Voice and Beginner Piano
Weekly lessons ending with a recital.
Instructor: Diane Fox
All ages, all abilities
Offering in-person private lessons and classes in Wykoff, New Jersey.
Payment terms
Payment is due in full 3 days before the first of each month and prior to the scheduled lesson time. Payment via Zelle is preferred (account number 201-978-8426). PayPal may also be used (please inquire when registering).
Make-up day for missed lessons is the third Sunday of each month as a one-hour virtual group lesson from 5:30-6:30pm.
What is a voice lesson?
Someone close to you may have said, “you have a beautiful voice! You should study singing!” Something like that happened to me as a child, as I was born with a naturally big voice. When I was 17 years old my mother took me to my first voice lesson. As she sat in the car two floors down from the studio she could easily hear me vocalizing. Years later I went on to become a professional opera singer having studied with some of the greatest of performers and teachers including Jerome Hines, Grace Bumbry, Barbara Dever, and Dodi Protero. In 1999 I founded Fox Voice Studio.
The purpose of voice lessons is to turn raw talent into refined talent.
Fox Voice Studio voice lessons will guide you in how to make your very best sound, explain to you the basic functionality of the human body in its relationship to vocal sound for singing. We will help you grow as a singer through learning solid vocal technique to increase your vocal range, build your strength and stamina, and bridge the various registers of your voice so all sound flows out of you like one continuous color. You will expand your range on both on the top and bottom limits of your voice. Most important, you will learn to how to achieve singing a legato line.
All of these objectives must, of course, be set in ways that are age appropriate. For very young students, the focus is on building basic singing techniques and music reading skills so that the student can experience the joy of music. But, starting with slightly more mature students, we aim to treat them as if they are ready to learn everything and shoot for the stars.
Many of Fox Voice Studio’s graduates have gone on to grace the stages of the professional opera and musical theatre world. Others have become rock and jazz artists. Many of our students have entered medicine, law, and other non-music professions, but they have done so benefiting from the self-discipline and focus they learned in their youth from singing. Still other students have found a window of happiness from their personal involvement in the world of music and the great composers.
For the singer, the ultimate teacher is performing on stage. The stage teaches you what you have mastered and what still needs work. Thus, our weekly study schedule leads up to an end-of-the-school-year recital, as the recital is crucial for cementing the skills learned in class. We make this recital exciting - complete with costumes, staging, and maybe even a dance move or two. Often singers will have the opportunity to sing duets, trios, and ensemble numbers with their fellow classmates. Many of our students have forged lifetime friendships through these recitals.
Beginner Piano Lessons
I highly recommend beginner piano lessons for the voice student, especially if the student has had no other musical instrument study. Perhaps you are an adult and too shy to sing but would like to read church hymns with more confidence on Sundays. I’ve taught beginning piano to both children, teen and adults. I highly recommend the study of piano along with voice lessons. Being able to play one’s notes on the piano while studying singing is highly beneficial to the voice student. A number of situations can be worked out to make it affordable for all to study.