Notre-Dame-de-Grace (NDG)
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Singing classes in NDG Montreal
Express Voice Studio is thrilled to launch voice lessons in Notre-Dame-de-Grace ( NDG ) with full time, accomplished artists as teachers. Our vocal coaches are located in the specific neighborhoods of NDG, Monkland Village, and Montreal West. Singing teachers in NDG also offer in-home lessons for an additional fee: This means you have the convenience of having a voice teacher or piano teacher come to your home- no travel! Our NDG voice teachers work with children and adults in opera, rock, grunge, pop, jazz, and musical theater styles.
Chris Aitkens is a singer and radio personality born and raised in Montreal. At a young age, he fell in love with theatre and wanted to be a stage actor. He spent most of his teenagehood studying at the Dynamic Theatre Factory under Anik Matern and Claire Jacques, and later on, attended the Professional Theatre program at Dawson College, where he was taught the Vox Method by W. Steven Lecky. Following graduation, he performed in award-winning Montreal Fringe musicals such as Johnny Legdick: A Rock Opera and ATM: the Musical.
Unable to find consistent work as an actor, Chris returned to school, this time studying Journalism at Concordia University, where he got involved with the campus radio station CJLO 1690AM and began hosting his own radio show Sewer Spewer. After completing his studies, he worked at CJAD 800 for three years as a new anchor (or as he called it, “news vampire”) during the late night weekend shifts. He eventually left the position to become the program director at CJLO, helping aspiring disc jockeys get on the air.
Aside from theatre and radio, Chris’ biggest passion is music, particularly the loud and aggressive genres. Ever since the age of 15, Chris has been fronting various punk and metal groups. But it’s with his current band Gutser that Chris developed his heavy and guttural vocal style, integrating the vocal techniques he learned in theatre school so that he could scream and growl for long periods of time without wrecking his voice. Gutser’s debut album “Spill Everything” showcases his vocal range, from overly dramatic spoken word to high-pitched banshee wails.
$70 /hour
$40 /minutes
Praised for his “clarion tone” (Ludwig van Toronto) and “impressive vocal colour” (Opera Canada), Canadian-American baritone Geoffrey Schellenberg is recognized for the roles of Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Belcore (L’elisr d’amore), Marcello and Schaunard (La bohème), and Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia). He has recently been seen in productions with Vancouver Opera, Pacific Opera Victoria, Portland Opera, Calgary Opera, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. A graduate of Portland Opera Resident Artist Program, Calgary Opera Emerging Artist Program, and Music Academy of the West, he is currently continuing his training with the Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal. He is scheduled to appear as Baron Douphol in Opéra de Montréal’s upcoming production of La traviata.
Geoffrey has also become a frequent interpreter of oratorio, recently performing excerpts from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Mahler) with l’Orchestre de l’Agora under the direction of Nicolas Ellis. Previously, he was seen as soloist in Vancouver Bach Choir’s performances of A Sea Symphony (Vaughan Williams) and Requiem (Fauré) as well as in the Messiah (Handel) with the Prince George Symphony Orchestra. He has also sung baritone solos in Requiem (Duruflé) with St. Philips Choir and in Wenceslas (Chilcott) with Jubilate Vocal Ensemble. Geoffrey was a winner of the 2020, 2019 and 2015 Western Canada District in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the platinum prize winner in the inaugural Vancouver International Music Competition, and a prize winner in the 2016 Canadian Opera Company Centre Stage Competition. He completed his master’s degree at the University of British Columbia, where he performed many roles including Eugene Onegin in Eugene Onegin, Conte Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
$70 /hour
$55 /45 minutes
+ $15 / for in home lessons
Buy 7 lessons receive 8
Lessons expire after 6 months.
Montreal-based singer-songwriter &/or melodic rapper, Drew, has been pursuing his career as an independent musician for over two years, & has since seen relatively quick growth and success within the music industry. Alongside three in-house producers, together these 4 combine forces as jointly-known NSL (Never Stop Laughing) Collective.
Having graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing & Business Studies, Drew’s knowledge acquired in his educational background has benefited his pursuit as a musician. In addition, with work experience in Digital Marketing & Advertising, his understanding and expertise of branding, as well as consumer behaviour, allowed the collective to quickly build & grow a highly engaged community on various social platforms.
Drew is solely managed, writes his own lyrics, does his own vocal recording, mixing, mastering, as well as all other other business/marketing efforts required to be a successful independent artist. For this reason, he has acquired & mastered many skills within the overarching theme of being a musician. Drew is constantly learning & testing new strategies & techniques to improve his marketing efforts and ultimately continue growing as a musician. He believes his business-knowledge and self-acquired skill sets are key contributors to NSL’s relatively quick success in this industry.
