New Voice Students

A little preparation can help us spend less time troubleshooting and more time exploring your voice. You don’t need a perfect setup or a dedicated studio — just a comfortable space, a few simple tools, and a couple of tech settings.

 

Before Your First Virtual Session:

Set Up Zoom for Singing:

Zoom is designed primarily for speech, which means its standard audio processing can sometimes mistake parts of the singing voice for background noise and filter them out.

Before your first session, please enable Original Sound for Musicians in your Zoom settings. Once we’re in the meeting, make sure Original Sound for Musicians is turned ON.

[View Zoom’s current instructions for Original Sound →]

If we’ve already worked together virtually and you’ve set this up before, you probably don’t need to do it again.

Download SwiftScales App:

Please download the SwiftScales Vocal Trainer app to your phone before our first session. I use it to give you exercises and patterns that you can work with independently during and between sessions.

I strongly recommend upgrading to the Pro version, which is a one-time purchase of $6.99. The additional functionality makes the app significantly more useful for the way we’ll use it in our work together, and it’s the version I recommend to my students.

[Download SwiftScales for IOS →]
[Download SwiftScales for Android→]

Set Up Your Space

You don’t need anything fancy! If possible, choose a space where you:

  • can make sound comfortably

  • have enough room to stand and move

  • can sit or lie down if needed

  • have a stable internet connection

  • join the session on a laptop or computer rather than a phone, if possible, as phone audio can be limiting for vocal work; (we may also use apps like SwiftScales on your phone during the session)

  • can position your device so I can see you reasonably well

If you have access to a keyboard, wonderful — but it isn’t required.

Helpful Things to Have Nearby

Depending on what we explore in your session, I may ask you to grab a few simple objects. If you have them, keep these somewhere nearby:

  • Water

  • A yoga mat or comfortable place to lie down

  • A yoga strap, belt, or similar

  • A drinking straw

  • A spoon

  • Access to a wall

Don’t worry if you don’t have everything on this list. We can always adapt.

Finding Your Zoom Link

Your unique Zoom link will be included in your appointment confirmation and reminder emails from my scheduling system.

Please note that the Zoom link may not automatically appear in your Google Calendar, so keep one of those emails handy when it’s time for your session.

If you’d like, you can also use the calendar buttons in your confirmation email to add your appointment to your calendar.

When It’s Time to Meet

Give yourself a few minutes before our session to settle into your space, grab some water, and arrive without rushing if you can.

There’s nothing you need to warm up, practice, or perfect before we begin.

Come as you are. We’ll start from there.