Ted's Voice Academy

09/07/2026

Wherever you are with your singing, we start from there.

Maybe you've never sung anywhere but the car and you're not sure you can match a pitch. That's a starting point. Maybe you've been singing for years and you want a stronger top, a smoother break, or more control on a long phrase. That's a starting point too.

Where you are today isn't good or bad. It's where you are. We work from there.

I teach beginners all the way through professional singers, in any style: pop, musical theatre, country, rock, classical, jazz, gospel. Ages 14 through adults of every age.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲:
🎵 I teach weekdays, Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, and I have daytime openings right now.
🎵 You work with me one-on-one, on the songs you actually want to sing.
🎵 In the first lesson we build your plan together, based on what you want your voice to do.
🎵 After every lesson I write up what we worked on, what to practice this week, and what changed, then send it to you. You have it in front of you when you sit down to practice on Thursday.

🎵 You also get into the members-only site, where I keep the daily practice tools. Use them between lessons, on your own schedule.

𝗔 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴:
🎵 I earned National Board Certification in Music in 2005.
🎵 I wrote the book on this method: 𝘈𝘝𝘍: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘝𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬.
🎵 BusinessRate has ranked me second among vocal instructors in Washington State two years running, and first in Thurston County.

Call or text 253-414-2267.

09/01/2026

**Why do I use straw phonation, humming, lip trills, and similar exercises with so many singers and speakers?**

They belong to a family of techniques called **SOVT exercises**, short for *semi-occluded vocal tract exercises*.

The name sounds technical. The basic idea is simple: we partially narrow the opening where the sound exits. That might mean singing through a straw, humming, using a lip trill, or sustaining sounds such as “V” and “Z.”

This creates gentle resistance above the vocal folds and gives the voice helpful feedback. It can encourage the airflow, vocal folds, and resonating spaces to coordinate more efficiently.

Depending on the person and the exercise, SOVT work may help you:

🎵 Warm up the voice gradually
🎵 Find greater ease and resonance
🎵 Coordinate airflow and sound
🎵 Reduce unnecessary vocal effort
🎵 Smooth transitions between registers
🎵 Explore range and flexibility
🎵 Develop clearer, more efficient projection
🎵 Build stamina for singing or speaking
🎵 Reset a voice that feels tired, heavy, breathy, tight, or unpredictable

SOVT exercises can also tell me something about your voice. How your voice responds helps me understand what may be happening and what we should explore next.

That last part matters.

**SOVT is one valuable tool set within a much larger approach to vocal development.** The real goal is to carry that improved coordination into your songs, presentations, performances, teaching, conversations, and everyday communication.

Vocal coaching helps us determine which tools serve *your* voice and how to turn a helpful exercise into lasting, usable skill.

What would you most like your voice to do more easily?

If you are ready to understand and develop your voice, I would be glad to help.

**MASTER YOUR VOICE**

Explore private coaching, the free *Master Your Voice Monthly* newsletter, the PASS Profile™, the AVF™ books, and **Master Your Voice Saturday on September 12**:

https://tedsvoiceacademy.com

08/28/2026

People come to voice lessons for all kinds of reasons.

Some want to finally learn to sing.

Some are preparing for a musical theater audition. Some sing in church, a chorus, a quartet, a band, or just for themselves. Some want more range, freedom, consistency or confidence. Some are adapting to changes in a voice they've used for decades.

And every once in a while, the “voice” someone brings me is the one they use for a presentation, a podcast, a sales conversation or their work.

I've coached people in all of those situations.

That's one of the things I love about this work. There really isn't one kind of person who takes voice lessons, and there isn't one reason to come.

There's simply something you'd like your voice to do better.

If you've had that thought lately, send me a message and tell me what you'd like your voice to do.

That's a very good place to start.

Ted's Voice Academy
Lacey/Olympia • In-person coaching
Virtual coaching is also available when it's a good fit.

08/25/2026

The core of what I do is 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬, one-on-one and built around 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 voice and 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 goals.

Lessons are open to any adult, any style, any level, whether you are focusing on speaking skills, sing musical theater, church music, classic rock, barbershop harmony or jazz, or you've never taken a lesson before. Weekday daytime lessons run Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, with packages of 5, 10 and 20 lessons also available.

