Once Dave has assessed a singer’s overall vocal health and ability, he formulates a personalized plan to help each student maintain his or her signature sound while maximizing the freedom, balance, and agility in the voice. He approaches each student and situation on a case-by-case basis, using specific, targeted exercises to help each student reach his or her vocal goals. One of the foremost expert Speech Level Singing instructors, Dave is particularly gifted at helping students navigate throughout the entire range with ease and freedom. Technically, he focuses on helping students hold the larynx still and vocal cords together, which keeps his students in top vocal health.

Dave is not only able to give singers the technical foundation they need to succeed, but also introduce them to a network of industry resources. As a businessman and entrepreneur himself, Dave understands the importance of a singers’ ability to market themselves and form connections with music industry professionals. Using the skills he developed as a young entrepreneur with other business ventures, Dave began printing and distributing the vocal magazine “Connecting Voices”. With more than 25 years of experience as a voice teacher, Dave is able to combine his teaching skills and business prowess to give his students the necessary technical abilities required of professional singers, an understanding of the music business, and connections to the music industry.

Before opening his current studio, on the famed Sunset Blvd, Dave was the Chief Executive Officer of Speech Level Singing International. He developed and oversaw the SLS teacher certification program, which allowed the company to reach its pinnacle as a global network of hundreds of certified teachers worldwide. All of these business ventures helped Dave to focus on the importance of developing singers as artists and technicians, and the imperative of developing them as brands, ultimately allowing gifted vocalists to succeed in the commercial world.

Dave enjoys working with students of all ability levels, with students ranging from Billboard Hot 100 recording artists and Broadway stars to beginning vocal students. Dave was commissioned during the American Idol Season 8 tour as a vocal teacher for the touring Idols. He has since worked privately with Adam Lambert, Jordin Sparks, Allison Iraheta, David Cook, and Lee DeWyze.

After giving Justin Timberlake a voice lesson, Dave began working with artists on Justin’s label Interscope, Tenman Records, including Youtube stars Esmee Denters, Brenda Radney, plus Elliot and Free from Freesoul.

Today, production companies, producers, managers, and studios utilize Dave’s expertise to help them prepare new artists for the market and established artists for the demands of hectic tour schedules. Other singers that have come through the studio include: The Sons of Sylvia, Justin Bieber, Daniel Bedingfield, Marie Digby, Jamie Cullum, Ben Folds, The Cheetah Girls, Abraham McDonald, Cody Simpson, Ethan Bortnick, Matt Scannell (Vertical Horizon), Scott Stapp (Creed), Terry Ellis (EnVogue), Evan Rachel Wood, Val Kilmer, Luke Perry, KeKe Palmer (Akeelah and the Bee) Rachael Lampa, Wendy Moten, Tom Johnston (Doobies), Tanya Pinkins, Rosie Gaines, Rachael Lampa, Wendy Moten, Rain (K-pop), Brian Wilson, Topol (fiddler on the roof), and George Takei. Dave also works with many musical theatre actors and has had students in the national companies of Rent, Mamma Mia, The Lion King, Fiddle on the Roof, etc.

Dave has given many lectures on vocal process and development at many prestigious places around the world including: National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, National Association of Teachers of Singing, Stanford University, University of Southern California, San Francisco Conservatory, Palo Alto Research Center, Pacific Voice Foundation, Canadian Voice Care Foundation, Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, Kunstuniversitaet Graz in Austria, and numerous other jazz organizations and societies including the Jazz School in Berkeley, California and Jazz Camp West. He also works with world renowned Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) surgeon Dr. Shawn Nasseri at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to learn about the medical implications of singing and vocal health, cutting edge vocal rehabilitation, and general maintenance care for singers.

Dave is also committed to training other vocal instructors and dedicates a lot of time traveling to other countries ranging from Australia, Austria, Germany, France, the UK, Mexico to China, Singapore, Korea, and Japan in order to train other teachers, as well as work with singers and artists abroad.

The larynx is the big bump in the middle of the neck just below the chin. This houses the vocal cords and controls the process of swallowing. When the larynx moves up, the muscles around the cords act as a sphincter and closes so as to prevent swallowing down the wind pipe and into the lungs. This is a very important process when you need to swallow, but it is a very poor process when you are trying to sing. If you place your hand on your larynx and yawn, you will find that you can bring your larynx down as well. This is a good way to learn what it feels like to have the larynx stay down. The end goal here is to be able to keep the larynx from moving down as well as up. It should stay completely still as you ascend and descend.

The vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are a pair of soft tissue cords that are joined at the front of the larynx and extend back. When they close, the back end of the cords come together (connect), and the flow of air is temporarily stopped. When the pressure of air from the diaphragm overcomes the pressure of the muscles holding the cords together, they are blown apart and sound is made when they close again due to the resonation created. Then once again the air pressure overcomes the muscle pressure and the process begins again. If a singer is singing an A above middle C, this process happens 440 times every second.The pitch A above middle C vibrates 440 times per second. That is very fast and it is somewhat difficult to see this process happen even if you can see down the singer throat. Since the invention of the strobescopy it has become easier to view the vocal cord resonation process. If the vocal cords begin to come apart, the tone becomes breathy and the muscles around the outside of the larynx begin to tense. This becomes what is called a constricted phonation and is quite harmful for the voice.

This is a very brief and condensed version of what happens when you sing, there is obviously a lot more going on. But, to give you an idea of what is correct, take these two ideas and while you are singing, monitor them. See if you can keep your larynx still and your cords together. You will probably find that there is a certain area of your voice that is easy for you to accomplish this, and certain points of your voice that are more difficult. These harder areas are called bridges, The key to Dave’s Method is in understanding the bridges and the mix. Bridges in the voice are passage areas from one part of our vocal range to another. In Italian, they’re called passagi-or maybe you’ve heard the term passagio. These passage areas are a result of vocal cord adjustments that must take place in order for us to sing high and low in our range. These vocal cord adjustments produce resonance shifts in our body.

Our first shift in resonance, or our first bridge, is our most crucial, because this is where our outer muscles are most likely to enter the picture. If they do, they tighten around the larynx in an effort to stretch the cords for the desired pitch.

Master the fundamentals….

Private vocal sessions with Dave Stroud provide valuable in-depth training with a focus on the intricacies of his technique, strength-building, stamina and voice elasticity.

 Maintain your ability…

Take control of your voice with regular ongoing sessions to ensure progression and sustained strength and versatility.

Take it to the next level…

Staying afloat in the music business is all about connections. From the moment you walk through the door of the Dave Stroud Vocal Studio, you will instantly have a network of solid professionals at your disposal. From style and songwriting coaches to directors, managers and label contacts, Dave Stroud Vocal Studio has established relationships with the best in the industry.

 Vocal Rehabilitation

Singers experiencing vocal damage can rely on Dave to help guide their voice into recovery. He works in tandem with ear, nose and throat specialists to design the most effective rehabilitation program using gentle vocal exercises and doctor recommended treatment.