my teaching style

I became a world-class voice teacher because of my passion for technique, performance craft, and my personal journey from singing terribly to having my dream voice. 
Sarah Hawkey Voice Studio - Voice Lessons in Westport, CT Voice Lessons in Fairfield, CT

This line by my favorite poet Mary Oliver is what I want to help you explore:

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

-Mary Oliver

You have a gift.  You have a voice, a sound, a specialness that NO other singer has.  It’s time you get the tools you need to be able to share your voice in the way you know you’re meant to.
In my world, we do the inner work & the outer work.  The outer work is you learning vocal technique that brings out the best in your voice, and the inner work addresses any inner blocks or limitations you may be placing on yourself without realizing it.
With rock solid technique that supports you singing your best all the time, and a mindset to attract the opportunities of your dreams?  You’ll be un-friggin-stoppable.  And that’s what the world needs.

You know you have more inside you – more voice, more excellence, and it’s my job to help you unlock it so you can reach your goals with way more ease.

Sarah Hawkey Studio - Voice Lessons in Westport, Wilton, Weston, and Ridgefield, CT

my teaching style

I’ve been mentored by the best of the best voice teachers, and I feel so lucky to continue the tradition of teaching bel canto concepts to modern singers.
 
My passion is teaching vocal technique.  I love helping you shape your voice into your dream instrument.  Literally – by learning vocal technique you can build your dream voice. 
Vocal technique is the holy grail of singing. Without technique, literally nothing else is possible. 
Technique is the foundation of singing. Just like a house, if your foundation isn’t solid, the floor will eventually cave in. It’s the same in singing.
Without a technical foundation, you’ll always be limited because your voice won’t do what you want it to, or what you imagine you could sound like.

but what is technique anyway, Sarah?

It took me years to understand what everyone in Conservatory was talking about when they talked about technique.

Here’s my simple explanation:


Technique is simply HOW you create the sounds you make when you sing.  

Just because my lineage is classical doesn’t mean I teach opera singers. In fact, only a handful of my students are working on arias. In my studio, you learn knockout technique that’s been around for hundreds of years, and apply it to the music you’re passionate about singing. 
The whole point of you mastering technique is to get your voice out of the way, so you can actually focus on the text, the character, the scene… your performance…and not be thinking about your voice at all.  
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my voice teacher secret sauce

aka: how i learned to be a world-class voice teacher
Voice teachers have a “pedagogical lineage,” which is like a voice teacher family tree.  We carry on the approaches of master voice teachers to the next generation of singers.  
My lineage is Italian & French bel canto, along with a contemporary American approach to technique.  
My mentors are the renowned voice teacher Steve Smith when he was at Juilliard; the famous teacher Daniel Ferro & his mentee Peter Castaldi who carried on the lineage of the Italian bel canto school; and Braeden Harris, a technical genius who carries on the pedagogical lineage of his bel canto teacher.

When I moved to New York City to pursue my professional singing career…. I couldn’t sing

it was AWFUL

but it’s how I learned to be a world-class voice teacher
You heard me right.  I couldn’t sing.  The sounds that were coming out of my mouth were honestly terrible.  
I had a voice teacher in undergrad who didn’t understand how to teach technique, and sadly he ran my voice into the ground.  I had no idea what to do, but I knew that my destiny was to sing as my career and that I would never give up on my dream, so I moved to New York City anyways to try and figure it out myself. 
Luckily, I found a few voice teachers who helped me find my way.  It was humiliating and very painful to know I had tons of talent but sound so bad, but from that place I re-trained my voice from the ground up, re-learned how to sing, and finally launched a successful career as a classical soprano.