» Home » Team Voice Teaching » About us » Buy Instructional CD » Events » Workshops » Contact us

About us: Cathryn Frazier Neely

Voice Teacher Extraordinaire!

"...a local favorite..."

—The Fairfax Journal, Fairfax, Virginia

Cate founded The Washington Vocal Consortium, the country's first and longest-running Team Voice Teaching organization, and she has twenty-five years of teaching experience and a lifetime as a performer.

» Please read what students are saying about their work with her

While working with "Cate", students have earned Broadway roles, National Musical Theater and Kennedy Center tours, signed contracts with Cirque de Soleil and Disney Tokyo, sung in productions at Arena Stage, Studio Theater, Ford's Theater, Theater Alliance, the Washington National Opera, all area auditioned choral groups, and are paid singers in houses of worship.

Cate's varied other work experiences include:

Co-founding and building the stellar combination music education and community service programs for "Singer's Centre for Girls"; and serving as Artistic Director for three years
Teaching as an adjunct music professor at the college level
Accompanying singers, instrumentalists, and theater productions; playing for services of worship
Composing and arranging: work published by Arsis Press
Choral Conducting and Choral Advising: Hope Presbyterian Church, Singer's Centre for Girls, Levine School Women's Chorus, Zemir Chai—Washington's Jewish Chorale
Musical Direction for children's musical theater
Serving as a Former President, MD/DC Chapter of National Association of Teachers of Singing

All ages and abilities are taught, beginner through professionals.

Current students include a 2006 Helen Hayes Award Winner Nominee with an MFA degree in Theater and a 15 year-old learning to match pitch.

Teaching methods are based upon a clear systematic vocal technique as well as meeting the student's individual needs and interests.
All vocal styles taught, from Opera to Pop, stage work, ensemble singing and microphone technique.
Students are provided with accompaniment and a large library of musical scores and CDs in a comfortable private studio.
Teacher's own deep musicianship, warm personality, disciplined approach and sense of humor set the tone for learning in every single lesson.
Academic credentials include

M.Music in Vocal Pedagogy and Performance, The University of Maryland, College Park, MD
B.Music in Vocal Performance with a Minor in Keyboard Accompanying, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio
Cert., Somatic VoiceWork: The Lovetri Method, Shenandoah College and Conservatory of Music

What is a systematic vocal technique?

"My approach to teaching singing is based on the fact that singing is an athletic event. The body, mind and heart have to be trained to work together.

I combine the best of the classical vocal teaching tradition with the latest discoveries in Voice Science, new teaching methods for Contemporary and Commercial Singing, and body awareness work such as Yoga and Alexander Technique.

Each part of the singing process is broken down—breath work, breath management, registration (high and low voice), resonance, and actual music-making through text, language and intent—into small, manageable sections that can be understood.

Then each small section is developed before adding another part. The voice and the person are "built" from the Inside to the Outside.

I am also a "coach," providing keyboard accompaniment and guiding the student's use of musical phrasing, diction and style.

Intuitive skills, including the ability to feel in my own body the strengths and weaknesses in a student's singing, often support and guide the technical process."