Norwood Music Studios

I started with Virginia just recently. Not as a complete beginner, but rather as someone who has enjoyed singing and little performances here and there for years. I had a relatively pleasant voice, though I knew it was much softer than it could be. After starting in a more rock/​soul oriented band, I realized I needed access to power in my voice, and a steadier, more confident progression through my range. And to learn just how the heck are you supposed to use that diaphragm anyway?! Learning by video exercise can only do so much!
And thus, I found Virginia on Thumbtack. Her experience, continuing vocal education, and participation in bands herself greatly appealed to me and I let this good feeling lead me to her tutelage. And then. one lesson. That’s all it took to open the gates to the improvement I was looking for! I was by no means –there– yet, but the level of power and clarity I increased to after that one free intro was really surprising to what I had expected. She seemed to know what parts of myself I had strength in and which parts I was having trouble utilizing. Instead of vague guidance she had clear, precise troubleshooting. She showed me a technical diagram of what my vocal cords were doing to my sound. She also instructed not only with exercises to train cords, but also with explanations for them. She also gave helpful ways of imagining sound in the head to assist in vocalizing each exercise correctly. Also, she seemed to «learn» my voice very quickly, picking up on what I needed work on and what styles matched me. And there is a helpful little stage in the back with a mic to practice actual stage presence as well. Throughout the two other lessons I’ve continued with her, things just keep getting better.
It seems to me this is complete package training here! The exercises are smoothing out my weak spots, boosting my chest power and I’m learning how to correctly engage the stomach, and keep everything in my mouth positioned correctly. And I got tips on technical performance things like usage of in ear monitors, etc. I feel like I’ve already gotten a lot out of the mere couple of lessons I have so far attended. I managed to shock all my bandmates with my sudden improvement, which was a reeeeeally great time =). I can’t wait to see how I’ll progress later on down the line!

As far as the other teachers in this studio, I cannot comment on them, this review is strictly about Virginia’s lessons.
Virginia may be ok for kids and people who only want to learn to sing for fun, but if you have real career aspirations she isn’t really focused on helping you develop into a professional singing career. I spent a lot of money for two years and had very slow progress. She barely got me to 2 octaves, and I wasn’t very strong with those octaves and I struggled with staying in key. We spent too much time working on Nays, Mums and syllables and no time on breath support. In the end she didn’t keep up with her promises to help me with a song I was recording, although she expected me to follow her rules which I did. I was disappointed how it would take her up to 3 weeks to reply to me yet expected no less then 24 hrs notice if I owed her something. She simply didn’t come through with the assistance she promised in a timely fashion and drove me to seek a new teacher.
After reading how SLS doesn’t train you with the proper breath support, I tried a Bel Canto teacher who in 3 lessons had me singing over 3 octaves with excellent resonance and perfectly in key simply by teaching me the proper breath control. Because SLS requires the teacher to not teach anything outside of its curriculum, Virginia’s method will always be lacking unless/​until Seth Riggs starts putting in breath control into the method or she chooses to abandon teaching the technique. SLS is incomplete and lends to the crippling her teaching proper and effective singing techniques as my experience has shown me.
I was very upset at how she kept forgetting me but wanted to keep on with Virginia until I figured out how much I wasn’t getting much for my money. If you are serious about your career as a professional vocalist, and aren’t just learning to sing for fun, I cannot give my recommendation for her (or even SLS style of singing at that). Otherwise if you just want to be somewhat decent at the local karaōke nights YMMV.

Before meeting Virginia, I couldn’t sing even 1 note in tune, even though I’ve played guitar most of my life. I was lucky enough to find her, and I can happily say that I’ve far far far exceeded my initial goals and am happy with my singing voice! I’m writing songs and have the tools to last a lifetime thanks to Virginia. I’ve since recommended several friends who have also learned to sing thanks to her! Best of all, the techniques and methods encourage a natural singing voice, so nothing feels or sounds forced.
She teaches all ages as well, I’ve heard some amazing students of hers of all ages from kids on up through adults. In addition to private lessons, I’ve taken some group classes and sang in recitals, and you can tell that everyone she teaches is grateful to have her as a teacher.
If you are even considering singing or improving your singing, you will never find a better teacher and coach to get you to the next level!