3rd Voice :: Speech Level Singing Voice Training in Toronto

Biography

You immediately struck me as a teacher who really has a deeper understanding of the training process…”

-John Henny, Master SLS Instructor

Brandon Brophy, 3rd Voice Teacher and Director

Toronto voice teacher Brandon Brophy directs 3rd Voice and is a Certified Level 3 Instructor of Speech Level Singing (SLS). Brandon has been praised for his unique teaching style blending a light-hearted, passionate approach into a very efficient, insightful, and pragmatic learning experience for his students .

Having studied Speech Level Singing since 1995 with a teaching history that spans England and Ontario, he is the highest level instructor of SLS in central and eastern Canada. He currently spearheads the production of educational content for Speech Level Singing Intl for Endoora for singers and voice teachers around the world, and his pupils are some of the busiest in the industry.

Having empowered singers across every genre, some of Brandon’s pupils include:

• YTV’s The Next Star finalist and winner of many international vocal competition awards Alyssa Reid
• The lead swing from the national tour of Jersey Boys
• Lead singer from the winner of Toronto’s Battle of the Bands Reality Control
• Montreal vocalist and rising star Karine St-Marie
• Recording artists sent to him from Toronto Labels Amerigroup Music, House of Helder Records, and Bugeyed Records
• Musical theatre revue leads
• Stars of the Toronto jazz scene
• Countless rock band lead singers (Polarity; Captive; Braintoy)
• Session singers from Europe and North America
• Established and aspiring pop singers
• And many talented songwriters.

Previously, Brandon has worked as pop/rock voice teacher for Essex University in England, and was instrumental in bringing SLS to the famous Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in London, UK where he was invited to teach. Although now teaching voice back in his Ontario roots, he was among the first voice teachers to certify for teaching SLS in Europe, having been trained broadly in music, creative writing, and performance for stage, and is now committed to expanding his international experience and commitment as a voice educator.

Featured Above: Brandon Brophy with Jazz Legend Herbie Hancock, Columbia Recording Artist Nicole Atkins, Speech Level Singing Originator Seth Riggs, Justin Timberlake’s Lead Backing Singer Raab Stevenson, and New York Metropolitan Opera Star Tenor Philip Webb

At the Forefront of the New Music Community

Brandon is a voting member of the Juno’s Canadian Music Awards, and the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). He has also hosted one of the music industry’s most exciting audio show for singers, The Singer’s Edge, featuring celebrity musicians, prominent producers and music industry executives. He has also co-hosted a number of blogTO’s Arts Now podcast programs with Ella Cooper, Toronto’s most renowned face in the arts world. Brandon returned from the UK in 2006 and is committed towards building a stronger vocal and musical community locally, nationally, and internationally.

Brandon has also volunteered his time as Live Music Programming Coordinator where he was responsible for programming the live music and performances for Pride Toronto, one of the worlds largest outdoor, free, multi-disciplinary arts festivals in the world featuring 10 days of world class arts and cultural programming. Toronto’s Pride Week has been named the Best Festival in Canada by the Canadian Special Events Industry and is recognized as one of only Eight Signature Events in the city of Toronto. Pride Toronto is the third-largest in the world, the largest in North America, and the biggest festival of any kind in Toronto.

Influence and Inspiration

Although Brandon’s personal musical aesthetic is eclectic across every musical genre, he continues to have a passionate interest in soul music. Complimenting his deep commitment to singing, teaching and the expression of human experience, he also has a passionate interest in the acoustical properties of the voice, contemporary composition and improvisation, songwriting, music production, psychology, poetry and prose, literary criticism, philosophy, mythology and art, all of which inevitably find their way back to inspire and accelerate the learning of his students.

Vocal Roots

Brandon was a self-taught piano player as an early teenager but officially began his vocal training at age 15 with Soprano Carol Brown. Before he was a student of Maestro Seth Riggs and of the Speech Level Singing method back in 1995, Brandon came into singing as a teenager with a certain degree of natural proficiency, but lacked any ability to sing through his “break”. Stuck in the low and bottom part of his range, and having been classified as a Bass-Baritone, he lacked an ability to sing “high notes”. Considering his career options, he continued to study voice but focusing stylistically on musical theater through studies and performance at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton.

His studies later took him into performance for the actor at Ryerson University where his studies with Speech Level Singing began under voice teacher Bill Vincent in Toronto. Later, he continued to study music & creative writing independently in London England.

He has performed both his own music and that of others on stages from Toronto and Florida to the UK, working with and fronting bands, and developing his own projects.

Passionate Future

Brandon continues to study and research voice in Toronto, Los Angeles, and other cities worldwide, with the most highly regarded and trusted master voice teachers in the world including SLS orginator and pioneering maestro Seth Riggs himself, Dave Stroud, Wendy Parr, Dean Kaelin, John Henny, Jeffrey Skouson and Greg Enriquez.

“Every day we are different: We are living instruments. So don’t expect or demand yourself to be just like yesterday, as good as last week or better – just work with the condition you’re in [...] Have fun EXPLORING your talent, your gift, and the SLS technique, while learning the craft of getting the BEST mix consistently. Oh, and this is singing, so have fun!”

- Wendy Parr, Master SLS Instructor