Testimonials from singers
“Coaching with Katja is one of the best decisions I ever made. The combination of working on the mental side as a creator as well as the technique of singing have completely turned my life around. I was given the tools to overcome the obstacles & (unknown to me at the time) limiting beliefs. I truly believe I would not have released my first single if it hadn’t been for Katja and I feel confident in continuing on my course of growth. Katja provides not only guidance & knowledge, but also the opportunity to share true thoughts & feelings without fear of being vulnerable. She is an expert in her field & helps you connect to the joy and opportunities as a creative.”
— Josie Akers, singer-songwriter, Akers Music
“Katja approaches my out of the box ideas as something unique and positive, and that helps me to embrace myself as the artist that I am. I have gained confidence, faith and courage in my work, vocal stability, as well as more structure in my songwriting work. Katja really does her best to help you move forward, she does this with dedication and out of a genuine desire to see you grow and get better. She does it from her heart, you just feel it. I have loved working with her, and felt safe, seen and heard. Her tips and tricks are professional, and for me: life changing.Because of her, I look differently at my voice, my body and my art.”
— Nephtalie Van der Borght, singer-songwriter at Ly Belle
“I have a Bachelor of Music in classical voice and have been a vocal performance coach and professional singer myself for about fifteen years, so I know my way around my voice (and voices in general) in many ways. However I had a few lingering bad habits in my own singing that I’d never addressed and techniques I’d never solidified from when I first started formal singing training as a teenager that I felt were really holding me back, especially as I started work on a fairly ambitious original vocal project.
I sought Katja’s help to re-establish the basics and to explore the limits of my vocal capabilities. It was really clear that she knew her stuff, both vocally and musically – it was really important to me that she understood where I was coming from with a classical background but also the direction I’m going in, which is much more focused on a science-based technique to employ a range of popular stylistic elements, explore the different vocal modes and my range possibilities within them.
I got SO much out of my work with Katja – my sessions with her were the highlight of my week. I was able to identify and fix some really simple breathing and support problems that I can see in my students but that I couldn’t see or address in myself which, as all singers know, forms the basis for everything you do with the voice. I also really dived deep into using my voice high and loud (what some might call ‘belting’) in all its different forms (the CVT vocal modes) – something that has always been a hang up for me as a classical singer. I still can’t believe what I was (and am) able to achieve. We also worked on resonance through overtone singing which has really added a shimmer to my sound (and is super fun!).
Katja blows me away with her breadth of knowledge not only of the voice itself, but also a variety of vocal pedagogies. I can’t imagine a situation where she wouldn’t be able to meet a learner at their individual point of need, as she draws on a very extensive range of experience and can reframe concepts in different ways until it sinks in. I really can’t recommend Katja highly enough!”
— Mandy van Zanen, singer, musician, songwriter
“If you are looking for a place to get back in connection with your art & creativity, this is the place to be! Working with Katja has helped me to place focus on myself, my voice and my creative work again in a playful way, check in with my voice and work daily, and to find joy again in working on my own voice next to a full teaching load. It has offered me a change of perspective on my own singing in sound, embodiment and storytelling. I got back in connection with voicework, found focus and tools to balance teaching and creative work, and was able to dive deeper in my creative message.”
— Saskia Bak, singer-songwriter & vocal coach at Sing with Sass
“I’ve performed and recorded for years. At some point I noticed I started putting songs in lower keys, because it felt more comfortable for my voice. Sing Everything has made me ready to make full use of my vocal range. Now I have more control, especially over the use of the whole wide spectrum of tone colors that my voice is capable of. Not only do I have a better understanding of my instrument, but also more possibilities for musical expression.”
— Estrella Acosta, singer at Estrella Acosta & Esquina 25
“I’ve been singing for more than 20 years and my career has taken various turns, like releasing a couple of albums as a rock singer, doing an acoustic solo project, singing musical theatre, performing and touring with a 10-piece Latin party band. One of the things I was struggling with in my singing, was that my muscles felt completely tense. When I had to sing 4-5 gigs in a week, or do a recording session, I was always struggling, and singing rock music felt really hard. I reached a point where I wanted to get rid of this problem, I wanted to sing with power, but without all the struggle. The problem was, although I had learned a lot from copying other singers and trying to figure out what they were doing, and also gained a good technical base from my voice lessons at the music school and conservatory, I still felt like I needed to access other techniques in order to solve my singing struggles.
Katja’s online classroom ‘Sing Everything’ was my first experience ever in taking a voice class online, and it was really good! Within the first 15 minutes of my first online class, I completely forgot I was in an online lesson, and felt like I was sitting in the same room, at the same table with Katja. She is so helpful and kind, respectful of all participants questions, and very clear in her explanations. It didn’t even matter that English isn’t my first language, I had no problem whatsoever understanding her.
