Something Happened to Me 20 Years Ago That Completely Changed My Life
I don’t tell this story nearly enough. I was reminded of it the other day when my colleague, Jamie Young Swag Strategy was interviewing me for her show, “Luminous Entrepreneurs” and she asked me how I got into being a voice and performance coach. It’s a pretty kickass story, so I’m going to share it.
First of all, I owe a shout out to my mom, Jenny Sanchez, because she called it when I was a kid. She told me frequently as a teenager that I’d be an excellent teacher. I remember being so upset with her and saying that wasn’t being supportive of my dreams! Ha!!! Little did I know I would end up with a career teaching people how to sing. You see…
I BECAME A VOCAL COACH BY ACCIDENT.
For real. Ever since I was 5 years old and I saw Aileen Quinn on the big screen playing “Annie”, I knew I wanted to perform, just like she was doing. And I spent all my time and energy pursuing it.
I knew as a sophomore in high school what college I wanted to attend for musical theatre and designed my class schedule around meeting the bare minimum requirements to both graduate from high school and get into the college so that I could fill all the rest of my schedule with singing and acting classes. And then, midway through college, I discovered I was more serious than college allowed me to be, so I ended up at a conservatory in New York City where I happily flourished.
I worked professionally through college and my conservatory years and for many years after, and was loving every second of it.
BUT SOMETHING HAPPENED TO ME 20 YEARS AGO THAT COMPLETELY CHANGED MY LIFE.
I sang in a worship band back then and this teenager – an incoming freshman at the time – approached me to see if I would teach her to sing like me. Obviously, I was flattered, but I explained to Brittani Willey that teaching singing just isn’t something I do.
SHE PERSISTED.
Every week. Until she wore me down. I finally agreed to do it.
- I decided I was doing this and made a game plan.
- I went into my room and took out a notebook, writing down everything I could possibly think of that I knew about how to sing.
- I pulled out the 1980s Casio keyboard I got as a kid to see if I could think of any exercises that would be useful.
- I pulled out my songbooks to see if there was ANYTHING in there that I could even play well enough to accompany her (I chose “Mr. Wonderful” which was one of the first songs I learned AND it’s in the key of C)
- I made up a cheesy brochure so she’d have something to give her parents so they’d know I wasn’t some crazy person.
- I called Brittani to schedule a time for our first lesson.
The day for the lesson came and I was so nervous. What if she didn’t learn ANYTHING? What if she laughed at how terrible I am at playing the piano? What if she already knew everything I had to teach her? What had I gotten myself into???
I decided I had to at least do this lesson because I said I would, and then it could be done.
I think you all know that’s not what happened. But the next three things that happened I could NEVER have predicted.
First, I had an absolute BLAST teaching this lesson. I couldn’t believe how receptive she was to what I was teaching her, how quickly she seemed to catch on to the technique I was asking her to try, and how proud she was of herself for being able to do it. I found myself after her lesson sitting in my car SOBBING tears of joy and regret. I felt intense JOY at what I had just achieved and how incredible it felt to help someone else do something I love to do so much. And I felt enormous REGRET for not knowing sooner that this was what I was meant to do with my life.
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL.
Brittani also had a pretty incredible experience and – without telling me ANYTHING – she marched her precocious little incoming freshman self into the Fine Arts Director’s office at her high school, handed him that cheesy brochure I made for her parents, and told him, “you need to hire her.”
I can’t make this up.
I got a call a day or two later from John Furrow, the Fine Arts Director of her school and proud recipient of one cheesy brochure created by yours truly. He told me Brittani had amazing things to say about me and that he should hire me. I was flabbergasted but agreed to come in for an interview.
A week later, I was the official voice teacher of the school with 40+ new students and the choir director of the select women’s ensemble, “Joyful Sound”.
And I never looked back. My business has changed SOOOOOOO much since then, and it’s not done yet, but because of the bold determination of a high school teen and my willingness to give it a shot, I’ve found my calling. Since then, I’ve helped hundreds of singers go on to achieve unbelievable success.
I can’t fully express how rewarding it is to help a performer do something they never knew they could do, and then see them go on to do something even bigger as a result.
