Let Me Google That for You

Looking for a vocal coach in New York City? Let me Google that for you.

(The handy passive-aggressive link above comes to us via Amanda Ameer via Ronen Givoney.)

This week on Let Me Google That for You (LMGTfY), we are searching for vocal coaches. Those mysterious and often hard to find characters who aren't so much focused on training a person's voice to sound Classical or Jazz or Broadway, as they are focused on finding the healthiest natural expression of a person's voice and style. (I need this.)

Here are the front-runners from my search.

Wendy Parr
www.wendyparr.com
Hmm, I do like Nancy Sinatra and Regina Spektor. This teacher doesn't oppose glottal stops, so that's fun.

Mark Baxter
www.voicelesson.com
Definitely has the most tricked out website; this man is running a real business. Clients range from Steve Tyler to Aimee Mann, to cast members of RENT.

Don Lawrence
Apparently a veteran who has done loads of work in gospel and R&B. Also a producer, writer, arranger? However, it would appear his contact information is only transferred by secret code whispered at after-parties.

Melissa Cross
www.melissacross.com
Wrote The Zen of Screaming, extremes of the human voice. Um no.

Deb Silver
www.debsilver.com
All I know from visiting her website is that it was designed in 1994 and that she's a jazz singer/pianist from London. That does not tell me anything about her coaching style or clientele.

Greg Drew
Another one who's contact information seems only available to those who've shaken the hand of someone who's shaken the hand of someone who knows him. There was a nice article about him in The New York Times in 1996, and his (former?) clients include Lenny Kravitz and Avril Lavigne.

Bob Marks
www.bobmarks.com
He looks nice, and has tons of Broadway credit. But will he coach me to sound too technicolor? I don't want to be all bright vowels and glitzy vibrato. Unsure.

Katie Agresta
www.katieagresta.com
So, PM Dawn, Annie Lennox, Queen Latifah, Jethro Tull, and Dave Matthews walk up to 88th St...

This is terrifying. I think more than all of this I need a therapist. Meaning, I need a vocal coach who is also willing to be a therapist. Perhaps they are the same thing.