About Anita Stryker

I have a confession: singing has never come naturally to me. Musicality, creativity and the drive to express and discover does. That has been the fuel that kept me obsessed with the mechanics of what exactly happens when we embody vocal freedom. This obsession is what led me on a continual path of discovery to all the answers I sought.  Through this path, I have been blessed to work with wonderful teachers and mentors, who have empowered me to learn more than I thought possible about how to heal even the most challenging vocal issues.

One thing I have found is that vocal freedom isn’t just a mechanical action. Yes, mechanics are important. But beyond that, freedom is about getting out of the places in our mind that have us boxed into fear-based thinking – fear that literally manifests as vocal tension.

There were times in my process, where I literally had to throw away everything I knew and find my voice through the unknown, specifically through breath-connected improvised movement and vocalization – something I now call “body-led singing”.

For me, singing and speaking are about expanding the mind, letting go of fear and expressing exactly what it is we wish to express. I believe that the reason singing can be so confronting and rewarding is that it literally teaches us to create new pathways in our brains as we access our musical and language processing centers, along with breath and body awareness.

Now that I have shared the real stuff that qualifies me as a voice teacher, I will offer my credentials. I officially started my vocal studies at the University of Santa Cruz, where I received my BA in music emphasizing voice. I went on to study with Sally Munro, an Alexander Technique teacher, Linda Brice, and Bryce Lupoli.  In addition I am a dancer, dance facilitator, yoga teacher, speaker, and certified life-coach.