LFP Music Teacher Classically Trained, but Welcomes Rock and Pop Singers

To become a master of an art form requires much more then time and dedication.  Mastery requires education, knowledge and passion that can take years to acquire.  In many ways, to master an art one has to live and breathe it daily.   

Valerie White Williams has made a twenty-year long career of singing, performing and teaching.    

“Music is my passion, my life. It’s who I am,” she says.  

During this time she has mastered classical opera and vocal jazz. Those genres have become second nature to her. She no longer thinks about what she is doing when performing and focuses her energy on engaging the audience emotionally.

In her long and full career she’s also done work with pop, R&B and some work with rock.  Now she devotes a lot of her time to teaching these different genres at her new home studio in Lake Forest Park. She moved here from Kitsap County and opened her studios in 2009. She wanted to be closer to an urban area where there were greater opportunities for singers and performers.  

Ten years ago she created the site Vocal Splendor that has now evolved into a tool providing information about her teaching method and guiding new students to her.

Her uniqueness as a teacher comes from her belief that one genre does not deserve more attention then another.

There is a school of thought that classically trained teachers cannot teach rock or contemporary music. Williams disagrees and labels that an old fashioned idea that stems from an intellectual elitism often found at a university.

She was lucky enough to attend Central Washington University as an undergraduate, from 1981-1986, where she sang with a strong vocal jazz choir and worked with pioneering jazz educator, John Moaward. While strengthening her jazz skills she also dedicated a lot of time to her classical technique. “That put me on a path that lead me to understand that one can learn different styles,” she says.

All students of music don’t necessarily agree with this cutting edge idea. A lot of rock and contemporary singers feel that vocal lessons from a classically trained teacher will ruin their rawness. 

Williams disagrees with this idea and instead argues “classically trained singers can really help a contemporary or rock singer by teaching techniques of relaxation and letting go of constriction.”  If artists aren’t taught how to relax while performing they can really hurt their vocal cords.  Plus their performance will suffer.  Williams has seen good singers tense up while performing and not sing to their potential. 

With training, singers of all genres can learn to let go of their nervousness. Training will help a student gain consistent habits that will allow their bodies to relax and become more comfortable with their own skill.   

Williams compares voice training to an athletic event. “Voice is about coordination.  You have to create a new set of muscles and skills and then maintain those muscles.”

If that training isn’t kept up those muscles will deteriorate or be lost. The same can be said for any sport. Without proper conditioning the body isn’t prepared to perform.

With the correct training students not only learn how to relax their bodies and use their vocal muscles to their best ability, they also learn how to connect with an audience. 

“As a vocalist one wants to really communicate to an audience without having to think about technique,” Williams says. 

Williams helps students communicate their passion in a voice that is very raw and real.  Unlike sports, the lyrical element allows singers an amazing opportunity to connect with others on a very personal level. Without proper training this ability is compromised or completely missed. 

Like performing, teaching can be very personal. Williams enthusiasm for teaching grows as she watches her own students achieve and go on to communicate their own ‘vocal splendor’.