Nora Maynard
WTMA Founder & Director
they/she
Voice, Violin, Piano, Songwriting, & YogaVoice
“Nora is not only an incredibly competent vocalist in her own right, but also a superb teacher. She has a warm and personable demeanor while also being professional. She works with what her students are most passionate about singing or playing and takes a holistic approach for using one’s instrument – I definitely wasn’t expecting to stretch or learn about the anatomy of the throat at the beginning, but it has factored into my technique improving dramatically.”
– Alana
Nora Maynard (she/her/hers & they/them/theirs) has been developing a dynamic teaching style since 2009, while simultaneously gaining stage experience around the Boston area and abroad. They have toured both as a singer-songwriter with their project Surefire Cure, as a back-up player for Anaís Azul, and as a soprano soloist with internationally touring social-justice-dialogue choir Voices21C. Nora earned a MM in Vocal Performance & Pedagogy from Longy School of Music in 2011, and as of 2020 is a Certified YogaVoice Teacher (CYVT).
Nora helps their voice students gain body awareness through multi-modal anatomy lessons, find ease of tone in the upper register, richness in the lower register, and a playful-yet-passionate attitude towards singing. For her violin students, she offers an economical left-hand technique, body-aware playing posture, and development of rich tone through balance and trust. An unofficial motto of Nora’s studio is that anything worth doing is worth how funny you look doing it, leading to a healthy dose of laughter in many lessons.
In 2015, their private studio blossomed into a teaching collective, the WholeTone Music Academy, which incentivizes its Teaching Artist members to incorporate mind-body work into music education. Nora feels called to bring the experience of solo and ensemble music-making back into community and family life. She herself grew up singing and playing everything from Elton John to Bach with her family. Whether you seek dramatic coaching to polish and refresh your operatic repertoire, are a karaoke connoisseur, or are trying to pick up music for the first time, Nora will work with you to enrich your experience of music-making.
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