Utilizing the Bel Canto technique, students learn to sing with less strain to their vocal folds and develop healthy singing habits. The benefits are enormous.
As students progress, they gain confidence and develop artistic refinement for a lifetime of singing pleasure and performance skills. Children who begin with the Bel Canto method, rather than singing pop style, particularly benefit and avoid permanently damaging their young, growing voices, and they will experience simply great singing!
Bel Canto is a time-honored vocal training system which when developed allows the greatest ease in executing long, languid phrases, agility, and expansive vocal range.
Increase vocal flexibility and range, improve vocal register shifts, gain resonance and tonal warmth, and attain pitch accuracy and breath management.
The focus of the voice lessons will be on learning techniques appropriate for each student's individuals needs. Building on the Bel Canto foundation, the student can develop a unique path of expression with the following five learning modules:
Maureen has years of experience preparing students for local performances and competitions. She offers lyric diction lessons in Italian, Latin, German, French and Spanish as well as proper stylistic interpretations.
College Applications
In addition to assisting students select pieces for college auditions and applications, Maureen helps students create audio recordings at her studio.
Building a Repertoire
Maureen's breadth of knowledge in a wide range of singing styles and material, from opera to musical theatre – combined with a large lending library available to students – means the choices are great.
Lesson Contract
Weekly and hourly private lessons begin with a warm-up and technique session. The student is then guided through performance repertoire, designed for his or her individual growth.
Students are offered the opportunity to participate in the annual student recital and other exciting performance opportunities, such as occasional Master Classes.
The Lesson Contract consists of a full month of weekly lessons. The fee for these hour-long lessons is $75.
Maureen Chowning's classical repertoire includes choral and oratorio solos and opera. She has performed several coloratura operatic roles such as the Queen of the Night from Mozart's The Magic Flute. Mrs. Chowning has maintained a busy private studio for voice pedagogy for thirty years and is very active giving master classes around the world. She Also takes pride in nursing and restoring ailing voices back to health.
"Maureen Chowning is a fantastic performing artist and consummate teacher, and a lovely person to boot!
Her instruction in vocal technique is rigorous and informed by her understanding of vocal health and physiology. She takes pride in nursing ailing voices back to health. Maureen teaches a broad repertoire, ranging from early music to opera, art songs from various European countries, and Music Theatre."
She will ask that you practice daily and do your homework; in return, she will prepare you well for performances, including the annual recital that she organizes for her students. The stage fright that beginning students might experience on these occasions is amply compensated by her comedic virtuoso appearances as Mme Tra-Lá-La-La!"
Robert Busch, Ph.D.
Cambridge University, UK
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"Maureen has taught my son from elementary school through middle school and now into high school.
She is patient, caring and always supportive. In addition to working with him on developing proper vocal singing technique and guiding him through vocal changes, Maureen has helped him with his musical theater and
acapella interests.
Her teaching is a gift that will last a lifetime.
Elizabeth C., parent
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"Mrs. Chowning is an excellent voice teacher with a solid foundation in vocal technique. She taught me how to produce a healthy sound without hurting my voice.
Under her two years of tutelage, I developed a healthy habit of practice and a wider vocal range. I also explored more brightness and warmness in my voice. With her numerous experiences of opera performance, she also focuses a lot on musical expressions and the story behind every piece of music.
Besides her high-quality teaching, she is also a very caring an friendly lady that makes you truly enjoy working with her. I love her both as a teacher and as a friend."
Sarah Jin
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"Dear Maureen,
My son, Phil, was very, very happy when he returned from your home on Saturday. He told me since he came to the United States 2 years ago, it was his happiest day and he wanted to hug you. He felt you gave him so much help and showed him a path to pursue his dreams.
You brought him great confidence and the courage to realize his dreams. I could see his excitement and he is prepared to pay you back by really working hard for his lessons. I really want to thank you for your generosity!"
… Phil is now in college pursuing a career in composition.
Best wishes,
Jinping
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Your "Voices", simply magical, with a superb soprano performance! I am so glad that I could be there, and am so pleased that my students all reacted so incredibly positive to the lecture and concert."
Malcolm Singer is a Composer, Conductor and Director of Music at the Yehudi Menuhin School, and a professor of composition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London.
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Concert with the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra with Ken Nagano, Dir.
We had mainly come to hear your piece "Voices".We loved it! From the moment it started, we were captured by the beautiful and dramatic dance of voice and synthesized tones, which were particularly beautiful, complex and warm. And Maureen, it was a pleasure to finally hear your instrument! You make it seem effortless, jumping difficult intervals to land perfectly on each new note, and with such dynamic sensitivity and lovely phrasing. Unlike many electronic pieces, we were particularly pleased at how well the voice and synthesis danced together as a well-integrated whole. In short, I loved it!
Roger Linn (a well known electronic instrument inventor and previously toured and co-wrote songs with Eric Clapton)
Utilizing the Bel Canto technique, students learn to sing with less strain to their vocal
folds and develop healthy singing habits. The benefits are enormous.
As students progress, they gain confidence and develop artistic refinement for a lifetime of singing pleasure and performance skills. Children who begin with the Bel Canto
method, rather than singing pop style, particularly benefit and avoid permanently damaging their young, growing voices, and they will experience simply great singing!
[more] As far as is known, the art and science of vocal pedagogy began in the Catholic Churches of Spain in the 14th century, spread to Italy, and evolved by the early 17th century into a style of singing known as “Bel Canto”.
It is not commonly known that Bel Canto, “beautiful singing”, is a very specific vocal technique. Schools were dedicated to developing the Bel Canto technique carried out by master vocal teachers, while many of whom often maintained successful composing and singing careers.
These early teachers were as interested in the study of voice production, the vocal apparatus and its natural physical behavior as they were in music and artful singing. They wrote their findings in treatises, which found their way to the libraries throughout Europe.
With the use of computers and other advanced research tools, researchers are discovering that a surprisingly large amount of the Bel Canto theory is supported by contemporary science.
I believe in the importance of such ongoing research to vocal teaching, as it informs and guides the development and application of Bel Canto technique today and its ultimate benefit for all my students. The ultimate goal is to learn simply great singing!
Maureen's classical repertoire includes choral and oratorio solos and opera. She has performed several coloratura operatic roles such as the Queen of the Night from Mozart's The Magic Flute. Mrs. Chowning has maintained a busy private studio for voice pedagogy for thirty years and is very active giving master classes around the world. She Also takes pride in nursing and restoring ailing voices back to health.
[more] She has performed and premiered works at the International Electronic Music Festival at Bourges, France, where in 1990 she gave the world premiere of Solemn Songs for Evening by Richard Boulanger. In 1997, she gave the premiere of Sea Songs by Dexter Morrill, and she premiered Joanne Carey's Three Spanish Songs. In March 2005, she gave the world premiere of "Voices", composed for her by John Chowning for computer generated sound and solo soprano at the Maison de Radio in Paris and in March 2006, the US premiere, as part of a Berkeley Symphony Concert series. She has also performed "Oscura" by Jean-Claude Risset at Buenos Aires, Quito, Rome, Paris, and CCRMA, Stanford University.
She is noted for her special ability to sing comfortably in alternative tunings, such as the Pierce scale and in John Chowning's "Voices". Among other composers that she has worked with are Kirke Mechem, Qui Dong, Servio Marin, and Atau Tanaka.
Her classical repertoire includes choral and oratorio solos and opera. She has performed several coloratura operatic roles such as the Queen of the Night from Mozart's The Magic Flute. Mrs. Chowning has maintained a busy private studio for voice pedagogy for thirty years as is very active giving master classes around the world.
