about us
Jenna and Tim met in September, 2010 while they were enrolled in NYU Steinhardt’s dual Masters in Vocal Performance and Vocal Pedagogy programs. they quickly bonded over their love of lip trills, big band music, craft beers, and college a cappella.
Shortly after graduation, both Jenna and Tim found themselves building private studios in NYC while also building their performance resumes. One day, over a bag of Cheezits, Tim asked Jenna if she could support his clients while he took a Disney Cruise contract. As soon as he returned, Jenna asked Tim if he could support her clients while she left for her first AEA contract. And on and on it went. Over the next few years, many of their now shared clients raved about their work with each teacher, finding it creatively inspiring and propelling to hear the same science-backed information in two different, yet complimentary, ways.
At the end of another summer stock season, Jenna and Tim reunited in the Big Apple and taught their first Team Training together. It was a blast. As they packed up, they gushed to each other about how much fun it was to teach together, so they began to brainstorm ways to keep going. They realized that they both had dreams of building a “for artists by artists” voice community that could house more than private lessons. But what would it look like?
They knew they wanted to build something out of the box. They weren’t just teachers, they were performers too. They weren’t just actors, they were a former engineer and a former elementary school teacher. They weren’t looking for quick voice fixes as much as they were looking to invest in client relationships both during and outside of lessons. They shared two foundational beliefs: that collaboration creates the best opportunities for fulfilling success and that there is always more to learn. They wanted to build an evolving home for artists where they could find mentors, coaches, cheerleaders, as well as accountabilibuddies, inspiration, and a community to weather artistry with. This felt new, this felt exciting, this felt…innovative.
So, In August, 2016, Innovative Voice Studio was born.
Our Philosophy
We are holistic when it comes to vocal training.
We believe that a singer should be trained as a whole person rather than just as a voice.
We want you to get out of your head and into your body.
Voice lessons are a judgement free zone- a time for us to play together in the sandbox. The only thing you can do wrong with us is take yourself too seriously. After all, if it’s not fun, why are we doing it?
We develop the craft and artistry of our high energy and unique clients.
Voice lessons aren’t “one size fits all” here. We provide novelty, variation, and innovation (see what we did there?). We guide our clients to find vocal freedom and work-fulfillment by embracing small, habitual changes that sustain creative workflows.
We believe curiosity inspires growth and feeds creativity.
The more you learn about your instrument, the more inquisitive you will be about all of the things your body can do!
We know that knowledge promotes vocal sustainability.
Smart singers are less likely to get into trouble and more likely to rely on technique to sustain their artistry. We teach our singers about vocal health: breath management, body-mapping, vocal anatomy/physiology, acoustics, and strategies to overcome allergies, reflux, and vocal fatigue.
We encourage cross training!
Just like a marathon runner does yoga, our singers work on a variety of styles and genres of music from traditional and contemporary musical theatre, to jazz, classical, folk, and pop/rock.
At IVS, our teachers are also performers.
We bring our first hand industry experiences and the latest trends into the studio to help you LEVEL UP your audition and performance game.
how we work
What does a lesson look like:
Lessons range in length from thirty minutes to sixty minutes. Each lesson begins with a unique vocal warm up and technique work session based on how the client is feeling that day, what the client is interested in exploring, and/or what the coach deems necessary to focus on. Then, we dig deeper in technical proficiency, storytelling, and vocal styling with repertoire.
What our Clients sing:
Clients are welcome to bring their own material (performance pieces, audition books, audition and callback sides and materials, etc.) or come in with an idea of genres to explore and we can provide you repertoire suggestions. From jazz standards to Sondheim, from Rogers & Hammerstein to Katy Perry, from American folk tunes to original music, it’s all welcome in our studio.
where we meet clients:
In person private vocal training is available for clients based in New York City and Los Angeles.
In person masterclasses and group workshops are available in New York City.
Remote voice lessons are available for clients around the globe!
Remote participation in studio masterclasses and group training programs is available from anywhere.
What our clients do:
We predominantly work with professional and pre-professional musical theatre performers, dancers, actors, actor-musicians, singer-songwriters, and budding voice teachers. We also work with professional voice users and public speakers through Innovative Performance.
Clients have appeared on Broadway, off-Broadway, and in National Tours, including Hamilton, Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, 1776, Hadestown, Spamalot, Wicked, Ain't Too Proud, Back to the Future, Diana, Sing Street, SIX, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Grease, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Fiddler on the Roof, The Wizard of Oz, Hello Dolly!, Once, West Side Story, American Idiot, Saturday Night Fever, South Pacific, Motown the Musical, and more.
Our clients have also appeared all over the US in Equity and non-equity regional theatres as well as internationally on tours and cruise ships.
Jenna and Tim’s CREDENTIALS include:
