"Get to the music" is a phrase used to describe the pathway taken by the student when attending the LA Music Academy. For the Vocal Department, it means providing the students with both academic and career-prep classes in an intimate environment that gives them a solid understanding of what it takes to be a working vocalist in the entertainment industry. The Vocal Department is designed to operate based on a building block system that focuses on three main areas: Building a Strong Foundation, Execution of Music, and Creativity.

There are a few reasons why the LA Music Academy is unique.

First, the LA Music Academy is an intimate working environment which allows the teachers to really get to know each student. The Vocal Department employs teachers who are skilled as well as the kind of teachers who have a true heart to serve the students.

Second, the vocal instructors at the LA Music Academy are professionals in their craft. They are well-trained and working professionals who bring their experience as well as their skills to the students everyday they meet in class. Because the teachers are working in their varied fields, they are culturally relevant when it comes to marketability and the changing requirements demanded by the music industry.

Third, because of our unique resources, relationships and intimate working environment, we are able to bring in a number of guest teachers and guest producers to our department that lend their expertise to the overall curriculum. This is an added benefit as exposure to industry professionals begins a networking relationship that has the potential of lasting far after graduation.

One of the best things that ever happened to me was the opportunity to work with great musicians and learn what was right and respected by them. I'd like to think those same truths are what drive my motivations as a teacher today. I learned these rights and wrongs on the ropes, through trial and error, and, after some very eye-opening and somewhat embarassing conversations, I was eventually pointed in the right direction. Hopefully, I can prepare the next set of singers coming up the ranks to succeed and avoid some of the common pitfalls — teaching them information with grace, eventually saving them from lost gigs and 'rookie' embarassment.

My motivation for teaching is seeing someone else succeed, making a difference in someone else's life, and encouraging others to be the best they can be. In my life, no matter what I have been doing, I have always found myself in that instructional and encourager's position. Being a teacher is part of the very fabric of who I am and setting people up to win is a very strong portion of my personal life's mission statement.

My answer will be very much like many others. Yes...yes...and yes. Los Angeles is referred to by many as the very epicenter of popular music, both in recorded music and music found in TV and film, etc. It is not just my opinion that there are by far many more opportunities to work as a vocalist in many more varied areas vocally than any other place in the world.

The LA Music Academy is always looking for additional ways to stay current and to project into the future what the needs are and what our responsibility to meet those needs as educators will be. It is an exciting place where even the tried and true curriculum can seem new because of every new student.