Music creation is undoubtedly an artistic and therapeutic practice. That being said, in order to ensure a successful career as an independent artist, the importance of the “business side of music” can simply not be ignored or disregarded. More specifically, the aspects of marketing and branding are crucial contributors towards your success as a musician. These components can “make or break” your career in the music industry.
This “side” of the industry can be intimidating and “foreign” to some artists.
With some assistance and coaching in these departments, artists can see a complete transformation, and drastic improvements in regards to their music’s performance (over time, of course).
Having first-hand experience in music marketing and an educational background in business studies, my skill sets may help independent artists properly position themselves within this comptetitive industry.
Key Concepts/Components in this “course”:
- Improving Social Media Presence (IG, TikTok, Spotify) : Growing a following, increasing engagement, understanding algorithms, leveraging “stories”, building a core fanbase, growing your network, the importance of collaboration, taking advantage of trends/fads, standing out in your niche, etc.
- Branding Your Music: YOU are the product. Strategies and techniques to start building the foundation of your brand/persona. Music is -almost- secondary!
- Digesting Criticism By Being In The Public Eye: Differentiating constructive criticism vs. Hate Comments, & relevant coping methods
- Long Term vs. Short Term success in the music industry
- Strategic releases & the importance of timing
$70 /hour
As creators, we must (at times) remind ourselves the reasons why we started all of this in the first place. This course offers tips and tricks to re-ignite creative thoughts, as well as offer/brainstorm tips and tricks to level-up your songwriting abilities, as well as technical production skills. This course more specifically offers assistance in regards to overcoming writer’s block, avoiding creative burnout, as well as finding a proper balance between your music career and personal life. It also highlights the importance of lyricism and song-structure creation. Consider this an “all-around” course that offers assistance in regards to all that falls into the “creative” , “psychological”, as well as “technical” sides of music creation.
Key Concepts/Components in this “course”:
- Maximising Productivity, Time Management, & The “Bigger Picture”
- Overcoming Writer’s Block and reignite inspiration
- Tips and tricks in regards to sound engineering (more specifically, vocal mixing and song mastering)
- Improving Your Vocal Delivery
- Improving Songwriting Skills
- The Importance of Lyrics and Song Themes
- Seasonality in Music
$65 /hour
Heralded for her “clear vibrant tone” (Opera Canada) and her “good comedic acting…with [a] powerful, agile voice” (Burnaby Now), Tamar Simon is an Armenian-Canadian soprano embarking on a promising opera career. Her recent credits include Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Musetta (La bohème). and Zerlina. Don Giovanni). She re-appeared in Don Giovanni with Highlands Opera Studio this summer singing the role of Donna Elvira. A frequent performer around Vancouver, Canada, Tamar was featured as the soprano soloist for the Vancouver Opera Festival’s New Works Project and has performed outreach concerts for Vancouver Opera. She appeared as Valencienne with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in their Look of Love concert, a role she reprised with the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra in their concert of Viennese Delights. She has also been engaged with Burnaby Lyric Opera as Rosina in their mainstage production of Il barbiere di Siviglia and as Adina in their concert production of L’elisir d’amore, and performed with White Rock Concerts as Musetta in their production of La Bohème.
Tamar has been seen international stages, including appearances as Zerlina in Hawaii Performing Arts Festival’s production of Don Giovanni and as Calisto in Centre for Opera Studies’ production of La Calisto. Tamar continued her vocal and art song studies in Austria after receiving the Johann Strauss Foundation Scholarship, which sponsored study at the Internationale Sommerakademie Mozarteum under soprano Helen Donath and baritone Wolfgang Holzmair. She has also traveled to Pilzen, Czech Republic and Nürnberg, Germany performing excerpts from La Traviata, La Bohème, and Die Fledermaus. Additionally, she sang in Hong Kong and Beijing as part of the UBC Centennial Tour, performing excerpts from Don Pasquale and Les contes d’Hoffmann. Tamar is a District Winner and an Encouragement Award Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She is a graduate of University of British Columbia’s Master of Music program in opera performance where she studied under Patrick Raftery and Nancy Hermiston. At UBC, she performed many leading roles, most notably the role of Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro where she was described as “believable and engaging Susanna, passing from innocence to subtlety to assertion, always in control and always the unrecognized protagonist” (Opera Canada). She was also seen as Tytania in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ciboletta in Eine Nacht in Venedig, and The Foreign Woman in The Consul.
$70 /hour
$52.50 /45 minutes
$35 /30 minutes
+ $15 / for In home lessons
Contact us and we will help guide you to the best singing teacher for your needs.
Check out all of our Montreal singing teachers in the surrounding areas as well!
Contact us and we will help guide you to the best singing teacher for your needs.
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jordanne@Expressvoicestudio.com
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alyssa@expressvoicestudio.com
Toronto inquiries
Alex Nicol
Tara
Rebecca
Laurena Mayifuila Mayowele
Samantha Timmons
