"Diane helped get me onstage and perform without back pain.  I was also losing my voice in rehearsals for a vocally demanding show, and Diane came in and gave me some tangible tools to open my throat and protect my vocal chords when shouting for the role." 

 

~Amanda Holston, Actress, Alignment Educator & YogAlign Instructor

 

"That one session gave me enough energy and juice to use and finally put together the character I was able to perform.  Diane is a truly remarkable instructor and I’m a much better performer for having been taught by her!"

 

~Dike Uzoukwu, actor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With Study Actors Can:

 

• Benefit from expert Audition Preparation  (College and Professional).

• Prepare a vocally or physically challenging role.

• Build confidence and experience relief from Performance Anxiety.

• Improve Coordination, Strength, and Balance.

• Learn a stage dialect or lose an accent.

• Access emotional availability and expressiveness.

• Experience effortless posture and balance.

• Access Breath Control and Increase your vocal range and resonance, articulation,

       and vocal health

• Relish heightened text and be emotionally inspired by language.

• Become aware of the vocal and physical habits that limit your expressiveness and castability.

• Understand and embody Stage Presence.

• Experience being “in the Moment” and learn how to create that state at will.

• Discover how to be “grounded”.

• Learn how to make specific choices.

• Develop exceptional concentration and timing.

•  Use your body efficiently to work with performance challenges such as period costumes, raked stages, and bad acoustics.

• Understand how to work with yourself to relieve stress.

• Acquire a believable and understandable stage dialect.

• Work on the health and well being of your acting instrument (posture, neck, back, TMJ, headache, coordination, repetitive stress, and vocal health issues)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I have taken Alexander lessons with Diane Gaary to seek safe relief from the pain of osteoarthritis in my knees…With Diane’s guidance, the relief I have achieved seems almost miraculous…it’s wonderful to “dance the night away” without needing any medication or at the most an occasional Advil." 

 

~Muriel Kowlessar, MD/ ballroom dancer

 

 

With Study Dancers Can:

 

• Improve Balance

• Increase Strength

• Gain Flexibility

• Familiarity with Movement Habits

• Access differing ways of movement

• Work with the body’s natural coordination

• Learn strategies to Avoid injury and recover more quickly from injury 

• Discover new enjoyment in movement

• Prolong their dancing career

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The work I've done with her has changed my conception of how I play and is the primary reason why I'm still able to make a living as a musician. For anyone who is facing a confusing physical issue, or who just wants to explore a new way to become better at their performing craft, I couldn't recommend her more." 

 

~Dan Blacksberg, Trombonist/ recipient 2012 Pew Fellowship in the Arts

 

 

"Working with Diane on standing, sitting, and walking, as well as playing my instrument, has not only relieved this pain but transformed my playing technique."

 

~Sarah Cunningham, Viol performer and professor Julliard School of Music

 

 

 

With Lessons Instrumentalists Can:

 

• Access full breath and breath control

• Learn to work with your body to uncover your natural ccoordination and ease of motion

• Increase the expressiveness of your playing

• Find relief from performance anxiety

• Discover and learn to undo unconscious habits that are making your playing harder than it needs to be Improve concentration, expressiveness, and emotional availability

• Learn strategies of body use that help prevent and recover from repetitive stress issues

• Learn how the use of your whole body can support the movement of your, arms, hands, and power of your tone

• Address arm, hand, neck, back, and embouchure issues

• Increase your stamina

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I keep on applying your suggestions into my singing, and I've never sung better."

 

~Stephanie Londoño, soprano

 

"Her masterful understanding of the interconnected physiological and psychological components of singing is, in my experience, unparalleled...She is, at once, empathetic and uncompromising, working most effectively and efficiently and, above all, caringly, with both the professional singer and the singer who simply loves and longs to sing at his/her best."

 

~Harold Evans, formerly Conductor with Des Moines Metro Opera, Virginia Opera, and Virginia Symphony; currently Adjunct Assistant Professor of Voice at Westminster Choir College

 

"Diane Gaary has been enormously and immediately helpful in identifying… habits that create that tension in the singing voice…She is one of our greatest resources!"

 

~Margaret Cusack, chairman of Department of Piano and Voice, Westminster Choir College of Rider Univers 

 

 

With Study Singers Can:

 

• Improve posture, balance, coordination, strength, and stamina

• Improve breathing, resonance, vocal range, vibrato, coloratura etc

• Improve concentration, expressiveness, and emotional availability.

• Address vocal problems such as excess tension, “thinking too much,” and stage fright

• Recognize and undo unconscious habits that make singing harder than it needs to be

• Discover how your whole body can support your singing experience

• Learn skills that help you avoid and recover from injury

• Learn to release chronic tensions in your jaw, tongue, shoulders, etc

• Address chronic pain issues

• Increase your confidence and stage presence

• Decrease performance tension and manage stress

• Learn more about yourself and how to make specific choices that help you function with less strain and greater physical, vocal, and emotional freedom both on and off the stage

• Improve Vocal Health by Training Your Speaking Voice

• Learn to use your speaking voice in a healthy manner that reinforces and supports your singing technique, increases your vocal power and stamina, and makes singing and talking easier throughout your day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actors, Singers, Teachers, Coaches, Preachers, and Public Speakers:

 

Many professions require the prolonged and athletic use of the voice.  Through vocal training, you can learn how to become a vocal athlete with healthy vocal stamina, and a powerful, strong, effortless, enjoyable, and attractive voice that expressively and honestly conveys your thoughts, feelings, and personality.