Judette Elliston
Pronouns: they/them & she/her
Hello!
As a music educator, I aim to create a welcoming space where students of all ages can explore sound, creativity, and improvisation. With a decade of teaching experience, I have found a balance between meeting my students' needs and encouraging growth. I have taught with Afterwork Theatre, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, and School of Rock, in addition to presenting a masterclass at Vanier College. Through my private lesson studio I offer voice, piano, and composition instruction, in addition to gender-affirming voice work. Currently, I am a teaching artist with S'Cool Sounds and present workshops on Haitian music in public schools across New York City.
OFFERINGS
Voice Lessons
Tailored to help students of all ages, genders, and voice types find freedom when singing & speaking their way through life. My approach draws from vocal pedagogy, breathwork, harmonic & rhythmic vocabulary, Alexander technique, and embodied improvisation.
As a gender-affirming voice teacher I utilize much of this approach to help my students align their vocal expression with their gender identity. In speaking and singing centered lessons I help folks with voice feminization, masculinization, and neutralization.
Across all my vocal work, my ethos is that healthy vocal technique means sounding like yourself (and vice-versa!). It’s never too late to deepen your relationship with your voice.
Piano Lessons
Offered for beginner-intermediate levels. Through piano lessons we can learn about music theory, chord voicings, how to self-accompany as a vocalist, and songwriting/composition!
Songwriting, Composition, & Arranging Lessons
Offered for all voices/instruments. These lessons can focus on notation (writing your songs down), teaching your song to a band, lyric writing, improvisation, and harmonic study.
Improvisation for vocalists
Drawing from jazz, circle singing, & folkloric idioms.
Youth Music Lessons
Includes beginner piano and/or voice instruction, audition and festival preparation, music theory, sight-reading, and ear training.
Group Workshops
These workshops can be a one-time occurrence or part of a series. I am currently offering group workshops focusing on ensemble singing, vocal improvisation, vocal jazz performance, and jazz history.
TESTIMONIALS
Lee (he/him), Voice
“Working with Judette has been an absolute turning point in my vocal journey. I came in with the goal of finding my new voice after I transitioned and with a few specific goals about singing and extending my range. This was a very vulnerable type of work for me and from the beginning I felt not only well-guided but well-supported by Judette at all times.
Judette always keeps my goals and achievements from past lessons in mind and their approach to the work makes the lessons highly personalized and, honestly, fun.”
Anonymous (she/her), Voice
“My husband and I began doing joint voice lessons with Judette in January 2025. I was newly pregnant with our first baby, and an absolute newbie singer (besides a love of karaoke, of course.) I can say without a doubt that, besides having the aforementioned baby, these singing lessons have been the absolute highlight of the last year and a half for us.
Judette strikes the perfect balance between being flexible, relaxed, and understanding (which has allowed us to continue our lessons through this hectic time) and being serious, thoughtful, and exacting (they can really tune into exactly what you need to work on and give you exercises to target those skills.) This has allowed us to improve our singing tremendously while never feeling like the lessons were a source of any stress. Instead, they are the thing we look forward to every week as a couple.
Judette has an absolute gift for teaching, and their ability to balance the needs of me and my husband during our lessons, work with us on a wide variety of musical styles, and even teach our one year old to lip trill (!!) is so impressive. We wholeheartedly recommend working with Judette!”
Kenny (he/him), Voice
“Judette is an amazing voice teacher!
I came to them as an adult student with a small amount of previous singing experience - I flagged that I’ve always had trouble with developing and maintaining a regular practice routine as an adult with a busy schedule, and Judette was able to help me form a practice plan that I have been able to adhere to on a daily basis. We’ve also been doing the technical work of “finding my true voice” and setting up a strong foundation to sing music across a wide variety of genres.
A typical lesson involves some light stretching, breath work, vocalizations & exercises, and working on a song - each step is done with patience and care, and Judette has built an incredibly warm, nonjudgmental space where students can learn how to sing.”
Carlita (she/her), Voice & Songwriting
“It has been a lovely experience working with Judette. As someone who has worked with a few different vocal teachers, I appreciate their deep well of knowledge, gentleness, and genuine excitement to get to know my voice and goals in music. Judette has helped me to reach my goals and connect with my musical spirit, which I am thankful for.”
Christian (he/him), Voice
“I've had the pleasure of taking lessons with Judette and it was a rich, yet gentle experience that gave me a lot of personal insight into my practice, but also my body. Using one's own voice can be a very vulnerable thing and sharing that space with a teacher, Judette, who is a conscientious, present, and technically proficient pedagogue is something I would happily recommend to a friend. If you can speak, Judette will help you sing.”
YJ (she/her), Piano
“I’ve been taking jazz piano lessons regularly from Judette for 4 years. Judette is a knowledgeable, encouraging and flexible teacher - she tailors her lessons towards my needs, combining a good mix of drills, theory, ear training and a good mix of standards to work on; she also takes into account some of my background (years of childhood classical piano lessons) to help me lean into my strengths and make progress; I’ve learned a lot despite having a busy work schedule and have a deeper appreciation of Jazz music.
Anonymous Jazz Workshop Participant
"This was such an amazing and thoughtful class! I loved the mix of jazz history, singing exercises, and listening sessions. Judette blew me away with their knowledge and passion for the subject."