The following is an extended version of the article that appears in our May 2023 issue.
(From left) Vocal student Niki West with Claudia Carawan (Photo by Jay Paul)
Music bonds us together as human beings,” says Claudia Carawan, and she should know. A professional singer, songwriter and performer, Carawan regularly shares her musical talents with both public and private performances. About a decade ago, she began to offer private singing lessons as well.
“Music moves people from their heads to their hearts,” Carawan observes. “Every time there’s a large gathering of people, there’s usually music — whether in bars, churches or school assemblies. The best thing is to get to a place where you can finally sing in front of others, whether you’re singing Neil Diamond or the national anthem.”
Claudia Carawan (Photo by Maguire Neblett)
Carawan’s pupils range from children whose parents want to encourage a special gift to retirees able to pursue a long-held love to those in between just hoping to make some joyful noise.
“I think a lot of people have that music gene and find a moment when they think music could be [a career], but then they’re dissuaded by parents, who are all about them pursuing something ‘practical,’” Carawan says. “For me, I started singing when I was a teenager. I discovered a guitar in our basement. Once I picked that thing up and started fooling around, I was hooked.”
In sessions, Carawan works with students on whatever they might be struggling with, whether reaching a pitch that’s just out of range, strengthening a wobbly note or developing confidence to sing in front of others. Recently, Carawan accompanied a student, an accountant by day, on a shopping trip to purchase a microphone and speaker for their weekend gigs. With every student, Carawan says, she strives to make the learning fun.
“So many people have a story from their childhood where somebody said singing wasn’t their thing or they were singing too loud,” she says. “I remember in music school, teachers [were] screaming and yelling at us. I know you can’t learn when you’re being belittled, and you won’t learn from a person who isn’t nice. [My students] are paying me to correct [their singing] and make the fastest improvement. Each person is different, so what I try to give is some practical guidance on how to use their voice.”
Ted Bunn and Ashley Silverburg came to Carawan after they began taking virtual singing lessons during the pandemic with an instructor based in California. The couple enjoyed their duets but wanted to find someone local.
“Ted had been playing his guitar for a while [when the pandemic began], and sometimes I would sing with him,” Silverburg says. “When it’s only two of you [singing], it’s really hard to sing harmony, because you don’t have other people around you.”
Both Silverburg, a software developer, and Bunn, a physics professor at the University of Richmond, were musically in tune when they were younger. Silverburg, an alto, sang in choirs as a child at church and in school, and as a young adult participated in a community choir in San Francisco. Bunn, a baritone, grew up in a family that often sang together.
During a recent session with Carawan, Bunn and Silverburg began with warmup exercises, rolling their shoulders and breathing deeply. After a series of vocal stretches — moving up and down a scale using a variety of vowel sounds — the couple sang “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better” by The Byrds, demonstrating their own harmonic interpretations and an echo sung by Silverburg.
Carawan accompanied the duo on her electric keyboard, adding a soft drumbeat. After a couple of run-throughs, Carawan drew the couple’s attention to the final note in the refrain, where their voices weren’t quite aligned. Through a process of playing the keyboard and demonstrating the pitches needed, Carawan helped Bunn and Silverburg to fix the note and find a comfortable rhythm with the song, which they then recorded for practice.
Working with another student, Hawa Johnson, via Zoom, Carawan listens as Johnson sings “So This Is Love” from Walt Disney’s “Cinderella.”
“You’ve made a good start with that,” Carawan says. “Try humming that first line, then sing with the words. You can hear the difference. Humming brings out that vibrant ring we always want.”
Later, Carawan guides Johnson, an administrative coordinator, toward reaching a higher note by instructing her to relax and drop her jaw. “Our natural inclination is to get tighter [to reach upper notes], but you want to open up,” Carawan says.
Johnson wanted to take private singing lessons for years but kept putting them off. “It took a long time to prioritize [this],” she says. “Sometimes, we wait for the perfect time to do things, but there’s never a perfect time, so just do it.”
Johnson had a few classes with Carawan before the pandemic ended the meetings. She continued via Zoom, then stepped back for much of 2022 due to a busy schedule. She’s made a return, she says, because she wants to keep moving toward her goal of performing in front of an audience. Plus, she says, singing helps with muscle tension dysphonia that is triggered by anxiety.
“Voice lessons help me relax those muscles; they help me sing better and talk better,” Johnson says. “Plus, singing puts me in a good mood. We should all feel good about something we can do. And this is something I can offer that makes someone else feel good.”
Feeling good is absolutely the point, Carawan says. “I always remember how vulnerable people feel when they go to a professional. If there’s a voice that has different issues going on, you can’t fix everything at once. With each session, I try to find the one thing that I can offer now to improve the sound I’m hearing.”
The cost of lessons varies, Carawan says: $30-$100 per session, depending on the instructor and the guidance needed. And there’s always more to learn. “I still work with a teacher,” Carawan notes.
“You don’t have to be naturally gifted or sound like Ariana Grande,” Johnson says. “You’d be surprised at the potential you have. You bring your own thing to the table. You want a boost to your self-esteem, go for it.”