In Sing Everything, I learned using my support muscles, and became aware of how to make very powerful sounds without any discomfort whatsoever. The results were immediate, and it was really great to hear the immediate results in other participants’ voices too. I also enjoyed working on modifying the vocal tract, and learn how to access more harmonics. I really like how my voice sounds when I’m applying all of those things! Before taking the course I had read the CVT book. But it wasn’t until I had worked with Katja that the book made sense. Now, after the course, I’m reading the book again and it’s all so much clearer!
As a teacher, I can also pass these new tools on to my voice students. Both beginners and experienced singers that I teach were blown away by the breath management tools, and are now more confident in their own voices!”
— Nicolás Tabarracci, singer at The Storytellers Duo and singing teacher at Alambique Lab
“Before I started working with Katja, I felt stuck, needing to realign. I had a desire to record an album, and wanted to get my voice back in shape. Despite being technically skilled through studies in many vocal methodologies, I didn’t know how I wanted to sound anymore. I was looking for a sound that was more connected – reflecting more of me. I was also suffering from imposter syndrome, which was holding me back both in my singing and teaching.
Through working with Katja in 1:1 coaching and in her program Sing From The Source, things started shifting on many levels. I reconnected with playfulness, and that spread out to areas in my whole life. My singing became gentler, more expressive and dynamic. I found my own sound that was aligned with the stories I wanted to tell. My vocal range expanded, and singing started feeling much easier and more connected.
My creative flow exploded and I ended up writing not just one, but TWO albums, that I now feel confident bringing to the recording studio! Through the coaching, I learned to fully embrace my identity as a rock and metal vocalist, which helped me expand my artistry, and let go of my limiting beliefs around teaching. There were also a lot of money blocks that got cleared, and right now my income has doubled, while I’m doing way less than before!”
— Judith Luimes, singer-songwriter at Signs of Stillness and coach at C-Central
“I’ve studied classical singing, had voice lessons at a musical theatre school, and at the conservatory for popular music. I also started my own singing school in Buenos Aires. With the techniques I studied before, including the musical theatre studies, I still couldn’t access all the sounds I wanted to produce. Some teachers told me: “These sounds are not healthy”, and others said “It’s this singers’ personality that makes them sound like this, you are different”. And of course, I have my own personality too, but what if I want to make that sound? I knew it must be possible for a human voice to do so, because I was hearing it! So hearing it wasn’t possible, made me feel very frustrated. I tried on my own, and I was close to sounding like I wanted to, but it didn’t feel comfortable yet.
I joined Katja’s online classroom Sing Everything, and it was amazing! It was my first time studying online, and to be honest, I was a bit sceptical. I was wondering what I’d learn from studying with a real person, and how this would be different from watching videos. It was like having Katja in my own home! Katja’s personality makes it very easy to establish a connection with her. Some teachers use difficult words and are very serious and solemn in their approach, which creates a distance, but the way Katja teaches feels very personal and easy to understand. And the results are right there! You don’t have to wait six weeks to hear results, it’s right there!
I’m now adding new songs to my repertoire with much more confidence, I know that I can do it! Now it’s easier and faster to find out what I have to do in order to sound in a specific way. And I also developed a more kinaesthetic sense: I feel that I am now very connected to my body and aware of how to move and fine-tune very specific parts. I loved the layered approach of tuning the vocal tract, one part at a time. I got so much out of the course as a teacher too. Explaining breathing and support to my students is now suddenly so easy! Now I can explain vocal technique to my students in a much more organized way, and really build things up “completely from scratch”. I feel more confident as a teacher, and my students love what I can offer them now.
The online platforms that Katja uses for her course are very easy to use and make the learning experience fantastic. The course page with the lesson materials and lesson replays is always open in my internet browser, it’s like a reference library I can return to whenever I want to. It’s super comfortable too: you can immerse yourself in deep study while being at home in your pyjamas and slippers! And it’s not like you’re spending time with your computer, but you’re connected with other people around the world who are sharing exactly the same passion for the voice as you have. What could be better than that!”
— Ayelen Insua, singer at The Storytellers Duo and singing teacher at Alambique Lab
“Katja is a great and enthousiastic teacher, with deep and detailed knowledge of the voice and how it works. I find her lessons inspirational and I recommend her strongly. She’s the kind of teacher that makes you sing the songs you never dared to sing and has solutions for every ‘problem’ along the way. Inspiring!”
— Margriet Sjoerdsma, songmaker, composer, vocalist