 KATIE GUTHORN
Co-Owner / Level
5 Instructor
c: 415.305.8641
www.katieg.org
I've been singing since I was a child. My mother was assistant choirmaster at our church in Asbury Park, NJ, and all eight of her children (I’m the oldest) sang in choir. I started around the age of 7 or so, and continued in singing groups in school, pop music and musical theatre. I started private voice lessons (classical) and music studies while attending Vassar College ,and did a brief tour of Great Britain and Belgium with the Madrigal Singers. After graduation I came to California to work. I’ve lived in and around San Francisco since 1978, singing in bands and musical theatre shows, studying voice, piano, and music theory privately and at San Francisco State. I discovered Speech Level Singing after reading Seth Riggs’ book, Singing For the Stars, in 1988, and started teaching right around that time.”
KATIE GUTHORN has been teaching singing since 1988. Besides maintaining her own studio, she’s taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (Adult Extension), 2005-2008; Seth Riggs' SLS Summer Camp, 2003-2004; University of San Francisco Dept. of Performing Arts, 2002-2003; and Blue Bear School of American Music, 1988-2000.
Katie was a lead singer for 25 years in Big Bang Beat (formerly Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra.) As a background vocalist, she has performed with Ronnie Spector, Bonnie Raitt, Eddie Money, Martha Reeves, The Doobie Brothers, and others.
In the late 1980s, Katie sang and co-wrote a number of songs that topped the Billboard Dance Chart for Megatone Records group Modern Rocketry.
From 1992 to 2002, she starred in "A Karen Carpenter Christmas", in San Francisco and Seattle. For this role, she was nominated as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical by the Bay Area Theatre Critics. Katie also originated the role of Bella in “The Coverlettes Cover Christmas”, at the Aurora Theatre and Freight and Salvage in Berkeley 2008-2010.
Katie currently sings in the Soul Delights and the Randy Craig Trip, and performs with her husband, guitarist Terry Haggerty.
Specialties: Popular music styles (R&B, Rock, Dance, Broadway, Jazz Standards, Blues, Country), coaching groups, vocal arrangements. I've studied Latin and French, and am pretty good at teaching classical repertoire.
======Katie is available for lessons Monday through Thursday, 11-8.====== |
Katie meets the student where s/he is, while also showing him/her the steps to achieve the best possible technique. The result is a focused teaching style that avoids condescension, respectful of the starting place and encouraging progress
Kate Isenberg, Singer/Songwriter
"Katie is an excellent voice
teacher. She has great technical training and can easily apply what she knows to my
development. She has been very supportive and is fun to work with.
She has also been very accommodating and made it easy to
schedule around my hectic schedule."
Jack Calhoun, singer, Classical, Jazz and
Pop
"Katie
is helping me to understand what it means to
keep my vocal
chords together and not to damage my voice
when I sing with my band."
Layla
Allman,14 year old lead singer, Lane Four
I
just wanted to take time to thank you for
the excellent voice instruction you’ve
given and continue to give to my daughter,
Lauren. I was impressed from the
very first lesson. You are a gifted
professional who is able to address the
needs and talents of your individual
students. Your warm and caring
nature is also very much
appreciated.
What I like most is
that Lauren is learning to sing in a
healthy and technically correct way and
that she's had several opportunities to
practice what she's learning through
Voice Studio performances. I
couldn't be happier with her
progress. Thank You!
Mary
Beth Bradford, mother of Lauren Bradford,
16, singer/drummer
|
I
have been taking SLS lessons with Katie
Guthorn for over 3 years and have
benefited tremendously. Katie is a
well trained, kind, creative teacher with
an excellent ear. Since our lessons
must be over the phone, these attributes
become even more imperative.
Each
lesson imparts valuable information to
body, mind and spirit. Less than
optimal vocal production tendencies are
exposed and trained with “antidotes”-
vocalizing which isolates those tendencies
in order to eliminate bad habits and
replace them with excellent ones.
I am learning how to sing with a
more relaxed larynx, to narrow vowels and
to calm down my ingrained habit to
over-blow. Just these things alone
are creating great change, but there are
many other wonderful shifts in my ability
and understanding of voice. The best
part, however, is the exhilarating
experience of effortless vocalizing when
vowels are kept narrow with correct
balance of cord closure and air pressure!
We
all know that joyful, effortless singing
is possible and we love the accompanying
resonance; yet the ability to do so
usually requires help. A great teacher is
one who can hear and feel the obstacles to
easy production and intelligently work
that terrain until those obstacles are
gone. Finding such a teacher and
method is, in itself, not an easy task.
Katie
rises to the occasion at each new plateau
or discovery. If you love to sing,
then these lessons will transform your
life!
Lyn
Dean, Singer/Teacher
Iwould
like to recommend Katie Guthorn as a
teaching instructor. She is always
very professional and yet has a great way
with children as well as adults. She
is able to target in on problem areas and
help her students achieve their
goals.
Katie has been most helpful with my eleven
year old son and has helped him expand his
vocal range more than an octave. My
son said that "Katie's very nice
and her technique is really helpful !"
One of the most important attributes
that Katie has is that she is a
skillful vocal coach. She is able to build
confidence as well as help develop useful
vocal skills.
I would definitely recommend Katie Guthorn for adults as well as children.
Sincerely,
Megan Alexander, mother of Caleb Alexander, 11, Singer/Dancer/Actor
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