“Singing for me was hard on multiple different levels. Although I dreamed of being a singer-songwriter, I’m not a confident singer naturally and have struggled for many years technically, emotionally and spiritually with this inhibition. I grew up being told to be quiet, that I couldn’t sing and shouldn’t try, but really, I just wanted to shout out like Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles. I buried a lot of that shit for many years, and all of a sudden when I started to get singing lessons, it re-surfaced. I needed more than just a technical coach, teaching pitch and learning songs. I needed someone who could help me dive deep and not only confront that part of me that I had buried for so long, but bring it up, control it and USE IT!
Sarah’s insight and experience in the physical, spiritual and emotional side of singing is one that I was often scared of and intimidated by, but essentially one that, through patience and persistence helped me breakthrough to gaining more connection and control with pitch and tone and eventually finding my true voice. She has a great sense of humour when confronting challenges, and has a gentle and pragmatic way of working that expresses deep empathy for her students and encourages them and leads them to making discoveries by themselves.
Sarah taught me many different strategies for relaxing and connecting with the voice. As I’m from an acting background, she encouraged me to use character and accents to warm up and sometimes trick myself into an higher pitch. Although the ‘fake it til you make it’ trick often worked, she never let me veer to far from authenticity and always brought me back to connecting with my true voice.
Sarah taught me that looking after body, mind and soul equals looking after the voice and that it’s okay to have a bad day every now and again. Keep practising.”