Kayla Gautereaux

The Teacher

Science-informed, history-aware, human-first

I am Assistant Professor of Voice and Vocal Pedagogy at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and Director and Faculty Member of the Vocal Pedagogy Professional Workshop. I teach vocal pedagogy at the graduate level, supervise original research, and teach voice privately across classical, musical theater, and contemporary styles. The principles I bring to the studio are tested, refined, and connected to the broader world of voice science and pedagogy.

How We Work

Co-investigators, not master and apprentice

You and I observe together. I observe your sound, your movement, your expressive connection. You observe what you feel, what you hear from the inside, what shifts. Neither perspective is complete alone. You take responsibility for your own goals. I bring tools, a trained ear, and a framework. You bring curiosity, honesty about what you notice, and a willingness to explore.

I am an overtone singer, and I bring that practice directly into my teaching. When I sing an overtone series for a student, they hear what resonance actually sounds like: how small adjustments change which frequencies ring out and which recede. It trains the ear to hear warmth, brightness, and balance in real time, and it is a way to train students to access their own agile resonance strategies. The studio is also equipped with RespTrack respiratory analysis, Voce Vista real-time acoustic display, Praat acoustic analysis, and a calibrated recording setup. The tools serve the teaching and make the invisible visible so we can observe together.

• Warm, high expectationsSupported and challenged. We celebrate wins, laugh when things crack, and keep moving toward the target.
• No off-limits soundsSinging can be more or less coordinated, more or less functional. No sound is off-limits while we work toward aesthetic and functional targets, and every sound we make teaches us something about your voice.
• Easy, not squeezyWe build from what's free and flexible, then add complexity. Ease first, always.
• Head, heart, handEvery lesson attends to intention, expression, and function. Singing well requires all three.

Identity-Affirming

Your voice is yours

This studio welcomes singers of all gender identities. How you want to sound, what feels authentic to you, what goals you set for your instrument: these are yours to define. I teach many trans and non-binary singers, and my approach begins with listening to your experience of your own voice and body, not imposing expectations from outside.

Between Lessons

The lesson is just the beginning

Every student has a portal that follows the rhythm of their week, so the work between lessons is visible, supported, and part of what we teach from.

1. Lesson debrief

   After every lesson, a written summary of what we covered: what we worked on, what shifted, what to carry forward. A record of your progress that builds over time.

2. Practice plan

   Alongside each debrief: every exercise, its functional purpose, how it connects to your repertoire, and what to listen for. You always know why you are doing what you are doing.

3. Your reflection

   While the lesson is fresh: your takeaways, where you took a risk, your questions or goals for the next lessons. Your input directly shapes what we work on.

4. Daily voice-use log

   Thirty seconds a day for every kind of singing you do, including practice, choir, rehearsals, and gigs. Your singing time charts against how your voice is holding up, so you learn your own instrument's limits.

5. Monthly check-in

   A short questionnaire drawn from published voice research tracks how singing feels across your range, month over month.

6. Repertoire scaffold

   Every piece moves through a learning scaffold from translation and characterization through performance-ready, next to your semester goals and jury preparation. You always know where you are and what comes next.

See the portal with a sample student

Who This Is For

People who want more facility, more singing, easier singing

This studio is for people who want to get better at their craft and are willing to take responsibility for their own goals. People who are dissatisfied with their current operation and know there is more to be had.

This is not the right fit for someone looking for a guru to establish their goals for them. You are the expert on your experience. I am the expert on the instrument. Together, we figure it out.

Student Achievements