Julie Reed graduated from the University of Denver in 1994 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Music – Vocal Performance.
She immediately started teaching private voice lessons and performing in Operas and other venues.

My Musical Journey

When I started teaching voice and vocal performance 25 years ago, I knew I wanted to create something different than what I had experienced in my own vocal lessons. Even though I had fabulous teachers, I felt woefully unprepared when I got to college. I had numerous performance opportunities in my youth, but I did not have the musical theory and knowledge to match my talent.  I felt like I was drowning in my music classes; there wasn’t enough time for me to catch up.  I remember sitting in my theory class as they were talking about a musical concept assuming everyone knew all of the key signatures – which I did not. I felt ashamed and embarrassed. I knew right then that I never wanted any singer to feel that way; I wanted to create lessons and programs that would prepare young singers to fully succeed with their talent.

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Singers tend to get to college behind the game compared to instrumentalists. An instrumentalist learns theory as part of learning their instrument. Piano players have to learn the notes & rhythms to be able to play their songs, especially to make it into a music program. Violinists have to learn the sound of the relationship of notes in order to play accurately. Singers on the other hand are selected only based on raw talent. They find themselves thrown into a sea of instrumentalists and graded against them. As you can imagine, this is overwhelming! Fully half of the music majors at Denver University dropped out of music by the end of their sophomore year because of this technical handicap.