Testimonials
“I graduated in 2009 with bachelors in voice from Dartington College of Arts in England, having spent my student life studying classical vocal techniques and the last three years in Alexander Technique. Whilst on my degree I was given the opportunity to go on exchange at Cal Arts for eighteen months, and it was here that I studied with Kate.
In the most modest words, Kate Conklin's approach to voice and body is the most insightful and potent I have ever come across in my training. She has absorbed and blended all aspects of her body and voice training into a teaching method that is pure, simple and focused, yet astoundingly profound. Her outstanding vocal and tutoring proficiency and her deep level of awareness for The Alexander Technique are attributes that are rarely seen. Her techniques were on the one hand, simple and instantly adoptable yet on the other, radical and groundbreaking for my awareness and control. Her method seemed to be all about working as easily as possible for the maximum results, through increasing bodily awareness.
She brought the pleasure I felt as a child back into my voice, the pleasure that so many teachers over the years had smothered with their narrow, heavy-handed approach. I cannot put into words my gratitude and respect.
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“Kate has a unique approach in which singing isn’t just about sounding good, it is most importantly about feeling good, and learning to do it as effortlessly as possible, because that is ultimately what will increase the quality and resonance of your instrument. I always leave my lessons with Kate feeling blissful, like my whole body is thanking me for the discoveries she helped me to make. In the classroom setting, Kate presents the material clearly and comprehensibly; she has the ability and patience to break down a piece of music so that it is easy for her students to grasp, even though it may be inherently complex or foreign to Western ears. Kate is a gorgeous example herself of the Alexander technique and Bulgarian music that she teaches. I am so fortunate to be able to have worked with her, and I couldn’t recommend anyone more highly.
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“Kate has all the traits a composer looks for in a performer: creativity, strength, confidence, originality, respect, daring, a scary level of skill... We love working with her!
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“Kate Conklin has been gifted with a powerful and exciting lyrico-dramatic soprano voice. Her experience as a performer includes a wide range of styles, and she is fully at home in all of these.
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“I learned so much working with Kate and had a lot of fun doing so! The personalized vocal exercises she had me doing expanded my voice to a whole new level. Her integration of the mechanics of the human body has had a profound impact on my technique as a singer.
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“"We took this hardcore people mover downstairs and when the doors opened we nearly fell headfirst into an apparition. We watched, slack jawed, as a Bulgarian vocalist; a woman of Amazonian proportions dressed in white, ululated some cousin of a yodel, while a banjo played beside her. The sounds echoed endlessly in the building’s cavernous main hall..."
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