Voice/Bodhran Teacher

07/27/2026

I keep hearing about singers struggling with the damage they've done to their voices. Such damage is COMPLETELY unnecessary if every singer understands how to safely negotiate this precious instrument! At 76 y/o, I can still sing for hours acoustically, day after day b/c of the techniques I teach. Please join me! Message me here or email ionavoice@pobox,com.

Jon Bon Jovi, 64, stopped a concert in New York City on Thursday after struggling to get through his full set during his “Forever Tour.” The American singer was performing the eighth night of a nine-show residency at Madison Square Garden when he told fans, “I’m sorry, I’m hurt, and you’...

10/14/2025

I seem to have a new teaching page! Not sure how it works, but there it is!

05/23/2025

A challenge to any/all singers! Critique my interpretation of this amazing Irish language song. I will offer a free lesson (value $70) to anyone who can analyze what's going on!

Provided to YouTube by CDBabyThe Mermaid's Song / Seoladh Na Ngamhna · IonaBirken Tree℗ 2000 IonaReleased on: 2000-12-18Auto-generated by YouTube.

02/11/2025

Greetings potential students! For the month of February, I'm offering new students a discount on lessons! My current fee is $65/hour and I plan to increase it to $70 for new students in the next 6 months. For February, I'm offering 4 1-hour lessons for $55/hour so you can try out my teaching for less to see if you resonate. I sure hope you'll take me up on it! Call 703-426-1450 (landline - no texts) or email [email protected].

09/23/2024

Hello singers!!! We had an amazingly fun party last month! Everyone brought a dish and we provided drinks, a microphone and tech support. At first, everyone was a bit nervous about getting up to sing, but soon we all let our hair down and boogeyed. I hope you will join our fun times in the future...

05/01/2024

Hello dear singers and bodhran players - I am beginning to emerge from grieving the death of my beautiful coverboy, Scrumpy. He died in his sleep 3/23 while Iona was performing, and it's broken my heart. His name, "Scrumpy" is that of the hard cider made from "windfall" apples in England's West Country. These apples, sometimes beginning to decay, were pressed and fermented into a surprisingly powerful drink. This gathering of downed apples was referred to as "scrumping" and is the basis of the word "scrumptious" (and OH! but he was a scrumptious dear pup). There is a humorous tale/song called "Dead Dog Scrumpy", composed by West Countryman, Trevor Crozier in 1977. 6 months after we adopted him, I was trying to teach our Scrumpy to play "dead dog" as a party piece and he bit me pretty seriously. He almost lost his happy home, but I relented, and never mentioned dead dog Scrumpy again. Now, almost 11 years later, he, tragically, is just that. I don't know if I will ever be able to giggle at the facetiously maudlin circumstance, but let's face it: it's an entertaining story. Singing can free us of our pain: Scrumpy attended every class and was always present to make us all comfortable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOegHC40viY

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