The first step is a free discovery call. DM me here or complete the simple contact form on my website.

Also, just around the corner, is something special and extra: Master Your Voice Saturday, September 12, from 8 in the morning to 9 at night. Sessions run 20, 40, or 60 minutes for individuals, or an hour or two for a group or quartet of up to four. Booking closes at the end of the day on September 11.

𝗔 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 to MASTER YOUR VOICE at Ted's Voice Academy:

📖 The framework behind my teaching can be found in my book: 𝘈𝘝𝘍: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘝𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬, on Amazon.

📋 Get your PASS Profile, a communication assessment that measures 40 traits across six domains of how you naturally communicate. There is nothing else like it anywhere!

💻 NEW!! Work through the self-paced courses on your own schedule.

📬 Subscribe to Master Your Voice Monthly, the free newsletter, for practice routines and technique notes on the first of every month. Instant access to all previous issues.

Lacey, WA. Call or text me at 253-414-2267.

Tell me in the comments about any vocal issues you'd like help with, or where you're hoping to grow. I read every comment.

Voice coaching for singers and speakers. Grounded in the Adaptive Voice Framework (AVF) by author Ted Chamberlain. Creator of the PASS Profile.

08/14/2026

Saturday, September 12 is a full day of one-on-one voice coaching at my studio here in Lacey.

I teach weekdays year-round, which works well if your schedule has some give in it. This one Saturday is for everyone whose week is already spoken for. I'll be teaching from 8am to 9pm, so there's a time in there that fits almost any Saturday.

You can book twenty minutes, forty, or a full hour. A small group of up to four can book an hour or two together.

Bring whatever you'd like to work on. A song you're learning. A note you'd like to reach more easily. A presentation you want to feel good delivering. Or just curiosity about what a voice lesson is actually like. Twenty minutes is enough to come away with something useful, and plenty of people start exactly there.
Singers and speakers. Every level of experience, every style.

08/03/2026

07/27/2026

When you take a voice lesson here, the summary is sent to your inbox shortly after, including what we covered in the lesson, exercises, take-aways, and what to be working on.

Having the roadmap to help guide the development between lessons is a real game changer, helping to speed progress.

𝗔 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵:

🎵 Teaching voice since 1988. Performing since I was eight years old, which is 53 years now and counting.

🎵 National Board Certified since 2005, with degrees in Vocal Performance and Music Education from Seattle Pacific University.

🎵 Recognized among Washington's top vocal instructors by BusinessRate, two years running.

🎵 Author of 𝘈𝘝𝘍: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘝𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬, a vocal pedagogy text.

🎵 Still performing. Solos, Fourteen international a ca****la quartet appearances, most recently a sixth-place international senior finish this pastJanuary.

🎵 Weekday daytime lessons, 9 to 5, Monday through Friday.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹. We talk about where your voice is right now, where you want it to go, and whether I am the right coach to get you there. You will come away knowing more about your own voice either way.

Lacey, WA. Call or text me at 253-414-2267.

If you sing, I would like to know what your practice week actually looks like right now. I read every reply.

07/20/2026

There's a spot near the top of your comfortable range where your voice wants to shift gears. That spot is a doorway. 🎶

When I work with a singer on that transition, we start small:
🌬️ Soften just a touch as you go up.
🌊 Keep the air moving in a steady, easy current.
🎵 Hum through the shift first, so the lighter coordination settles in before the full vowel arrives.

Over a few weeks of this, something wonderful happens: your lower voice and upper voice weave into one connected line, and the notes above the shift become part of your everyday range.

In your first lesson, we listen to where your voice is right now and build a plan around your goals. I'd love to hear you sing. 😊

📍 tedsvoiceacademy.com
📞 253-414-2267

07/17/2026

𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟮.

I'd love to see you there. I'll be coaching one voice at a time at my Lacey studio all day, with sessions from early morning through evening.

📅 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗵: anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours, whatever fits your goal.
👥 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗼 𝗼𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 of up to four (your quartet, a few friends, or your team) and work together for one flat rate.
🎶 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸, 𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱: book online and watch the live schedule as you go.
Slots fill in the order people book, so booking early gives you the best choice of time.

👉 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘁: https://tedsvoiceacademy.com/book/

What would you most love to work on? Tell me in the comments.