IVA Voice and Music Studio has a new home!

Training details, scheduling, and vocal resources will now be available through ivavoice.studio.

IVA VOICE STUDIO

IVA (Emily Samson Tepe) gives private vocal training to promising singers looking to develop their authentic voice. She listens for a student’s unique talents and works to develop them through technique, expression, and artistic guidance. Emily also gives public masterclasses and organizes live performances for her students to help develop their stage presence. Vocal styles include classical, crossover, musical theatre, jazz and pop rock. Artistic development guidance is provided for select singers, as is songwriting coaching.

Emily thoroughly prepares students for auditions and performances with vocal, musical, and mental training, helping them present the “full package”: voice, expression, and charisma on-stage. Her students have been admitted to the Cab Calloway School of the Performing Arts (at a high success rate), The Tisch School of the Performing Arts, Northwestern University, Marymount Manhattan College, the Berkeley School of Music, and the New School. They are frequent soloists and competition winners, Broadway cast members in local and national tours, and rising pop/rock artists with national exposure. They are also musicians who sing for pleasure, whether in community theatre productions or at home with friends.
 
All ages are accepted for training. Younger students work on basic vocal technique like breathing, vocal stretches, musicianship, and communication in performance, while older students work on more intricate vocal technique as well as interpretation and stage presence. Further training includes diction, theory, and basic piano. Emily coaches her students on their songwriting as appropriate, while helping students choose existing repertoire that suits their voice best.

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Availability

Emily (Mon thru Thu); Asha (Mon, Wed thru Fri 6:30-9pm ET & Sat 11am-2pm); Geoff (Thu & Fri)

Instructors

Meet Emily’s talented colleagues and co-teachers:

Asha Jené

Asha Jené

Asha Jené is a classically-trained singer, who is known for her unique mezzo-soprano voice that draws in the listener with its warm and sultry qualities. A native of Brooklyn, Asha discovered that singing was her passion at the age of three.

She later continued her singing career at  Fiorello H. LaGuardia Arts High School, as a vocal major where she performed in Gilbert and Sullivan’s, The Gondoliers and Victor Herbert’s, Naughty Marietta. Asha then furthered her studies at NYU, where she graduated with a degree in Vocal Performance, specializing in Classical Voice. Asha’s credits include Parable of The Sower-An Opera, her portrayal of Cherubino in The Marriage of FigaroHairspray! and more!

Asha feels blessed to have been given the ability to sing. She thanks God for all of her wonderful opportunities and is always excited to share her gift.  ashajene.com

Camille Natta

Camille Natta

Camille Natta graduated from Oxford University, where she won the Spirit of Cuppers Award for her performance and directorial debut in What the Butler Saw. She acted in several films in London and performed in multiple plays in Paris, including productions at the prestigious La Cartoucherie and Le Theatre de la Tempete, where she worked with acclaimed director Philippe Adrien.

She was the female lead opposite Jean Reno and Christopher Lee in the cult favorite Crimson Rivers 2; the lead in the independent feature Hari Om, which was shot entirely in Rajasthan, India; recently worked opposite Zoe Saldana in Nina and is a series regular in the web series Sexpectations. Most recently, she played Luise Rainer — who won the 1936 Academy Award for Best Actress — in Ryan Murphy’s new series “Hollywood,” currently streaming on Netflix.  Alongside award-winning director Erick Zonca (The Dreamlife of Angels), Natta was collaborating director and co-writer on the feature thriller Julia, which was nominated for the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and starred Tilda Swinton. Camille has worked with Larry Moss in LA, Sue Cowen from RADA in London, Teatre de Complicité in London, Steve Calfa in Paris, Jack Waltzer in London (Dustin Hoffman, John Voight, Marlon Brando) and Judith Weston (“Directing Actors”), Margie Haber, Liz Howard (voice) as well as DaJuan Johnson for audition technique.

Since completing the UCLA Professional Screenwriting Program, Natta has been living in Los Angeles while raising two young children. She has done voice over work, recently performing Rooney Mara’s role in Terrence Malick’s Song to Song, and has collaborated on several multi-media installations. Her latest work with photographer Linda Tuloup is part of the permanent collection at the MEP in Paris.

Camille offers acting lessons and teaches audition technique, which is especially important for today’s virtual auditions, so students can land roles and be confident in vocal competitions.

