Student Testimonials

"During the height of the pandemic, I decided I wanted to pursue an idea I’ve had for a long time: embark on my vocal journey. When I first saw Helena’s post about offering vocal lessons, I impulsively reached out. It was truly the best decision I’ve ever made. It’s been a few years now, which really demonstrates how much I love working with them.  While I’ve taken piano and flute lessons for a few years in childhood, I didn’t have any recollection. So basically, I started from scratch.

 

From my initial lesson, Helena had me do some warmups. I heard music notes go higher or lower in pitch, but it didn’t occur to me that it meant I needed to also change my pitch to follow it. It was also through our warm up that I learned that for a few notes, I struggled with discerning whether if the pitch is higher or lower. 

 

There are several reasons why I’m so thankful I chose Helena as my vocal coach and educator. 

 

Environment: Helena is a professional singer and vocal educator, who prioritizes fostering an inclusive, encouraging environment. Their approachability and friendliness makes me look forward to each lesson, because I know I’ll never be judged for where I am in my journey. 

 

Accessibility: As someone that’s neurodivergent, I really appreciate Helena’s compassion, warmth, and thoughtfulness. They make sure to check in with me on any auditory processing issues I may be experiencing. Aside from that, I don’t know of any other vocal educator that offers lessons on a sliding scale for those who are in a position where their financial situation would be a deterrent from pursuing lessons. 

 

Approach: Helena is excellent at tailoring their approach in a way that meets your individual needs, which also includes troubleshooting in the moment. For instance, visuals, gestures, and analogies are extremely helpful for me. They encourage me to use my hands when doing exercises. They’ve made analogies on what to think about as I’m approaching something. They’ve even diagrammed where words in a song are in relation to each other, so I can better understand which words should be sung as a higher note, versus a lower note. 

 

Goal setting: Helena sets you up for success. An hour long session flies by so quickly because you easily get immersed into the process. The exercises have been challenging for me, but that’s how I’ll improve. From Day 1, I’ve trusted the process. I knew that I could trust Helena to help me reach my goals. I initially wanted to get to a place where I could feel empowered and confident enough to sing in front of my friends. I’ve surpassed that. I can now sing in front of my coworkers, and they’re complimented my singing voice!!! I had another goal of wanting to sing a Whitney Houston song. We did that, and hitting the high notes were doable!!! I can actually see my progress from the inside out, and I’m so thankful for them!! My next goal is to feel confident enough to take a TikTok or IG video of myself singing and post it. I know with Helena, it’ll happen soon enough!!!

 

Thank you, Helena!!!"

​

-Rachel