Elevate your keyboard skills

Piano for Singers and Voice Teachers

With singer/pianist/violinist Yunona Tabala

Session Option 2

WHEN: Sunday June 23, 30; July 7, 14, 21, 28 (11am-12:30pm)

WHERE: On Zoom*

COST: $249 (about $28/hour)

REGISTRATION: Click here to sign up

*Classes will be recorded for those unable to attend live

About the Workshop

This virtual, live workshop is designed for (but not limited to!) singers who use piano to teach and also want to be able to sing and accompany themselves on piano with more ease. The course covers fundamentals of proper piano technique and creates a basis for developing finger dexterity and hands-voice-sight coordination.

The course elaborates on chord reading, covers a variety of common chord progressions which could be used in accompanying warm-ups, improv and sight-reading. For the interested participants, there will also be offered strategies for teaching beginning piano students. 

In addition to coursework, each participant is encouraged to select a Keystone Project which they are working on for the entire duration of the course with the guidance of the instructor (learning a full self-accompanied song, developing a series of accompanied warm-ups, making recordings for piano proficiency exams, writing a song, etc). All materials will be provided; you just need a piano.

About Yunona

Yunona Tabala is a classical soprano, instrumentalist and educator based in Boston, MA. Prior to acquiring her Masters in Vocal Performance, she received her BA in Violin Performance with a minor in Piano Performance, and has been teaching voice and piano for nearly a decade, with her specialty being teaching self-accompanied singing. She hopes that this course will be of a help to singers and music lovers who seek to decrease anxiety around piano and find more joy in using this tool in their singing and teaching crafts. 

  • "Dana has the perspective, intelligence, and boldness to be a real game-changer. She can help empower you to change your game—the way you sing and plan your own path—but she can also empower the entire singing community to view the art and business of singing in a positive, productive way moving forward…She could change the entire system."

    —W. STEPHEN SMITH
    Author, The Naked Voice
    Voice Faculty, Northwestern University

  • "Multiple students approached me to express that Dana’s lecture imparted some of the most valuable information they have received during their time at NEC. Perhaps most impressive was the quantity and clarity of information that Dana managed to impart in just an hour. Students left the lecture feeling enlightened and empowered with clear steps they could take to build their careers."

    —EMILY SIAR
    Vocal Pedagogy Guest Speaker Series, New England Conservatory

  • "Dana offered a wealth of practical advice for singers, other musicians, and students of theater and fine arts, encouraging them to create their own opportunities and discover unique personal ways to pursue a fulfilling and financially viable career. Her presentation was both pragmatic and motivational for students grappling with the practicalities of life beyond college."

    —VALERIE MACPHAIL
    Assistant Director of the PSOM
    Associate Professor of Voice, Converse College

More about Dana

Founder and CEO of The Empowered Musician, Dr. Dana Lynne Varga brings extensive experience as a successful entrepreneur, artistic director, performer, voice teacher, lecturer and writer to her life's work of empowering classical musicians. A graduate of two intensive coach training courses through Graydin Coaching, Dana draws on her breadth of experience and deep industry knowledge to help musicians find and embrace their own authentic career path.

In addition to maintaining a full private voice studio for over 15 years, Dana served for seven years on the voice and opera faculty at the BU Tanglewood Institute, two years on the full-time voice faculty at UMass Amherst, and two years on the voice faculty at the New England Conservatory Prep school. Dr. Varga currently serves on the voice faculty at the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She is also Founder and Co-Artistic Director of MassOpera.

Dana regularly performs a wide variety of repertoire on the opera and concert stages. Recently she made her Carnegie Hall debut as the soprano soloist in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with Mid-America Productions. Dana’s 2019 appearance as Pallas Athene in Gluck’s rarely heard Paride ed Elena with Odyssey Opera garnered critical acclaim. Other notable engagements include Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with The Cantata Singers, Beethoven’s 9th with the Wellesley Symphony and Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with Coro Allegro. Favorite roles performed include Musetta/La bohème, Fiordiligi/Così fan tutte, Anna Maurrant/Street Scene, Rosalinda/Die Fledermaus, Micaëla/Carmen, Hanna Glawari/The Merry Widow, and the title role in Alcina.

Dana won the Second Place American Prize for Art Song and Oratorio in 2019 and was the First Place Winner of the professional division of the national Classical Singer Competition in 2016. She holds the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree in Vocal Performance from Boston University, the MM in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory, and a BM in Vocal Performance from UMass Amherst.

Pedagogical Approach & Training

In the studio, Dana focuses on tailoring instruction for each individual, freeing the voice using a combination of vocal function exercises, overall technique work and body tension release. She has been greatly influenced by the works of major pedagogues of the bel canto school, including Garcia, Vaccai and Marchesi, as well as the philosophies of W. Stephen Smith, author of The Naked Voice.

Dana’s experience as a voice teacher ranges from young kids to regularly-working professional adult opera singers, and everything in between.

She has enjoyed extensive additional pedagogy training through participation in the following programs: Acoustic Vocal Pedagogy, The Naked Voice Institute (parts 1 and 2) and the Aspen Music Center Vocal Pedagogy Summit.