Los Angeles Voice Teachers

Christopher Youmans

Chris is an award-winning singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Santa Cruz, CA. He started guitar lessons at age 5 and has an extensive background in traditional Bluegrass and Irish flat picking guitar, Jazz voice, and Pop songwriting/composition and guitar. Chris graduated with a B.A. in Music from UC Berkeley, where he studied Jazz Voice and Guitar. He is a recipient of the prestigious Eisner Prize at UC Berkeley for “creative achievement of the highest order in Music”.

In 2016 Chris released his debut album, ‘Make Things Right’, a project he spent two years writing, arranging, producing, and recording with a team of 40 musicians. He has toured the West Coast with his band, the Sound Agency, and as a back-up vocalist for a number of Los Angeles-based artists. For eight years, Chris has taught music across multiple genres in guitar, voice, songwriting, musicianship, harmony, and performance workshops to students of all ages. His philosophy is to teach within the framework of each student’s learning style, experience level, and musical interests. Chris is also a certified Power Yoga teacher and incorporates meditative elements of yoga into his music practicing methods.

Arthur Smeall

A native of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Arthur Smeall has been playing music all of his life. He started formal training on voice and cello at age five. Since then, he has picked up other instruments including guitar, bass, and drums. In 2012, Arthur was accepted and enrolled at Berklee College of Music in Boston. As a cello principal, Arthur studied under Eugene Friesen of the Paul Winter Consort, and Mike Block of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. Arthur completed his Bachelor’s in Professional Music in May of 2016. Shortly after, Arthur released his first 6-track EP entitled Stuck in Space and Time, consisting of original compositions that he produced and recorded with his peers.

Arthur has lived in Los Angeles since October of 2016. He has sung in the bass section of the Angel City Chorale. He had a residency playing live cello weekly at the Urban Press Winery in Downtown Burbank. He regularly performs in Hollywood as a bassist with the rock band Cinema Patrol. He continues to work as a freelance session and live musician, and private instructor, while writing, producing, and performing his own music. Arthur’s passion for music runs deep because it is the most universal of all languages.

Tyler Stein

After graduating from New York University with a Bachelor’s of Vocal Performance Cum Laude, Tyler began performing professionally as a member of Actor’s Equity Association. In 2012, he was in consideration for Frankie Valli for the Chicago production of "Jersey Boys." His passion for film composing and education brought him to the West Coast after working as a hook singer for Hip Hop label, King’s Vision Entertainment and Michael Gilboe of Broadway Bullet.

Since then, he has served over 100 students as a voice and piano teacher, piano accompanist, stage and film director and specializes in working with youth students making their transitions into adult voices. Tyler teaches classical, rock, funk, pop piano, vocal jazz, pop, musical theater and vocal percussion styles. In 2015, he helped develop special needs arts programming with Arts4LA’s Activate Arts Leadership program, sponsored by the LA County Arts Commission. His work with adult with Autism at Inclusion Films produced the first film musical by and for the population, set to premiere on the COX cable networks in September set to his original music. A member of the Society of Composers and Lyricists, Tyler’s film music has accompanied films at the Catalina Island Film Festival, Las Vegas Black Film Festival, and Ft. Worth Indie; in 2016, his music was nominated for best score at the Maverick Movie Awards. Tyler's Range: E2-G#5.

Lauren Carter

Lauren Carter holds a Bachelor of Music, Vocal Performance from Northwestern University and a Master of Music, Vocal Performance from University of Southampton, UK. She is an award-winning soprano and has crossed over as a recording artist.

Lauren has been teaching voice in the Los Angeles metro area for five years, including positions on the faculty of AMDA, The French Conservatory of Beverly Hills and Music Nation in addition to running her own company, Lauren Carter Vocal Coaching. She coaches students of all style, age and level of ability from beginner to pro.

Lauren's current singing engagements include a residency at San Manuel Casino and engagements El Camerata Singers of Long Beach. She is currently studying with Gabriel Vamvelscu who has performed several roles with LA Opera.

Christy Knowings

Christy Knowings is an actress, vocalist, model, writer, dancer, director and comedian best known for her starring role on Nickelodeons' sketch comedy series All That.

During her time on the award winning program she worked closely with stars like Kenan Thompson (SNL), Nick Cannon (America's Got Talent) and Amanda Bynes (What I Like About You, The Amanda Show). Christy is also a recurring character on Sesame Street, alongside her Emmy-nominated twin brother Chris, a series regular who stars on the show. She has additionally been featured in many voice overs for cartoons and commercials and has tackled lead, complex character roles on stage.

Christy is an accomplished vocalist who writes using piano primarily. Her self-composed single, Being, was featured in the star-studded film Mother and Child. She has additionally spotlighted in various bands, spanning the musical spectrum (pop, classical, reggae, hip-hop, jazz, and soul).

Currently, Christy is working on her pop album to be released through Sony/Universal.

