Meet Jeannette Smith
Hi! I'm Jeannette and I have been singing, teaching music and performing in many different genres and capacities for almost 40 years (yikes has it been THAT long?)
My musical history includes: vocally and musically directing, playing piano for and performing in musical theater and opretta productions throughout the Bay Area; performing as a keyboardist and singer/songwriter with a 1980’s all-originals rock band (in the 1980's!); singing with opera choruses for companies such as Livermore Valley Opera, Rogue Valley Opera, Bear Valley Music Festival and Opera San Jose; teaching chorus and music theory at the middle and high school levels (Nueva, The Athenian School and Crystal Springs Uplands School) and acting as Choral Director and resident voice teacher with the San Francisco Girls Chorus.
I have been teaching private voice lessons since 1988, and in 2006 I established the one-woman show that is JS Vocal Studio in Pleasanton, CA. This is my sole occupation now and has been for the last 20 years, so my attention is focused 100% on my private voice students.
As it is extremely important to me to keep the practice in my studio as up to date as possible with the most recent discoveries in vocal production and pedagogy, I received the Voice Teacher Training Certification with Maddie Tarbox on June 2, 2026 and am now a certified voice teacher with MTVS. (You can check Maddie out on all the socials- she is a-MAZING!). This vocal pedagogy is current, science-backed and evidence-based so it is as safe and efficient as it gets for the contemporary pop and musical theatre singer.
The training I recieved before Maddie (also a game-changer) was with Justin Stoney of "Voice Lessons To The World" which you can find on you tube. In 2020 I completed Justin's "New York Vocal Coaching Voice Teacher Training & Certification Course" and became a NYVC Certified Voice Teacher at that time. You can check out Justin at https://newyorkvocalcoaching.com/about/justin-stoney.
I have also trained with such esteemed "classical" teachers as James Toland, Jeanne Garson and Sylvia Anderson, and I completed studies in the Alexander Technique for the Voice with Peter Jacobson, completing the "TVF" certification called "Total Vocal Freedom: Alexander Technique for Voice Teachers" in 2018.
OTHER CREDITS: I am a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance). I am also a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), a member of the American College of Musicians and on the honor roll of the National Guild of Piano Teachers.
In my spare time... My favorite hobby is playing bass guitar and I am currently the bass guitarist/back-up vocalist for an all-female 60's/70's/80's rock cover band called GRRLZ TALK. Check us out at www.grrlztalk.com and on Facebook, Instagram and on our grrlztalk you tube channel! I also like to lift weights at the gym and take long nature walks with my dog, Lucy. 🩵
