Musical Theatre Voice Lessons In Vancouver
Professional Voice Coaching For Musical Theatre Performers
Common Goals We Address:
Strong High Belt/Mix Notes
Stand out at your audition, not by merely hitting your high notes, but by singing them skillfully, in a way that is strong, but also flexible and relaxed, so your musical choices can seamlessly match your character’s emotional journey—all with zero strain.
Build an Audition Book you Love
Build your voice and your book at the same time.
It’s about more than the story—it’s also about knowing the technique is there, so there’s nothing standing in the way of you telling the story seamlessly, once you’re in the audition room.
Old songs in your book need to be replaced, periodically, with new, fresh ones that you are thrilled to sing. I love combining the ‘book upgrade’ process with developing an actor’s voice. Here, you can build your voice and a book you love at the same time.
More Than Just ‘Hitting’ High Notes
To tell our story best, we must not just ‘hit’ our high notes but, often, we should finesse our high notes (okay, all our notes) seamlessly.
Even if you’re 100% invested in your story, the audience might still be distracted by a note that’s a bit too loud, tense, pitchy, or unstable—due to vocal technique—and start paying more attention to your singing than your journey—another possibility is you’ll distract yourself from wondering if the audience is distracted. Either way, the solution is to have your voice completely unlocked and dialed in, both in general, and for each song you sing.
Skilled, committed storytelling plus vocal finesse is what will give your audition the ‘wow’ factor. The combination is rare, and it will make you stand out.
At CEVS, we work together to pick songs that bring you joy, showcase who you are, and allow you to master the song’s technical and stylistic challenges, so you can quickly progress to focusing solely on storytelling.
Audition Prep
How much audition prep is enough?
I recommend booking 4 coachings, minimum. The best audition prep is medium to long-term audition prep, due to how it can yield dramatically better results than short-term prep.
To make proper audition prep easier, to make this easier, 4 coachings is also when significant monthly rate discounts kick in, here.
Two Key Issues with Short-Term Audition Prep:
Time for ‘muscle memory’ and ‘trusting the tweaks’: Unless you are singing regularly, in a challenging way, booking one or two voice coachings, right before an audition, might not do much, no matter who you study with.
Even if you make great strides in a single lesson, unless you have at least a couple weeks to practise—i.e. to make the technique adjustments second nature—you’re likely to revert to what you’re most used to, once in the high-pressure situation of an audition.Time to work on fundamentals, if needed: Also, there is often an expectation that we’ll do a short warmup and dive into the song, but… if there are underlying technique gaps that the song exposes, these are often best addressed with exercises—then we’re in the undesirable position of having to make some kind of compromise with results, right out of the gate. e.g.
We can spend more time on fundamental technique-building and short-change song time (boo).
We can work the song with lowered expectations (boo).
We can choose an song with an easier range—but audition panels notice when a singer’s range is limited—often the musical director will double check at a callback, too, so… hard to get around needing a solid mix-belt.
It’s so much more fulfilling for everyone if there’s sufficient time to do things a bit more carefully.
Do you offer a deal for booking more audition coachings?
Yes! I offer discount packages for singers who prepay and use 4 or more coachings in a 30-day period.
I promise I will help you be as prepared as possible, regardless of the amount of time we have (and I understand that auditions sometimes come up fast).
I want to do more audition prep, but money is tight:
As a fellow performer, I also understand that money is often tight—so… I get it.
If it’s a valuable opportunity, résumé or income-wise, though, maybe consider thinking about how serious you are about not just ‘pulling off’ your audition song, but finessing the singing, so you can then better finesse the story, to give yourself a greater shot at standing out.
The performers I coach who book Equity auditions, nationally… they book more audition prep time. I don’t think this is a coincidence. I don’t think they can afford it, either, necessarily—but if they book the role, the investment pays dividends.
Anyway, even if you know you can’t afford any coachings right now, I still currently offer free consults, so we can meet and talk shop about your vocal goals and/or frustrations, etc. Feel free to get in touch about voice lessons in Vancouver, BC - I’d love to hear from you.
Pop Audition Songs:
How to prep for Pop/Rock Musical Auditions when the call says ‘Rock Song Only - Nothing From a Musical’
We can nail this.
We can choose the perfect song, together, or work a song you’ve chosen in advance. Even when a performer can sing all the notes technically well, there are often unique style and performance nuances that need to be considered for a pop/rock-based performance or audition to feel authentic—as opposed to someone trying to sound like an authentic pop singer through a Taylor, the Latte Boy filter.
‘How qualified are you to coach pop/rock?’
As leader for cover band, The Famous Players, I coached many musical theatre-based singers we employeed on style and performance nuances for all eras of pop and rock.
I’ve toured and recorded with original pop artists.
Over half of the 40-odd shows I’ve musical directed have been pop/rock-based.
Training-wise, I studied Jazz and commercial music for my BFA. I’ve also studied with Sheri Saunders of Rock the Audition fame and interviewed other ‘authentic pop for musical theatre’ experts like Desi Oakley (Waitress) and Krystina Alabado (Spring Awakening, American Idiot, Mean Girls) on this topic for CEVS’ Pro Singer Podcast.
See also Pop and Indie Singers page for more.
With Broadway singer and ‘authentic pop for theatre’ expert, Krystina Alabado (Mean Girls, American Idiot, Spring Awakening) for our Pro Singer Podcast interview.
Leading/performing with Famous Players Band. Note advanced ‘leg on keyboard’ technique.
What Clients are Saying:
“I always leave coachings with Courtenay feeling like a better singer than I did going in.
When facing moments in a song that feel challenging at first, Courtenay is full of tricks that make those moments easy.”
— Elodie Gillett, Singer/Actor: Jersey Boys (Original Canadian Cast), Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival
Case Study:
How one performer’s high mix/belt work helped him break through and book Equity and cruise ship work.
Planning to do a BFA, BM, or BA in Musical Theatre?
College audition coaching is the niche I now specialize in, most. Please see my College Audition Coaching page.
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A short friendly chat to answer any questions you may have about lessons here.