Lessons
I offer lessons online and in person in Chicago's South Loop. Lessons are 50 minutes and open to all adults and select teenagers. Singers take lessons at the frequency that fits their needs.
Personalized Function
Get functional training that's tailored to your needs and timeline. I strike a relationship with my clients that focuses on deep functional recordation to take their voices towards long-term health, stability, flexibility and power, while giving them the best quick (and temporary) fixes for any pressing performances or recordings. The process is completely tailored to your specific voice, music and goals. No two students' processes are the same.
Personalized Coaching
Your voice, on your music, in your genres, in your performance or recording settings. I'm always looking to make sure that your singing affects me. Sounding "nice" is not the goal. I want your audiences to feel a deep connection to your performance and that starts with a clarity about what you're saying and how you are saying it to them, musically. I want you to feel that connection to your material so that you can create something irreplaceable.
Original music
Advising
When asked, I advise singers on their original music. I suggest key, melody, rhythm, tempo, volume, vowel color, register or lyric changes to help facilitate the delivery of the voice. And as a singer of original music myself, I understand firsthand the importance of the exploration process when it comes to originating a vocal part. I will even speak to how to create balance in the writing of the band for the tone, pitch or rhythmic feel of your vocal line.
professional demands
As a professional musician myself, I understand the world that my professional singers are working in. Writing, recording, live performing, health, timelines, windows of opportunity. I know that we must prioritize your immediate needs, while pushing you to continue towards more advanced goals. I am ready to help you come back to balance after a long tour, or after a particularly taxing role. It is my goal to help keep you centered in your instrument through the up and down demands of the industry.
Cross-Training
As a cross-trained singer myself, I not only intellectually understand the differences in authentic vocal production in various styles, but I feel the differences in my own body and can recreate them as part of demonstration and instruction. I know that the original styles you were trained to sing may not be sufficient for the direction you'd like to take your career. Let's build onto your skill-set, transforming your function and style.
Audition or performance prep
For singers who have a pressing performance or audition, I offer a functionally informed coaching session, as I help you parse through what you can effectively get control of in your pressing timeline, and what alternative approaches you could take. Do email me ahead of time, so that I can be as prepared on your material as you are.
What my clients say
Jam Alker
rock singer-songwriter & Recovery advocate
I have been working with Rachel Williams for four years now. She has molded me from a rock singer who was really good at "faking it" into an actual, real singer. I can now do things with my voice that I thought I was physically incapable of doing. I can now sing songs that I wanted to sing my whole life but had convinced myself that they were "out of my range." Rachel is far too humble to take credit for this but trust me when I tell you that I couldn't have done it without her. Rachel has the most beautiful and positive energy... she keeps you feeling safe while pushing your boundaries. Only a truly talented teacher can do that. She knows my voice better than I do and she always knows which vocal journey I am ready to undertake. She is tireless in her preparation and she's always willing to go the extra mile to support her students. Rachel did Zoom lessons to help warm me up while I was recording my last album in 2019 (pre-covid before Zoom lessons were a thing!) and she showed up backstage at House of Blues and The Riviera to help me prepare for big shows. What other voice teacher does that?!? Rachel Williams is an amazingly talented singer and a truly gifted teacher and even more importantly, she's a beautiful and generous soul. Highly recommend! 5 out of 5 stars!
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