Voice Lessons

Photo of Colleen Keating outside, with tulips

Now available in Kyoto: Learn the enjoyment of expressing yourself through music by discovering your singing voice. You will work on proper breathing, posture, tone production, and proper techniques. Sing in English and/or Japanese or in any other language, for that matter!

Group or private instruction available.
Remote voice lessons available in the US.

Testimonials

私は日本の合唱団に参加し、過去12年間他のメンバーと一緒に歌っています。私は頭の声と自然な話し声のトーンのギャップを克服する必要性を学び、気づきました。だから私はコリーンからレッスンを受け始めました。彼女は素晴らしい先生で、私はたくさん学びました。

また、正しい発音で歌う必要があることにも気付きました。
私は彼女のレッスンを楽しんでいます。彼女は声を上手に歌う方法を教えるのが得意だと思います。
彼女から学んだ素晴らしい経験に感謝します。

奈良県春子


I joined a Japanese chorus group and have been singing with the other members the past 12 years. I learned and became aware of the need to overcome the tone gap between the head voice and natural, speaking voice. So I started to take lessons from Colleen. She is a wonderful teacher and I learned a lot.

I also realized that I needed to sing with correct pronunciation.
I do enjoy her lessons. I think she is good at teaching how to improve voice and sing well.
I do appreciate the wonderful experience of learning from her.

Haruko, Nara, Japan


I have been taking voice lessons from Colleen for three months. I’m 37 and have been playing music for many years. I had always tried to sing, but never had any formal instruction. I had taken guitar and piano lessons for years. I had also taken a few courses on music theory. So I wasn’t sure where to begin with voice. Colleen made it very easy. She teaches me proper techniques, easy practice exercises, and gives great constructive feedback. In just three months my live and recorded performances are light years ahead of where they were before. Thanks for making me a better singer!

Brian, Fair Lawn, NJ, USA


I am an adult choral singer who wanted to get better.
In a chorus, when the director hears a problem, you don’t know if it is your problem.
You may make a change and get worse.
Individual instruction is the only answer.
Colleen is a very good teacher and communicator.
I never had individual lessons before and she made it easy.
She helped me smooth out my singing and phrasing.
She taught me how to breathe correctly, which was a problem I knew about.
The exercises are very good, I actually widened my range.
She helped me with songs I had to perform.
It was very helpful to go through a piece with her.
If I had a difficult line, she would show me how to do it.
Recording of lessons is essential.

Haig, Fair Lawn, NJ, USA


I have been living in New Jersey five years. I am Japanese. When I was seven years old, I saw “The Sound of Music.” I was so inspired by the musical, I thought I’d like to sing like Julie Andrews and started singing.

Colleen, you’re my voice’s “lucky find.” It has remarkably improved since you have taken charge of it! Thank you, Colleen & I wholeheartedly recommend your generous service.

Mary, Ridgewood, NJ, USA


My musical goal was to become more comfortable singing at a casual or spontaneous event. Voice lessons definitely helped me become more confident to take advantage of opportunities to sing that I would have passed up before. I was afraid to sing solo before an audience. Overcoming stage fright is a work in progress: I am no longer inhibited singing casually in front of others.

I did audition for a local amateur show in order to boost my confidence. Happily, I received positive feedback on my singing.

Typically, I worked on show tunes throughout the years when I took lessons from Colleen.

It was surprising to learn that singing involves the whole body, and depends on posture and relaxing the face muscles. Furthermore, voice lessons showed me that singing is a complex process that can be broken down into many parts, while simultaneously it is a surprisingly simple and natural human activity.

Amy, Fair Lawn, NJ, USA


Ms. Keating was a wonderful teacher in that she could recognize quickly my errors and shortcomings, and patiently didn’t allow me to continue until I corrected myself. Particularly with my New Joisey accent, being heavy on the RRRs. The selection of songs to sing were mainly mine. She kept me in tune by playing piano. I learned some interesting warm-up pieces, and proper breathing technique. I already had nearly 4 years training with other singing teachers, and 2 years experience in a choir, and 8 years reading music playing clarinet as a kid (50 years ago), so she surprised me with the amount of, and nature of the corrections she had for me. I also learned proper phrasing, diction, I worked on rangy vocalises and had help with sight-reading. I recommend her for anyone, of any age to learn, or improve their singing.

George, Haskell, NJ, USA


Hi Colleen,
I am happy to share with you that Willie got accepted to the University of the Arts in Philly. We are so proud of him. He also received the Artist Award which is for students with remarkable talent. This is a big help with the big tuition bill we will have. Willie will be back to his lessons this Wednesday. His musical is over this weekend and I really enjoyed it. I am sure he will tell you about it.

Thank you again for helping to prepare Willie. I think your guidance played a part in the college process and we are very appreciative.

Regards, Barbara

Willie, Wayne, NJ, USA


I went to Colleen Keating for voice lessons when I was preparing for my first on-stage singing role, in the musical “Guys and Dolls,” as an 8th grader. It is safe to say that I was beyond nervous to sing on stage for the first time! I contemplated, many times giving up my singing role, fearing I would embarrass myself on stage. My goal was to gain confidence from the voice lessons. Not only did I become more confident in my singing abilities; I learned how to protect my voice by warming up and singing within my range. My voice lessons with Colleen helped me to be able to get up on stage and sing. She is a patient, supportive, encouraging teacher who is easy to understand.

Lindsey, Park Ridge, NJ, USA


As a result of the voice lessons, I found myself enjoying singing with confidence that I didn’t know I possessed. On a side note, I found that I projected my voice in conversation more as a result of the lessons. I highly recommend Colleen Keating’s voice lessons for those looking to improve their awareness of their voices capability and use.

Brian, North Haledon, NJ, USA


I am a high school student who loves love performing onstage and I have been acting in plays for a while, but I wanted to start doing musicals. I have always loved to sing but got nervous whenever I had to sing in front of people. Ms. Keating’s lessons helped me gain the confidence I needed in order to be able to sing in a performance. Both my vocal range and my confidence improved greatly. We also worked on audition skills, which helped me tremendously in my school musical and choir. I could also tell that Ms. Keating gave thought to the lessons and really cared about helping me. I got a lot of positive reinforcement throughout the course of the lessons. The voice lessons are a great experience, one that I would definitely (and hope to) repeat and I would recommend them to anyone.

Aliza, Fair Lawn, NJ, USA


Took lessons for a little over a year. I had a lot of fun taking lessons. Colleen is an excellent teacher! She helped me learn how to read notes and how and when to breathe throughout the songs. Colleen also helped me hit the low notes and the very high ones. Colleen helped me achieve the next step to becoming a professional singer. Thanks to her, I learned what it takes to be a great singer. I highly recommend her to anyone who is interested in taking vocal lessons to help them improve as a singer.

Madison, age 10, Saddle Brook, NJ, USA


I have several musical goals, but the biggest one is probably just to be the best musician I can possibly be. I am about to start high school now, and I started taking singing lessons about halfway through middle school. I feel that the lessons have helped me tremendously with all sorts of things. Before,I took singing lessons, I had fears of singing in public because I didn’t think that I was capable of staying in tune well and that I would end up sounding bad. Now, after almost two years of singing lessons, I have no problem singing a song on stage because I now have the capability of staying in tune. This was a huge help for me. I am willing to sing any style of music that will either help me vocally as a drill. I also love working on singing something that I enjoy listening or playing on my guitar. One thing that surprised me about my singing lessons was that I was able to increase my range. Overall, taking singing lessons is a great thing and has done nothing but help me as a musician.

Jake, Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA