Today we’d like to introduce you to Caitlin Duckworth
Hi Caitlin, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
As an artist, you often get asked where your love for your craft began or when you knew you would pursue the art. I think the heart of my story is that I was just a kid who really liked to sing. I was always singing to myself- singing to myself on the swing set, singing under my breath in class, singing loudly in the car and the shower. I sang to comfort myself, I sang to entertain myself, and I sang to understand myself. My best friend as a kid was my CD player, and I spent a lot of time in my room alone, just singing along to Britney Spears and hand-me-down NOW CDs.
I didn’t start any formal voice training until I was in Middle School. Taylor Swift had just risen to popularity, and my parents got me the Taylor Swift Debut CD, a guitar, and guitar and singing lessons for Christmas (my mom’s always been an extraordinary gift giver). I was pretty bad at guitar because I didn’t have the discipline to practice at 13, but I took to the singing lessons right away. It’s been very fun to teach at the height of the Taylor Swift craze, knowing that she is also the reason I have the life I do now. I had the privilege of being mentored by a phenomenal teacher named Relena Luss of Bay Area Theater and Voice Academy, who still influences much of who I am as a voice teacher today. I had been successful in various choir and solo competitions and performed in shows regularly and many teachers in my life suggested I consider pursuing music in higher education.
I was a little leary of pursuing the arts, and I pretty much flipped a coin on whether I would pursue music or something more “practical.” I decided to apply to the top music programs in the country in addition to the top Texas state schools for Math, and whatever was the best program I got into, I would go. I ended up studying Vocal Performance at New York University, which changed the game for me entirely. Being in a small program filled with other talented and motivated artists in the heart of NYC was everything of baby Caitlin singing in her bedroom’s dreams and the best decision I ever made.
My interests have always been singing first, music second, and performing last. While I enjoyed being on stage, my favorite moments were always in practice rooms, voice lessons, coaching sessions, and dress rehearsals. After completing my Bachelor of Music Degree and performing in New York, I decided to dive deeper into vocal pedagogy. I attended the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University for Voice Performance and Pedagogy. Diving into the science side of singing there solidified my journey to becoming a voice teacher. Pairing the science and fact with the kinesthetic experience and artistry is incredibly fun and rewarding as a singing instructor.
Postgrad, I immediately went into teaching full-time and fell in love with helping my singers achieve their goals. The way my student’s faces light up when a sound or a concept clicks for the first time, or they finally hit that high note, is a complete thrill. I always tell my singers I have the best job in the world. I just sing good songs with good people. I had the privilege of teaching at a few popular Houston establishments and as a professor at Lone Star College- University Park. While navigating serving my wide variety of singers, I quickly realized that my fancy education did little to educate me on the contemporary styles a majority of my singers were singing. Academia is far behind in teaching contemporary music, including anything pop or belted in style. It’s even considered taboo to bring up teaching or singing these styles at some conservatories.
At the advice of some colleagues, I invested in courses at Shenandoah’s Contemporary Commercial Music Insitute, and the different lenses, concepts, and methods they offered for voice teaching for contemporary music lit a fire under me. For those not immersed in the singing world, I like to make the analogy to dance. Imagine you’ve only ever been a ballerina and were taught that the epitome of dance is this rigid set of movement and aesthetics. You devote your life to ballet and are trained to think anything else is a less-than art form. Then, you take a hip-hop class, and you’re opened to a whole new vocabulary of movement. The rules are less rigid, individuality is more celebrated, and you realize that maybe ballet is just one style of dance and not the end-all-be-all. And all of a sudden, the entire world opens to more pathways to move and create.
Contemporary Commercial Music techniques and style quickly became my teaching obsession, and now, my specialty and happy place as an instructor. The CCM voice pedagogy world is growing rapidly, but it’s still more “rare” to be an instructor specializing in these techniques, and that’s been a huge selling point for our program and leap forward in serving our singers.