Geoff Bennington

Geoff Bennington

Geoff Bennington is a guitarist, singer, songwriter and teacher based in New York City. Drawing from his experience in touring indie rock bands as well as his training in classical composition, he has developed a reputation as a versatile instrumentalist with the ability to play fluidly in a number of genres.

Playing since he was 10 years old, Geoff developed his passion for guitar playing in the vibrant diy scene of northern New Jersey in the late 90’s and early aughts. He continued his musical education at the University of Rochester, graduating with a degree in music composition. He began teaching during this time and has since held teaching positions at the University of Vermont Summer Studies, The Lake Champlain Waldorf School, Music on the Move and Puca Music as well as teaching his own private lessons. Following his move to NYC in 2011, he has been the manager of Rivington Guitars, developing an extensive knowledge of vintage and current guitar gear that he brings into his lessons as well as his performances. His own project, Gillian, has released 3 albums that have received accolades from the likes of SPIN Magazine and Consequence of Sound among others. He is also the lead guitar player for Jeremy and the Harlequins and has toured with them throughout the US and the UK.  

Emi Night

Emi Night

 
Emi Night is a songwriter from the Ohio River Valley.  She discovered her passion for singing and writing music at a young age, making up songs and harmonizing to music on the radio with her dad on long drives.  Emi took up the guitar when she was 7 and her second-grade teacher taught her to strum along to folk songs, traditionals, and church hymns in Madison, Indiana. Songwriting guided Emi through her teenage years, touring on the Midwest and East Coast DIY/Indie circuit as a band leader.  Her music later led her to Denver, CO where her band Strawberry Runners came to life, headlining local venues and opening for bands like Mitski, Hop Along, The Fruit Bats, The Felice Brothers, Lvl Up, The Sidekicks, Nathaniel Rateliff, and The Lumineers.
 

While in Denver, she studied Art, Play, and Narrative Therapies, earning her BA in Songwriting, Creative Therapy, and Music Management at Goddard College.  Over the years she has taught art and music to all ages in various environments, from alternative education settings like Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio-Emilio, and free schools, to urban and rural public schools, summer camps, community education, and private lessons. Drawing from the methodologies of each, as well as her therapeutic background, she developed her unique student-centered pedagogy and therapeutic teaching approach. She sees songwriting and band leadership as not only expressions of creativity, but as lenses to view our internal and external worlds and tools for vibrant growth through transition and trauma. She recently moved to Brooklyn and is eager to share her love of songwriting and band leadership with students at her studio in Brooklyn or remotely.

strawberryrunners.bandcamp.com

LESSON POLICIES

Effective August 10, 2021

1. FEES — total monthly lesson fees are paid at the first lesson of each month with Venmo (@Emily-Tepe), cash, or check. Checks are to be made out to IVA Voice and Music LLC. No lessons are given on credit and no postdated checks are accepted. Any returned checks must be reimbursed with added fees. If you have more than two checks returned, you will be put on a cash only basis. Please discuss any extenuating circumstances with me.

2. LESSON SCHEDULING – Lesson scheduling is handled directly with Tiffany Fung by text or Whatsapp (646-801-3864) or by email at tiffany@ivavoice.com.

3. CANCELLATIONS — If a lesson is missed without a minimum of 48 hours notice, you will be expected to pay for that lesson before receiving any other lessons. Please notify Emily and/or Tiffany as early as possible if you will have to miss a lesson. In case of sudden illness of a student or parent, please let us know first thing in the morning before going to work or school, or you will be expected to pay for that day’s lesson.

4. TEACHER ILLNESS – If teachers are ill and need to cancel lessons, we will find a time to make up the missed lesson with you. If we cannot find a suitable time, we will refund the lesson.

5. SNOW POLICY – If there is snow and you are not able to come to your lesson or do not feel comfortable driving, I will be happy to make up the lesson or do the lesson over Skype/FaceTime during your lesson time; however, I will not be able to refund the lesson.

6. PROMPTNESS — If you are late, you should still expect the lesson to end on time. If I am running late, I will try to give you your full lesson time. Please allow for some time flexibility.

7. PROCEDURE — When you arrive at the studio for your lesson, please come into the house and wait until the previous student’s lesson is over.

8. MATERIALS — Come to lessons with a voice recorder and sheet music in a book or a three ring binder, or loaded onto an iPad.