I came home from my voice lesson with Lisa Kelly and told my husband it was the most fun I had experienced in a long time. That is not faint praise. I have taken a lot of voice lessons. I studied voice for four years in high school, headed to college on a voice scholarship, and continued studying for four more years. I sang musical theater, performed with church praise teams, and once helped lead worship alongside my husband. But almost all my formal training was classical. I was taught to open my throat, create space, sustain every vowel, and sing with the placement and precision required for opera. No one had ever taught me how to sing pop. In approximately 40 minutes at The Lisa Kelly Voice Academy in Peachtree City, Kelly began undoing eight years of training — without taking away any of it. She made my voice stronger. She helped me stop oversinging. She taught me how to move a sound forward, reduce the space in my throat, and give up the idea that every word deserved to be sung properly. Pop singing, I learned, involves a certain amount of cheating. That may be the most liberating voice lesson I have ever received. Grammy-nominated Kelly is best known internationally as one of the founding members of Celtic Woman. Before that, she was the lead singer in Riverdance. Altogether, she spent about 11 years performing with the two touring productions, after earlier work in musical theater and concerts in Ireland. She grew up with classical and operatic training herself. One…
*This content (including text, artwork, graphics, photography, and video) was provided by the third party(ies) as referenced above. Any rights or other content questions or inquiries should be directed to such third-party provider(s).