Even though I felt fulfilled by working at various studios and the college early in my teaching career, I felt my singers weren’t being fully served by the organizations, especially those who were super invested and passionate singers, auditioning regularly or working towards becoming a professional or semi-professional career. The Big Box Music Academy, where I did most of my work, didn’t have any consistency in philosophy or methodology between teachers or a community where we could problem-solve, and our singers weren’t provided the resources and space they needed to invest in their craft fully. It became clear to me quickly that my high-level and invested singers deserved more resources and opportunities, the teaching artists I worked with deserved more support and community, and we could do better together.
In 2021, I opened Houston Voice Studio in a charming brick-and-mortar space in Rice Village. I always dreamed of having a white grand piano, a la Elton John, and the moment I walked into the space for the first time and saw the black brick wall, I was completely sold and saw my vision come to life. I spent the first few years building my client base solo and had the privilege of working with inspired, motivated, and talented singers. HVS quickly became the home of a large variety of singers, from musical theater performers (a lot of musical theater performers) to pop enthusiasts, singers returning to voice work after time off, lifelong singers investing in singing training for the first time, and artists working on their first single or EP.
After our first year in business, we had a growing waitlist and a daily influx of inquiries and applications, more than I could ever handle as a solo teaching artist. It became clear that our singer-focused program was something the singing artists of Houston were craving. When I named our program Houston Voice Studio, I always knew I wanted the program to be bigger than myself. It was always in the vision to have more like-minded instructors, serve as many singers as possible, and create a community for artists to connect and thrive in Houston. We set out to expand at the first opportunity.
In 2023, we added two instructors to our team, Shannon Crowley and Emma Hayden, and it was the best decision the studio ever made. Serving more singers, collaborating, and establishing the program was a real greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts moment. I will forever be grateful for their trust and support of our vision in the early days. When our new instructors’ schedules filled overnight, and our waitlist was still growing, we knew we needed to take a bigger leap. When a unit three times the size of our original space became available next door (a rarity in the Rice Village area), we jumped at the first opportunity to take our program to the next level.
In 2024, after building out the space, we moved into our new space with multiple teaching rooms and a performance area. We expanded our team to include more like-minded, talented, and passionate teaching artists to serve even more of Houston’s inspired singers. Multiplying our program this year has been a complete thrill. Expanding any business has challenges, but the reward of helping singers meet their goals and creating a space for artists to thrive makes the hardships seem small and the privileges enormous. Arriving at the end of 2024 and reflecting on the journey behind us feels like the satisfying completion of a marathon, where your legs are tired, but you start to think about the first chance to sign up for another one- or maybe a triathlon.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being an artist and an entrepreneur is a double whammy of personal reflection and development. So many hang-ups come with our artist training, especially in academia. You’re constantly told you’re not good enough or that someone better could come and take your place at any moment. And while I understand this is supposed to be motivating, it breeds a sense of scarcity in the artist community. Artists frequently take low-paying gigs, over-schedule themselves, don’t hold up boundaries, or are afraid to step outside of their comfort zones artistically, personally, or professionally because of this constant inner narrative of fear. Unpacking this scarcity mentality for myself has been integral to my development as a musician, teaching instructor, and business owner. I have the immense privilege of being mentored by Jess Baldwin of True Colors Creativity and Artist Coaching, and she has helped me navigate so many inner struggles and blockades I couldn’t put a finger on why I was experiencing. She has completely changed my life, and I constantly seek to pay it forward from the lessons I learn from her. She introduced me to a larger group called SECO- Speakeasy Cooperative, a community for voice/creative service-based business owners who have also been a great community when working through the challenges of owning a business and being a creative.
Self-funding our program and figuring out the inner workings of creating a stable and reliable business has been challenging. However, I believe being an entrepreneur has always been in my cards. My parents are small business owners, so being raised with an entrepreneur’s limitless mindset and ruthless work ethic has been a constant and reliable source of inspiration as a business owner. We frequently joke that there was no way I was ever going to be able to be managed by someone because my parents haven’t had a boss as long as I’ve been alive. Plus, being able to call up your mom and discuss the pros and cons of different tax elections, how to deal with a client issue, or whether or not we’re paying too much for liability insurance is completely priceless.
