Are you interested in studying voice privately?
Whether you are an advanced voice student or a young singer just discovering your voice, private voice instruction is the best way to improve your singing. Would you like to gain confidence and poise? How about strengthening your voice and increasing your musicianship? Would you like to prepare for solo and ensemble contest or for All State Choir auditions. Maybe you are looking for some additional help in preparing for show choir or chamber choir or you want to sing a solo in choir or church. If the answer is yes to any of these questions, private voice lessons are for you.
Teachers
All voice teachers have degrees in Vocal Performance or Vocal Music Education and most have many years experience working with adolescent voices. All of them love to give lessons. We are so fortunate to have such an amazing group of professionals.
To schedule your lessons, simply contact the voice teacher that you are interested in working with to set up your lesson. Your voice teacher should get back to you shortly to find a lesson time that will work for both of you.
Chris Starr – Retired Choral Director – Howard Lake
To Contact Chris: castarr814@yahoo.com
Chris Starr is a graduate of Bemidji State University with a major in Vocal Music Education and Piano performance. She taught Elementary music for 7 years and then transitioned to teaching 6-12 choirs for 34 years, all in the Howard Lake – Waverly – Winsted School District. The HLWW concert choir received Superior Ratings all 34 years under her direction. Her choirs have performed at MENC, MMEA, and ACDA conventions. In 1997 she was honored to receive the MMEA Music Educator of the year award. That same year HLWW Music Department was chosen as the Outstanding Small School music Program by MMEA. Chris is active as a contest judge, guest conductor for choral festivals and also as an accompanist for the All-State Women’s Choir. She plays for church services in Norwood and Glencoe and also Directs the Children’s Choir at her church in Norwood.
Matthew Tintes – Freelance Vocal Instructor / Performer
To Contact Mathew: matt.tintes@gmail.com
Matthew Tintes is a private voice lesson instructor, performer, and the director of the Hosanna Choir at St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Bloomington, MN. Originally hailing from Fargo, ND, Mr. Tintes is a graduate of North Dakota State University, earning a degree in Vocal Music Education. Mr. Tintes then attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he earned his Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance. For 7 seasons, Mr. Tintes was part of the nationally and internationally acclaimed men’s vocal ensemble, Cantus. While with Cantus, Tintes got to perform and tour the country, and the world, as well as record several albums, and appear on various popular radio programs such as A Prairie Home Companion, and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts. In addition to his studio of nearly 40 students, Tintes maintains an active performance calendar, performing with ensembles such as “Consortium Carissimi” and “The Together In Hope Choir”.
Here is how Mr. Tintes describes his teaching philosophy:
“I want to teach my students how to use their voices so that they are able to have as much fun singing as possible. “Fun” means something different to everyone, and whatever that means to you will help drive our focus in lessons. I believe a strong understanding of classical singing technique is the foundation on which everything else is built, but I also believe that a well rounded singer should be able to sing in multiple styles. We will choose songs (aka Repertoire) together that (1) are songs that you will like to sing, and (2) will help you grow your technique in areas that we will identify through the exploration of your current vocal abilities during your first few lessons.”
Tanner Larson – Freelance Vocal Instructor / Performer
To Contact Tanner:
TannerLarson12@gmail.com
Tanner Larson received his bachelor’s degree in vocal music education from St. Olaf College. After graduating, Tanner taught high school choir for a year at Widefield High School. During his time in Colorado, he found he missed his people in Minnesota and decided to return home to teach voice lessons full time. This also began his time with the Waconia Show Choirs as the assistant director of Power Company and The Current. Over the next few years, Tanner’s career took some interesting turns, with a brief stop in law school and a return to the classroom at Holy Family High School as the vocal director. Now Tanner is teaching lessons full time again at Waconia High School, Wayzata High School, and Bloomington Kennedy High School. Tanner is now working with the Waconia Show Choirs as the co-director of Power Company and the director of Watt.
