The Mentor

Fostering personal growth

Sonya Distel has been teaching voice and piano for 20 years. Her lessons are highly specialized to each student and catered to developing individual musical growth. Singers will work on vocal technique, breath control, phrasing, rhythm, diction, song interpretation, live performance, ear training, vocal harmony strategies, range expansion, stamina, vocal health, accompaniment, music theory, sight singing, confidence and a multitude of skills to progress into a better vocalist.
She offers private, one on one lessons from her studio, Hummingbird Studio, in Richmond, CA. At Hummingbird Bird Studio, students are given the opportunity to learn how to sing and record in a professional setting, develop harmonies and vocal arrangements, songwriting tools and work with music software.
In addition to private lessons, Sonya has worked as professional educator throughout the bay area. She worked for the Novato, Petaluma and San Francisco School Districts as a K-12 music teacher and was the musical director with Sonoma Academy, Marin Catholic High School and 5th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa. Sonya has a Bachelor of Arts in Music with an Emphasis on Jazz and Pop from San Francisco State University, is a certified “Simply Music” instructor and has an Emergency Teaching Credential. She is also a SAG (Screen Actors Guild) member.
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The Sonya Experience

A journey to enrichment

  • Vinitha Watson, Zoo Labs
    Sonya brings her vast expertise of Vocals and Piano, as well as her generational history in music, to every class. Her patience and ability to make singing and playing keys accessible to anyone is astounding. She has taught my whole family and continues to bring joy into our lives while building our family band. Her ability to work across age ranges and ability is also rare. Sonya's an amazing teacher and encourages everyone to reach their potential and push a bit past there.
  • Irene Kim
    I and my son have been taking singing lessons from Sonya for the last two years. Learning how to sing has been a longstanding desire of mine, which I finally decided to fulfill, even though I was really busy and had little time. I am so glad that I did. Unlike my son, I don't have much natural musical ability, but Sonya is such a good teacher, and knows so much about music and technique, that my singing has greatly improved. Not only does she have extensive knowledge and experience, she is encouraging and patient and always upbeat and fun. She knows exactly how to bring out my strengths (harmony) and support my weaknesses (rhythm). But Sonya has also taught me much more than singing. Because of her lessons, I have learned how to project my normally quiet voice in other situations, how to understand my own body better, and how to relax where I hold tension. My sessions with Sonya are definitely a highlight of my week.
  • Lia Gaertner
    Sonya is an amazingly talented vocalist who is not only an excellent vocal and piano teacher, but she has been on time to every lesson over 5 years or so. Kind of a freak of nature (in a good way). We are grateful that Sonya has led our son to be the grand prize winner at the Marin County Fair Singing Competition year after year. We have recommended Sonya to many friends who have all been equally thrilled (now we just need more Sonyas so we can share her time more equally!).

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