Developing and growing a client base and program from scratch has been challenging at times, but we’re so lucky to have the support of our singers and community at Houston Voice Studio. We have a phenomenal core group of clients who constantly refer our program to other singers in the community. I am eternally grateful for their belief in me and our program. It wouldn’t be where it is today without their support.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Houston Voice Studio is a voice training program designed to take singers to the next level and help them accomplish their vocal and artistic goals through weekly voice lessons and unique performance opportunities.
We use science-based methods to demystify singing, build strength and coordination throughout the instrument, and develop practical and functional tools to sing in any genre. Our ultimate goal is to take the guesswork out of singing so our singers can focus on becoming the artists they’ve always imagined. Our faculty stays up-to-date with the latest techniques and evidence-based methods so our singers can have a technique that serves them inside and outside the studio. Each lesson is completely customized to our singer’s strengths, areas for growth, and long-term goals.
We invite our singers to test their singing and performance skills with our unique quarterly performance opportunities with live accompaniment. We coach our singers to execute technically under pressure, connect their singing to their stage presence, and command a stage. Whether our singers are preparing for auditions, a performance, or recording a demo, we challenge them to show up as the most authentic and dynamic version of themselves.
Whether our singers are singing musical theater, pop, original songs, or all of the above, we invite them to find a sound and artistic identity that is uniquely their own. Our studio challenges the old-school “one-size-fits-all” style of voice coaching and honors our singers’ strengths, niches, stylistic preferences, and artistic instincts. Our ultimate goal is cultivating an environment where singers can thrive as autonomous, unique, and creatively free artists.
After the hard work in voice lessons and preparing for performances, auditions, projects, or recordings, We want our singers to trust their technique and performance training and sing from the soul. We challenge our singers to stop waiting for the right moment and become the singers they’ve dreamed of being today. Our studio aims to inspire our singers to be lifelong musicians, performers, creatives, and music lovers.
Houston Voice Studio members include musical theatre singers leveling up for their auditions and performances, original artists at the beginning of their music career building a technical foundation, recording artists seeking to match their voice with their artistic identity, performing artists pursuing more functional and fulfilling singing, lapsed singers reconnecting with their voices, lifelong singers focusing on gaining new skills and control over their instrument, and kids and teens who love to sing and are looking for an outlet to explore their passion.
We’re located for in-person lessons at our gorgeous industrial modern space in Rice Village. Our phenomenal voice faculty team is highly trained, educated, experienced, and passionate about teaching voice. We keep our membership options and systems simple so singers can focus on their goals instead of payment and scheduling.
As a program, we are beyond proud that despite the changes that come with growing our brand, our vision of serving our singers to the best of our ability, creating a community for artists, and teaching artists to thrive has remained the center of our work.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
To any singer just starting, don’t be afraid to let it rip. Don’t worry about being perfect or being correct. Don’t worry about cracking or sounding bad. Open your mouth and sing your guts up. There will always be space for building techniques and tools to get you where you want to go, but the journey is much more challenging from a place of fear. For now, sing what you want to sing in the way you want to sing it.
To any teacher starting, remember that your job is to be a tour guide. Your job is to know about the different stops along the path- to be informed about a wide variety of genres, methodologies, and tools- but the path your singers take, what information they choose to take in, and where they want to go is entirely up to them. Teaching got much simpler when I realized my goal was to guide my singers on their journey and not force them onto a pre-set path. I encourage all teachers to study contemporary commercial music. Jazz, musical theater, and classical music make up a tiny fraction of the world’s music, and exploring CCM genres is empowering (and economic). And lastly, more than anything, more than being an expert, more than being a good singer, more than being excellent at playing block chords, your singers just want someone to hear them, know them, see them, and cheer them on.
To any business owner just starting out, believe violently in your vision. The vision for Houston Voice Studio has been an incredible guiding and grounding force on the journey so far, and I know it will be on the journey to come.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.houstonvoicestudio.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/houstonvoicestudio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/houstonvoicestudio
Image Credits
Raymond Sauceda