Mia Minichiello

Mia Minichiello is a songwriter with master craftsmanship of melodies and words. She has had major label, film and TV placements and her songs have been covered by artists in genres ranging from pop to Latin to Urban.
Some of Mia's major label releases include Becky G (RCA/Kemosabe) and Lia Marie Johnson (Capitol). Recently, Mia wrote the theme song for DreamWorks Television Animation's series, "Trolls: The Beat Goes On," which debuted on Netflix in early 2018. Mia has had numerous placements in major motion pictures including "Leap!" starring Elle Fanning, and is included on the film's soundtrack alongside Sia and Carly Rae Jepsen. She has also had recurring songs in Freeform's hit television show "Pretty Little Liars" and CBS's "Under the Dome".

Before embarking on her career, Mia's master craftsmanship of melodies and words landed her an invitation to join the inaugural class of USC's prestigious Popular Music Performance program. Now one of their most successful graduates, Mia continues to collaborate with top songwriters and producers to create a growing catalog of memorable and relevant songs.

Mindia Luo

Mindia is a singer-songwriter-cellist who sings and plays the cello simultaneously. An artist who brings a new kind of alternative pop sentimentality, Mindia believes good music travels through genre and time and is deeply connected to her artistic vision. She makes music that paints pictures and captivates moods in listeners' minds with elements of catchy dark pop melodies, nostalgic lyrics, classical string arrangements and intricate sound design.

Mindia is an alumni of Berklee College of Music where she studied music business as well as cello performance. She has appeared on the main stage of Outside the Box Music Festival, New England Indonesian Festival, Berklee Performance Center and numerous other venues. Mindia is currently based in Los Angeles where you can find her performing as a speaker of TEDxManhattan Beach and regularly on the setlist of Mint, Bar20, Federal Bar, and Mid-City Music Lounge.

As a music educator, Mindia has specialized in various styles of cello and vocal performance since 2012. In her classes she combines fun exercises with repertoire that suits each student's goal and keeps a detailed log for progress and improvements. Her students ranges from the age of 8 to 60. She is motivated, detail oriented and has a passion for teaching.

Jess Kallen

Jess Kallen is a versatile artist with a well-rounded musicianship. As a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer and vocalist holding over fifteen years of musical experience, she immerses herself in a wide variety of musical genres including jazz, neo-soul, indie, folk, classical, Americana, rock, blues, funk and other styles and has studied with the best at USC's Thornton School of Music in the Studio/Jazz Guitar and Songwriting Departments. She is a working musician who plays for various artists throughout the Los Angeles area including MOTHER, Grace Corsi, Kendra Calhoun and Olivia Morreale.

Jess has written a variety of original material for several bands and artists and is currently curating songs for an upcoming EP as a solo artist. She enjoys sharing and connecting with her students through art and learning and loves to be a part of their musical growth.

Matthew James

Matthew James is a formerly signed Independent artist based out of Los Angeles, CA. Spending his formative years in Morocco with his Norwegian-American father and his African-American mother before moving to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Matthew fell in love with music as a young boy. Introduced by his supportive musician father to the songwriting of The Beatles, the stage presence and undeniable showmanship of James Brown and the epic artistry of Michael Jackson, Matthew didn't just absorb these influences but symbiotically ingested them. With a natural affinity at age six, Matthew quickly learned piano and drums while also excelling at singing, melody and poetry.

Graduating from the McNally Smith College of Music in Saint Paul in 2014, Matthew enjoyed his first taste of success with the six-piece ensemble The Common Cassettes, who toured throughout the U.S. with marquee performances in Seattle, Austin and Rochester, New York. This notoriety landed him at Minneapolis' largest independent label Pledge Empire Records, with whom he found himself producing, ghostwriting, composing and featuring on various songs for groundbreaking Hip-Hop/Rap artists such as Ced Linus, Sti-Lo Reel, Prince Carlton and Louis P. During this prolific time he was nominated "Best RnB Artist of the Year" by the Twin Cities Urban Music Awards while also scoring compositions for "Worldwide Star Search" in Hollywood, performing with 3x Grammy-Award winners, Jamaica Bennett and Pippi Ardennia and collaborating with former NFL Defensive Linemen, Esera Tuaolo for "Hate in Any Form is Wrong", an event to foster diversity in sports and anti-bullying among youth.

Aside from playing live music, collaborating with 3x Grammy award winners and producing several artists, Matthew continues to teach beginner/intermediate artists who are looking to improve their skills as a musician.

Whether you want to learn how to hit a note, play a riff or event, elevate yourself as a singer/songwriter, Matthew James has you covered!

Seth Jeremy

Seth Jeremy is available for one on one or small group lessons on the saxophone, clarinet, piano, guitar, vocals, beginning bass and drum. Available to all styles, ages and levels in your home or mine in Los Angeles, CA. Lessons are tailored to individual styles and goals.

Seth has been teaching for over sixteen years, primarily working with children. He has worked with Grammy winning producers and touring musicians in helping them hone up on their music theory and piano chops.

Seth Jeremy teaches the fun way by tailoring each lesson to fit the student's needs and goals.