Miss New York Pageant, First Prize at the Gerda Lissner Liederkranz Competition, earn First Place Grand Prize Finalist at the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards, and participate in the Chapter, Regional and National level of The National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Competition.
My students sing on the biggest stages, including The Metropolitan Opera, The Kennedy Center, and The Dorothy Chandler Pavillion, on national tours in Europe, on cruise ships, with symphonies, and in regional and community theaters nationwide.
You can see them on Oprah, America’s Got Talent, in Opera News Magazine, on NPR’s radio program “From the Top,” showcased on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Grammy Award Week Salute to Placido Domingo with Los Angeles Opera, On and Off-Broadway.
My students sing with Mötley Crüe, Gavin DeGraw, Wynton Marsalis, Collective Soul, Thomas Hampson, Jason Mraz, Jo Dee Messina, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Breaking Benjamin, Brett Eldredge, Rob Zombie, King’s X, Skid Row, Fishbone, Hootie and the Blowfish, Seether, Journey, The Swon Brothers and in clubs, schools, coffee shops, bars, fairs and campuses across the country.
As an active member of the NATS National Mentor Program and the owner and founder of Higher Voice Studio, I’m proud to say that my students are some of the most passionate, educated, and inspired voice teachers in the world. They teach in universities, conservatories, high schools, community theatres, and private schools, training the next generation of singers and teachers who will shape vocal artistry as we know it.
Sound impossible? My students are theatre kids just like you, with big dreams and the courage to pursue them. Do they have talent? Of course! But most importantly, they have the passion, dedication, and drive to become the best they can be today. Then, one day becomes the next, and their confidence grows as their voice grows. And then, all of a sudden, they’re living those dreams and making new ones that carry them far beyond what they ever believed was possible. As their teacher, it is a wonder to behold.
START YOUR JOURNEY
Get Started
Whether you want to schedule a private lesson with me, come to one of my masterclasses, invite me to guest teach at your school, or want to learn through an online course in the comfort of your home, there is a path for everyone to unlock their Voice and set it free.
Let's Find Your Voice
You could wait till you think you’re “good enough” to sing in front of other people. You could just keep performing as is, even though your voice is tired and strained, because you “sound fine.” You could never try, because it’s “probably too hard to learn how to sing.” You could settle for “what you sound like,” and for “what you think your voice can do.” But if you like your voice at all today, you’ll love it so much more when it’s finally free.