Teaching classical and musical theatre voice with a performer's ear and a director's eye — built on five-plus years of studio teaching and a lifetime on West Michigan stages.
Jen Kouw Wilde is a vocal and theatre instructor based in West Michigan, where she has spent the last five years building a private voice studio alongside a faculty position at Avalon Music Academy. Her own training runs through coursework at Grand Valley State University and private study with Tim Oonk, Dale Schriemer, Jamie Colburn, and Julia Merchant, spanning classical technique and musical theatre style.
Performer, director, and producer — that range shapes how she teaches: precise about the mechanics of the voice, and relentlessly practical about what it actually takes to walk into an audition room or step onto a stage.
Equally at home onstage and in the director's chair, Jen has performed principal and featured roles across West Michigan's theatre community — from Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd to Katisha in The Mikado — and has directed, music directed, and designed for companies including Holland Civic Theatre and the West Michigan Savoyards, where she served five years as board president.
I believe every voice is teachable. My job is to find the technique that lets a given student's instrument do what they're already trying to do — which means lessons start with breath and body before repertoire, because a healthy sound has to be sustainable before it can be expressive. Education in the anatomy and physiology of the head and neck is key to understanding how to produce sound in a healthy and safe manner.
I teach classical and musical theatre voice side by side rather than as separate tracks, because most working performers need both: legit tone for the concert hall, belt and character voice for the stage, and the acting technique — text work, given circumstances, intention — that turns a song into a scene instead of a recital piece.
Because I also direct and music direct, I coach performance the way I'd coach a cast: toward a specific room, a specific audience, a specific goal, whether that's a jury, an audition, or opening night. Students leave a lesson with a concrete next step, not just a note of what went wrong.
Private voice instruction for students of varying ages and experience levels, with individualized lesson plans emphasizing healthy technique, musicianship, and performance readiness.
Applied voice instruction within an arts-academy setting, preparing students for auditions, performances, and recitals alongside foundational vocal pedagogy.
Bachelor of Music coursework, Grand Valley State University
Private coaching with Tim Oonk (Timothy S. Oonk Music Studio), Dale Schriemer (GVSU), Jamie Colburn (New York City), and Julia Merchant (Chicago).
A short reel is on the way. In the meantime, here's where video and audio will live — one classical piece, one musical theatre piece, and a clip of a real lesson in progress.
Five years leading Savoyards' fundraising concerts, donor engagement, and volunteer coordination — plus continuing-education instruction for licensed cosmetology professionals under her Michigan license — round out a track record of teaching and organizing adult learners, not just students.