BETH PHILEMON
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Private Voice and Piano Lesssons

I enjoy giving private lessons outside of conducting and classroom teaching. I've worked with a variety of students from ages 5-50 and teach a combination of piano, voice, or both. I truly seek engage the student in what interests them most in music. Each lesson looks different depending on the needs and desires of the student and each week looks different for the student depending on how their feeling. 

The following are techniques I utilize in most lessons: 
Straw Phonation
Moveable, La-Based Do Solfege
Takadimi
Recordings... and more!
​


Your voice is enough and I want you to know that from the very start.

You are enough.
You are so enough.
​Your voice is enough. 


As a life-long singer and choral conductor I have struggled with this. Singing can simultaneously make me scared and empowered. What I love about choral singing is it allows me to be part of something greater than myself.

When I tell people what I do I'm often met with the response:​

​
"I can't sing." 
​

I struggle with how to respond because:
 

anyone can sing. 

Sometimes I smile, share that I disagree, and leave it at that. Singing is a skill and in order to get better you have to practice in order to grow. I'm not here to convince you to sing, I'm here to remind you that you can.  Therefore, I often share with people who tell me they can't sing that 
​
not being able to sing is a lie.

The most common rebuttal is,
​"well I'm not a good singer!"
to which I ask, "what is 
good singing?"

I'm tired of arguing with people about whether they can sing or not. I
f you ask anyone what good singing is, everyone has a different answer. So stop using hiding under this second excuse. It's your choice if you want to sing. I hope you do. Singing changes lives. I know communal singing is one of the most unique things a person can do to connect with their self and the world around them.
​
But I'm not going to force you to sing.


​Instead, I'm going to teach you the skills to grow as a singing musician.

If you want to learn more about singing alone or with a choir - I'm your person.
If you want to figure out musical notation - I'm your person.
If you want to gain confidence in your voice - I'm still your person. 

Here's what I'll promise you: it won't be quick.
It won't be always be easy.
It takes work. It can be worth it.
You can do it.
​And why do I know you can do it?
Because you are enough and so is your voice. ​​

 

​
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Unbelievably proud of my voice and piano student Elise for her performance of Lost Boy at the Douglas Elementary Variety Show tonight!!!

A post shared by Beth Philemon (@baphilemon) on Apr 24, 2017 at 6:14pm PDT

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So fun! Proud to have been a part of this. #jonah

A post shared by Beth Philemon (@baphilemon) on Mar 14, 2014 at 7:50am PDT

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Meet one of my private lessons students in Middle School who has been working on believing in herself and putting herself out there just as much as she is working on playing the piano and singing. □□□❤️□ This summer I started recording my lessons and it has revolutionized how I teach and I truly believe the catapulted crazy student growth. Playing these videos back during lessons allows students and me to hear/ see not just what they can improve on but how GREAT they are actually doing!!! Several weeks ago she would hardly sing out loud enough for me to hear her and she only sing if I sang with her. Today she’s not only singing out so □□ much □□ more but she’s holding her own part against my harmonizing! How cool is that?!When I asked her (and mom) if I could share this clip she didn’t want to at first because it wasn’t “perfect” which led to another great discussion about what “perfect” really means. Progress > Perfection and y’all, this is AMAZING PROGRESS!! I’m going to be a diva teacher and see if you’ll show her a little ❤️⬇️ and tell her what you think!

A post shared by Beth Philemon (@baphilemon) on Oct 3, 2018 at 2:55am PDT

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“This is weird” - C □ If I’m working with you it won’t be long before I’m having you try something weird. lol This was our first week using the whisper phone and I loved it! Whisper phones for all! We’re using it turned out so I can hear and because it’s way more fun that way. I also can’t wait to try using it this way in choirs. Oh, and don’t mind the air mattress propped up on the corner because I was too lazy to deflate it between house guests. □ #musicteacher #teacher #musiclessons #choir #musicliteracy #kreugerideas

A post shared by Beth Philemon (@baphilemon) on Aug 14, 2018 at 10:29am PDT

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When one of your 9 year old piano students starts to be more advanced than you #thisiswhathappenswhenyoupractice #practicemakesawesome

A post shared by Beth Philemon (@baphilemon) on Apr 21, 2016 at 6:19pm PDT

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