For her next EP, Laura is ambitious to combine her voice, haunting string arrangements and catchy hooks into an epic pop experience that will launch her brand into international stardom. Click here to visit her website for more information. Check out our interview below, as Laura talks about touring.
Tell us about your masterclass program.
It is a fun hour or two that I have with all of my voice students in one room. We always start with warm up and and then we go right into tackling a specific technical issue, or theme for that class. 99% of my vocal students are between the ages of 12 and 18, and want to learn how to be a killer belting vocalist, so I often touch on that. It's a tough thing to get your muscles to relax when all they want to do is strain to get out the higher notes when the body doesn't know any better. After each student takes turns demonstrating and working with me, I follow up with a short lecture with note-taking or personal journaling on what we worked on so it sticks. If it's audition season, I typically ask my students to come prepared with 16 bars of an audition song they are working on to give them some practice and get the nerves out.
(I have attached my flyer for my School Masterclass program, which is a bit different since it involves students I have never met before). The school program involves a Q and A session with me. Most students 16 and older have lots of questions about my DIY career, copyrights, booking, touring, songwriting, college auditions, and what to do after high school, etc. Then of course I end the Masterclass by teaching the choir a refrain from one of my songs so they can join me on stage when I perform it later that day.
Is your program open to enrollment, and do prospective students need to meet certain requirements before enrolling?
Good question. Typically, private studios run a bit different than a school that provides general music lessons for a variety of instruments. Most of the year, my studio is full so when I have a slot opening in my schedule, I call the first person on my waiting list and ask them to audition for me with 30 seconds of a song, a cappella. Although studying music prior to working with me is not necessary, there are specific things that I look for in a new student: a general enthusiastic desire to learn, the ability to quickly “monkey see monkey do” back and forth with me, an effortless understanding of scales and pitch even if the vocabulary isn't there yet, and the ability to give me back as much energy as I give, which is a lot. I also look for a healthy sense of self-awareness and overall health; the ability to study a discipline with a long learning curve such as music is a humbling experience and takes a strong heart. (Cont'd)