This is a CRAZY time we’re all living in right now. I know some of you are trying to figure out what you’re going to do for a living now that the performance world has shut down. I didn’t become a coach because life circumstances forced me into it; I fell into it by accident, but I can tell you that I’ve NEVER regretted my decision to be a coach. I know how incredible it is to perform and I’m really sorry you don’t have those options available to you right now. But if you’re trying to figure out what’s next for you…
LET ME BE YOUR BRITTANI.
I could tell you all the millions of reasons you’ll be amazing at it and that you’ll feel better than you thought you ever could doing it, and I probably will at some point, but for now, just be curious about it and know that it’s possible. And that I’d love to help you figure it out.
Something else you’ll hear me say about it is that you’ll make more money doing it than you realize is possible. And right now, I know you need a solution like that. Even in the middle of this crazy pandemic, I managed to have a 5-figure month, not once but TWICE. It’s POSSIBLE.
Wanna learn how?
I made a cool blueprint of my entire strategy and I’d love to give you a copy of it.
I’m most excited to know the difference between legit and belt voice and practice choosing how to sing and speak intentionally in a way that is healthiest for me.
I feel like I finally learned the secret of singing I’ve been looking for all my life! I always felt like my teachers didn’t quite “get” my voice and there was something either I really wasn’t getting or they really were not teaching. Now I know what it is! Thank you Katti!!
I can sing higher again and I’m more confident in my belting abilities, as well as my breath support!
I use to think my voice just couldn’t sing certain notes in certain ways, but that is completely false! I wish I had known these techniques back when I was struggling and performing every day. And knowing how to sing in my uncomfortable areas without hurting my voice is amazing. I feel like I could sing almost anything now!!
I’m so excited – I got the role I told you I was called back for (the initial audition consisted of a monologue and my singing “That’s Rich,” which I had worked with you in my VIP session)! Thank you so much, Katti, for your training! I’m thrilled, and will continue to make the efforts to sing without fear and apply the proper technique so I can sing without getting fatigued.
No joke, Katti Power is a complete and utter bad ass. She’ll turn you into one as well if you give her the chance.
I’m singing songs I did not think I would ever be able to sing!
Katti is an unforgettable voice instructor. I came to Katti when I was 18 years old because I wanted to improve my musical theatre sound. I had absolutely no clue how to belt before beginning [Unlimited Vocal Health™] and when I graduated from Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York City four years later, I was the top belter in my class. The more lessons I took the more my confidence as a singer and an all around performer grew.
Now that I have had that hour session I know how to overcome my straining and relax my throat when singing up high. The way Katti teaches, the illustrations she gives, and the exercises she uses help me to understand in a way I’d never thought about before…Knowing how quickly she fixed my problem, I feel extremely confident that she would be able to help anyone else…
Katti is BRILLIANT!!! I never thought I would be able to belt, but I was definitely proven wrong! Thanks to my ONE LESSON with Katti I have just landed a role in “Shout! The Mod Musical” and will be healthily belting my face off!
I believe you can always improve your craft, so for the past few years I’ve been working with internationally acclaimed vocal teacher Katti Power.
[Katti] is the best singing coach I've ever had. I love working with her because she's so supportive, she has such a great ear, and she can get to the heart of any of my problems right away. She's positive, very knowledgeable, and most of all - one of the biggest reasons I would highly recommend Katti is that she's a great human being.
Thank you, Katti. I’ve learned so much from you; no words can express my gratitude!
Katti…helped me realize that my voice will always be there, and I just need to trust that it knows what to do. The biggest change was our work with how forward my belt is going. I had learned how to do it before, but something wasn’t clicking for me to keep it forward. Katti listened to my fear about having true power in my voice and allowed me to have a safe place to start the work to let myself be heard. I ended up belting a note I had tried to… belt for 10 years!
Katti Power is bar-none, hands-down, one of the very best voice teachers out there. I’ve been singing for 23 years, and have had several teachers over the years, from NYC to LA. Many of my teachers have been good, but I learned more in one lesson with Katti than I did several months with other teachers.
I had the honor of working with Katti right before the Talent Quest National Competition. In only a few short lessons she had me miles above where I started out. Her methods help you stretch your range while keeping your vocal health. She continuously helped me get better each time we met.
I’m really not sure where I would be without you. You have given me such confidence in so many areas and have given me the skills to take my performing to the next level.
Thank you so much for believing in me and for helping me become who I am today… You changed my life Katti.