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The Art & Science of Singing:
Voice lessons
Alexander Technique
Voice-Enhancing Bodywork
“My integrated 3-in-1 approach to vocal health & development will take you to a higher level of vocal mastery.”
The Art & Science of Singing Defined
The Art of Singing is the seemingly magical unleashing of your full creative potential that happens when your mind, body, and voice are truly free.
The Science of Singing is the process that leads to this desired state of freedom. It demands of both teacher and student an open-minded state of objective observation coupled with a willingness to explore the unknown.
What this means for you
As a singer, you are your instrument: every aspect of your being affects the quality of your singing. In order to reach your full artistic potential, you therefore must strive for the best possible conditions in every area: a healthy vocal technique, an easeful and dynamic physicality, an open and positive mental state. My 3-in-1 approach to vocal health and development addresses all these areas, blending voice lessons, Alexander Technique, and my own Voice-Enhancing Bodywork into an integrated, ideologically consistent system of learning. Every step of the process we undertake together reinforces your vocal technique.
Whether you are an established professional singer wishing to fine-tune an already polished technique or a beginner contemplating your first voice lesson, I invite you to sample my 3-in-1 approach. You can schedule an introductory 30-minute voice lesson, Alexander Technique lesson, or Voice-Enhancing Bodywork session, or discover the power of the triple combination in a 90-minute sampler session in which you’ll experience all three. Special new-client rates apply for all these introductory services, which take place in my conveniently located Chelsea studio. Contact me by phone or email for pricing and scheduling information.
During the course of my own singing career, I have discovered that a free technique, combined with a free body and a free mind, fosters true vocal health and happiness. Now I’d like to share that possibility with you.
Please read about the individual components of my approach on the next page. . . .
Michael Hanko is a gifted voice instructor, combining thorough technical knowledge with a keen ear for efficient and easeful singing. His words and guidance are clear, and the effects of his precise work are immediate. Alexis Martin, Soprano, Met Opera Nat’l Council Regional Winner
Thank you for helping me discover my big voice! Each lesson is so much fun; also I am making such new and beautiful sounds. THANK YOU for giving me my voice back. Leah Curney, Musical Theater Performer, former node sufferer
Since starting private Alexander work with Michael, I've gotten feedback from singing colleagues about the improvements in my vocal technique — working with him has helped me to correct problems with tension and over-breathing that were keeping me from moving to the next level. Michael has been able to guide me to a new kind of ease, balance, support, and freedom in singing. Allison Atteberry, Soprano
I not only physically felt relief, I experienced a mental and emotional rejuvenation completely new to me. Stephanie Fittro, Broadway Performer
Your bodywork turned out to be the perfect complement to my voice lessons. In just two sessions, I've gained so much freedom in my voice and the high notes have opened up. The bodywork has made my voice click into place easily and naturally. It's all starting to make sense kinesthetically. Singing is just easier now. I can sing for hours and hours - and still feel like singing! Thank you. Stephanie Harrison, Pop/Jazz Vocalist
My work with Michael has allowed me to sing with a level of ease and consistency I had never thought possible. His teaching is clear, practical, and flexible. I have greatly benefitted from working with this insightful and patient technician. Noah Lethbridge, Tenor
1. Voice lessons
A course of lessons focused on improving the response of your vocal mechanism forms the core of my approach to voice teaching.
My way of working with singers is based on time-tested principles of the bel canto tradition. But because every singer is unique in physical make-up, temperament, and experience, I customize the particulars of each lesson to your individual needs. By acutely listening to your voice, I am able to analyze from moment to moment what is going right and wrong in your technique and propose exercises likely to produce immediate improvements in the functioning of your vocal mechanism. This way of working, in which the output of every exercise suggests the next direction for vocal experimentation, makes every lesson interesting and different. You’ll learn to
Coordinate the action of your vocal registers for a healthy, free technique
Increase your vocal range & agility
Sing throughout your entire range with ease - at any volume
Cultivate your unique sound
Prevent / alleviate nodes and other vocal maladies
2. Alexander Technique
This mind-body awareness practice has so deeply influenced my own singing and learning that I have come to consider it an essential complement to voice lessons.
The Alexander Technique prepares you mentally and physically for the challenging business of refining the coordination of your vocal organs. It will help you to release habits of posture, movement, and thinking that interfere with your best performance. You will discover a new ease and efficiency in your singing and find a healthier, more natural way of using your body in all your activities.
Here are some of the benefits of AT study for singers:
Achieve the most efficient postural support for your singing
Eliminate habits that produce unnecessary tension
Learn to breathe fully and freely
Refine your kinesthetic sense so that you can reliably recognize the subtle muscular adjustments involved in singing
Accustom yourself to getting out of your own way so that your body can respond to your intentions naturally, with freedom and precision
3. Bodywork
Sometimes, even when your technique is good, you may be held back from progressing vocally by tensions within your body that you have no control over. Such tensions can have physical or emotional origins. When this type of interference arises, it is crucial to have a voice teacher who recognizes that the source of the problem lies in your tissues, not in your technique. And it’s certainly a bonus if that teacher can do something to help.
When in the course of your lessons we come up against restrictions that are interfering with your singing, we will schedule a session of my Voice-Enhancing Bodywork. During the session, as you lie (fully clothed) on the table, I will gently guide your body into releasing the restrictions and returning to full health and functionality. Along with the profound state of relaxation that generally results, you as a singer will appreciate an increased freedom in all the organs involved in singing, including
Jaw & tongue
Neck, shoulders, & back
Laryngeal musculature
Facial musculature
Diaphragm & lungs
About Michael Hanko
Michael graduated cum laude from Princeton University, earning a degree in Music/Pre-Med Studies. His vocal training includes more than 10 years’ mentoring in technique and pedagogy with eminent singing teacher Cornelius Reid. Michael is an AmSAT-certified Alexander Teacher and has served on the teaching faculty of the American Center for the Alexander Technique. After training in several forms of bodywork at the Upledger Institute, where he is now on the teaching staff, he went on to develop his own therapeutic approach for singers called Voice-Enhancing Bodywork. He has established a private practice in NYC and has taught classes at the Juilliard School, the Hoff-Barthelson Music School, and the Esper School [for actors]. Along with his work in helping other singers to reach their potential, Michael performs professionally as a classical baritone soloist.
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