Teaching voice for four decades, and still developing, learning, growing
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I've been singing since I was eight years old. I started teaching in 1988. In the decades since, I've worked with thousands of singers and speakers, in classrooms, rehearsal halls, private studios, and on stages around the country.
What keeps me going? I believe authentic connection is the foundation of human experience. When we communicate from a place of truth, we build trust and create relationships with real depth.
I do this work because I believe your authentic voice is your most powerful asset. My purpose is to help you uncover your true voice in singing, in speaking, in everyday communication, so you can express yourself with real confidence and connect with the people around you.
How I got here
My father was a professor of communications: rhetoric, debate, storytelling, argumentation. My mother was a musician and choir director who eventually became an ordained minister, with a beautiful soprano voice of her own. Voice and communication were the air we breathed in our house. What I do for a living lives at the intersection of what they each gave their lives to. I just didn't see it until much later.
I fell in love with the voice early, and that love has only deepened over time. The voice is endlessly fascinating to me. How it works. Why it works. What happens when everything aligns and a singer or speaker finds that moment of freedom and flow.
That fascination has taken me down many paths. I spent nearly 30 years conducting choirs in public schools. I was an elementary school teacher for five years, and yes, I taught my students music too, because that's just who I am. I've been teaching voice privately for decades, first alongside my school career, then in my first dedicated studio in Puyallup (2014–2018), and now at Ted's Voice Academy in Lacey, which I opened in 2023. Along the way, my path has been shaped by dozens and dozens of wonderful voice teachers, choral directors, music educators, and vocal and performance coaches, each a valuable influence in developing my own love and understanding of the voice and how to guide it.
I've been doing barbershop since I was sixteen. I've competed internationally in quartets thirteen times, as a bass, baritone, and tenor. In 2025 I founded Voices of the Sound, a mixed barbershop chorus in Olympia. I currently sing bass in Hot Notes, the current sixth-place international senior quartet, alongside my sister Anna. That range of experience taught me something I come back to often: good singing is good singing. The rest is just notes.
When someone finds their authentic voice, they experience a sense of freedom, joy, and fulfillment that changes everything.
Through all of it, one thing has stayed constant: my passion for helping people communicate from a place of self-alignment and self-understanding. When that happens, when someone finds their authentic voice, they experience a sense of freedom, joy, and fulfillment that changes everything. That's what I live for.
What I believe about voice
Expression comes first
Technique exists to serve expression, giving you the freedom to say what you mean, the way you mean it.
Every voice is unique
You are better at being you than anyone else will ever be, and you can never be as good at being like someone else as you can at being you. My job is to help you sound more like yourself, with more ease, more power, more confidence.
Understanding the "why" and the "how"
When you know how your voice works, you can keep growing on your own. You have what you need to figure things out yourself.
Voice work is human work
It's personal. It takes trust. I take that seriously.
Background
I hold two degrees from Seattle Pacific University: one in Vocal Performance, one in K-12 Music Education. I earned National Board Certification in 2005 and hold a lifetime teaching certification in Washington State.
In 2025, I was recognized among Washington's top vocal instructors (BusinessRate) and named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Lacey South Sound Chamber of Commerce. These recognitions mean something to me as confirmation that I'm helping the people I'm meant to help.
Top 3 Vocal Instructor, Washington State
BusinessRate · Google Reviews · 2025
Entrepreneur of the Year
Lacey South Sound Chamber of Commerce · 2025
Entrepreneur of the Year Ceremony
Saint Martin's University · 2025
Beyond individual coaching, I've developed frameworks and expertise that represent my broader approach to voice mastery:
The Adaptive Voice Framework™ (AVF™)
A complete approach to understanding how voices work. I published the full framework in 2025 as a nearly 700-page book, now available on Amazon. It represents decades of learning distilled into a system any singer or speaker can use.
Learn more about AVF →The PASS Profile™
A professional communication assessment that reveals your unique "communication fingerprint": your natural patterns, tendencies, and preferences in how you communicate. PASS measures actual communication behaviors across 40 distinct traits. The mathematics behind the assessment generate virtually unlimited unique combinations, so every report reflects a genuinely individual pattern. I designed it to help people understand how they communicate, so they can use their strengths with intention and grow on purpose.
Learn more about PASS Profile →Vocal Health Guidance
I've spent years developing my understanding of vocal health: how voices tire, strain, recover, and stay resilient. I'm not a medical professional or speech-language pathologist, and I work alongside them readily. They handle diagnosis and therapy. I help with the technique and habits that keep voices healthy. Clients come to me for vocal conditioning, recovery support, and practical strategies they can use every day. It's a natural extension of my teaching, because a voice that's well cared for is a voice that can grow.
Learn more about Vocal Health →Proudly connected with
Vocal & Music Organizations
Business & Community
A bit more about me
I live in Lacey, Washington, where I teach from my home studio. I'm madly in love with my wife, Tammy. She's at the center of everything good in my life. And if you come to my studio, you'll be greeted by Keeva, our dog, who considers welcoming clients one of her most important jobs.
When I'm not working with students, I'm probably practicing, reading about voice science, or finding new ways to explain concepts I've been teaching for decades. The voice still fascinates me. I don't think that will ever change.
If you're curious about working together, I'd love to hear from you.
On stage with my ensembles
Teaching voice is my calling, and performing is where I keep that calling alive. I'm an active performer in the barbershop harmony community, and my ensemble work is one of the great joys of my life.
Voices of the Sound
I'm the director of Voices of the Sound, a mixed barbershop chorus based in Olympia. I founded the chorus in 2025, and we'll perform our debut show in May 2026. Leading this group is one of the most rewarding things I do. It brings together everything I believe about voice, community, and the power of singing together.
Hot Notes Quartet
Hot Notes is the quartet I sing bass with: four voices, tight harmonies, and a whole lot of energy. We're the current sixth-place international senior quartet. Quartet singing is where vocal technique meets real-time communication, and every performance is its own adventure.
Let's talk
The first step is a free discovery call. A short conversation where I learn about your goals and you learn about how I work.
Book a Free Discovery CallOr reach out directly: ted@tedsvoiceacademy.com