Information About Margaret - Maidenhead teacher -

(2 reviews)

Personal Description:

I am a successful international singer and actress, with considerable experience as a performer at a high level. I trained initially as an opera singer, at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) and at the National Opera Studio in London, winning the John Scott and Peter Stuyvessant Foundations Awards. I have played numerous leading and varied roles within major opera companies both in the UK and abroad, in a huge variety of operas, operettas and musicals, working with conductors and directors of international renown. have played numerous leading roles within musical theatre, including Carlotta in Andrew Lloyd-Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera" (both at Her Majesty's Theatre in London, and as the singing voice of Minnie Driver as Carlotta, in the Joel Schumacker film, as well as playing another role in the movie), and The Mother Abbess in Andrew Lloyd-Webber's production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music", at the London Palladium and the UK National Tour, together with further productions in various parts of the world. I am also a solo concert and cabaret artist, and produced an album called "Isn't It Romantic?" featuring seventeen glorious songs by Richard Rodgers with original arrangements. As a straight actor I have worked for various notable companies both here and abroad performing a number of leading roles. I have also done three seasons with Pitlochry Festival Theatre, playing leading roles in a whole range of diverse plays and musicals. I have just returned from a contract in Frankfurt playing Mother Superior in a new production of the wonderful musical, "Sister Act"

Tutoring Experience:

Alongside my performing, I am a vocal coach, working independently with private students and adults from my home, and have worked in a peripatetic capacity at music departments or schools and colleges, in various parts of the UK (for the Solihull Music Service, Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester and Edge Hill Universities example - and coached both music and drama to graduate and post graduate students on a regular basis at Hull University. in addition I give master classes in performance and technique by invitation at colleges such as the famous Laine Theatre Arts.

Tutoring Approach:

I greatly enjoy passing on my acquired vocal skills, knowledge and huge experience to students, especially, but not exclusively, to those interested in taking up music professionally. Singing can be a pleasurable, life-enhancing, confidence-building sociable experience for everyone and it is a joy to facilitate that. I teach with a boundless enthusiasm and passion. It is essential, regardless of what type of music is to be worked on, that a solid technique is established, especially with young voices, since poor or insufficient understanding of how the voice works, can lead to vocal problems or even damage. A singer has to know how the sound is going to be produced even before they open their mouth: the mental preparation, the breathing, the support and control of that sound, the vowel placement, the tone, use of the lips and tongue and so on, are all important. Primarily, I want students to use the voices they have been given to their best advantage, to enjoy the pleasure of singing and expressing themselves. It is so rewarding watching an individual blossom and improve at whatever age, and see their self-confidence grow as well as their abilities.