MISSION
To cultivate creativity, confidence and core vocal and piano skills that encourage and enhance a lifelong love of music.
Children
Piano: We work primarily from the Faber & Faber Piano Adventures series which is an invaluable resource covering all aspects of musicality from music theory, artistry & technique, to sight-reading and performance.
Voice: Vocal health is extremely important to us at HMS. We do not push our young singers into repertoire that is not age and stage appropriate. At this age, the focus is on story-telling through our voices and how to create word pictures for our listeners. We promote the healthy singing of musical theatre repertoire and other similar-genre works.
Youth
Piano: We work from the Faber & Faber Piano Adventure Book series as well as the Keith Snell Piano books. Curriculum covers elements of scales, music theory, technique & artistry, sight-reading and performance practice.
Voice: Bel Canto - the Italian word synonymous with “beautiful singing.” This is always our intention and focus as we work with voices that are changing through the teen years. Emphasis is given to strengthening both the upper and lower registers and we start to get an idea of where the voice is going to end up residing long term. Choosing repertoire is a collaborative effort between student and teacher and we work together to find pieces that both suit and stimulate the voice and whole person.
Adults
Piano: Lessons are structured around the fundamentals of music including scales, music theory, sight-reading / singing, performance practice, lead sheets, chord study and more. Some adults prefer to study their favorite pieces in detail, whilst others prefer to have a specific book series from which to work. We discuss this over email before our first lesson.
Voice: In these lessons, we fuse the ltalianate style of Bel Canto singing with tools from the Estill Voice training method. This results in a singer who not only can create a free and beautiful sound, but a musician who is aware of what they are doing to produce the sound and how to recreate it. Repertoire choice is a collaborative effort as we strive to work together to find pieces that are not only enjoyable to sing, but which hone in on areas of growth and development.