Tanner’s teaching philosophy pairs guided reflection, kinesthetic gestures, and abstract thinking with anatomical understanding to give the student both a “feel” for their voice along with an actual understanding of what physically is happening. This approach fits well for students who think more literally and those who work based off of “feel.” Broadly, Tanner’s goal is to equip his students with technical proficiency and to begin to help his students find their identities as artists. Tanner enjoys working with students of all levels, from total beginner to music major. Tanner is comfortable teaching Classical, Musical Theater, and Pop vocal styles.
Taylor Ann Grand – Freelance Vocal Instructor
To Contact Taylor:
taylor.ann.grand@gmail.com
Taylor Ann Grand is a voice instructor and freelance soprano who has recently returned to Minnesota after living abroad in Copenhagen Denmark and one year in Florence Italy since 2018. She has reached people with her voice and teaching in her own Minneapolis community and abroad while honing her musicality through growth and cross-cultural life experience.
Taylor‘s musicality began with the violin during her elementary years in Waldorf education under the influence of Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophical understanding of music making as ‘essential in experiencing what it is to be fully human’.
Taylor is a graduate of Wayzata High School and Concordia College of Moorhead, Minnesota where she graduated with a Bachelors degree in Vocal Music Education and Performance.
Motivated by a burning desire to come closer to her Danish roots, Taylor moved to Copenhagen in 2018 and received her Masters in Voice from The Royal Danish Academy of Music in 2020 where she also worked as a freelance singer and vocal instructor.During her master’s studies she performed extensively in a few of Copenhagen’s most beautiful churches with her own formed Baroque chamber ensemble. Her freelance work in Copenhagen included appearing as the soprano soloist in two written works composed by Danish composer Martin Åkerwall- Nordisk Requiem (2019) and Når Helligånden Åbner Døre (2021) including a premiere broadcast on Danish Radio P2 in May 2021. She has also soloed with members of the Danish Radio Symphony as part of the Islev Chamber Orchestra for Christmas concerts at Islev Church in Rødovre Denmark.
Taylor has gained stage experience and role study/performance experience at leading programs worldwide including: Casentino Voice Masterclass in Stia, the Bel Canto Institute in Florence, the American Institute for Musical Studies in Graz, the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Maiori, and Spotlight on Opera in Austin Texas. Her favorite role appearance was Lucia in Benjamin Brittain’s The Rape of Lucretia with Spotlight on Opera (2013).
Taylor recently returned to Minneapolis, Minnesota in May 2024 and is now rooting herself back in the Twin Cities community bringing her multifaceted experience and growth from her time abroad to her continued work as a performer and instructor. She has recently moved to Wayzata where she lives with her new kitten Lily. She is thrilled to be joining Waconia’s incredible voice faculty this fall as well as the voice faculty at Buffalo High School.
A bit from Taylor about her teaching style:
“Our voice is a part of who we are and when we sing we tell a story, sharing the experience of what we have lived. I see each of my students as an individual with a beautiful voice and story to share. My job is to help my students find the freedom to sing through breath support, voice placement, and fluid agility in vocalises in tandem with encouraging their unique musical abilities and expression so that they feel confident in sharing their unique voice with the world. I value sensitivity and awareness in my approach as I strive to incorporate the inter-connectedness of mind, body and spirit and the integral role that all three play in musical development. I make sure to develop a one-on-one relationship with each of my students that fosters trust in the unfolding of their own innate musical expression.”
Kari Werdahl – Elementary Music Specialist, Bayview Elem
To Contact Miss Werdahl: Kwerdahl@isd110.org
Kari Werdahl has been helping our young musicians in Waconia to learn to love singing for “a number of years”. She is a leader in both the American Choral Directors Association as well as the Music Educators National Conference. Kari enjoys working with young and emerging singers helping them to truly find their voice. She specializes in building confidence and strength as a singer and musician. Kari is looking for eager singers willing to grow and work at improving.
