About Rita Castillo
Rita Castillo is a singer and voice teacher/coach in Long Beach California and is the founder and creator of Rita Castillo Voice. Rita is a contemporary voice specialist and works with singers of all ages, and abilities. She has a real heart for singers and takes great joy in helping her students discover and achieve their very best potential. Her 40 plus years of worldwide professional singing experience contributes greatly to helping singers along with her vast study of voice science and pedagogy. Rita uses a holistic approach to singing and the lessons are individualized to each student depending upon their needs. It is not a one-size-fits-all experience. Rita uses what she calls her T.I.P singing process. (Technique, Inner work, and Performance.)
Rita has helped hundreds of singers reach their singing goals. For the professional singer, Rita employs techniques that get quick results for their vocal improvement, vocal health and performance requirements. Rita also is in demand for the beginning student who wants to learn how to sing from the ground up. Nothing gives Rita more joy than watching her students grow and develop week after week into the magnificent singer they really are. Rita’s philosophy is that everyone can learn to sing and her students are proof of that. Rita’s students have landed their dream roles, gotten the gigs, the solos in choirs, received university scholarships, and won talent competitions.
Rita's passion for teaching began with a passion for singing. At age 12, Rita made the decision to become a professional singer and began the work to become the best singer she could. (Her mother was a singer with the big bands so singing seemed like a perfectly logical career choice to her young mind) By the time she was 16 years old, Rita was singing professionally in her first band and never looked back.
She attended college as a voice major and studied classically and loved it, but found that the techniques required for Opera did not necessarily translate to popular singing. In fact, it started to damage Rita’s voice.
She loved the free and expansive experience of classical singing so she decided to spend her life finding that feeling of ease and freedom in all genres. Her classical teacher warned her that if she sang “That rock and roll,” she would lose her voice. Those words haunted Rita all the decades of gigging and she promised herself that if her voice started faltering, she would quit.
She had a wonderful time traveling all over the world singing for the military, entertaining in a variety of venues and situations, and recording original material whenever she was not on the road. Rita sang all styles and enjoyed experimenting with her voice. She convincingly sang everything from Janis Joplin, Dolly Parton, Barbara Streisand, Ella Fitzgerald, Linda Ronstadt and anyone who had a hit record. For years Rita performed six nights a week five hours a night nearly 50 weeks a year.
As she got older, her voice was as strong as ever and other singers started asking her for tips on how to sing with endurance and not lose their voice. She loved helping her fellow singers but never considered herself a voice teacher. She discovered the amazing groundbreaking work of Jo Estill and began getting educated in voice science with Estill and other education. Finally, in 1998, she officially started teaching at her studio in her home.
Rita continues to sing when she is not teaching. She sings in clubs, special events, Christmas stage productions, church choirs, featured church soloist, praise team singer, and recording. She has written and directed several musicals for adults and also youth. She led a children’s choir and also a middle school choir. Rita gives workshops on vocal health, belting, voice survival for the gigging singer, voice masterclasses and more. She is the author of the upcoming book, “Singing for Real,” due in 2021.
Rita is a certified EFP with Estill Voice Training under the mentoring of Tom Burke. She is also certified in Meredith Colby's Neuro-Vocal Method, is a Lisa Popeil's Voiceworks Associate, and is certified with the Contemporary Voice Teacher Academy with John Henny.
If you love to sing and want to improve, or if you have never sung and want to learn, Rita is someone to check into. Rita works with children, adults, absolute beginners, professional recording artists, touring artists, singer-songwriters, choir singers, musical theater singers, praise team singers, featured soloists, cabaret singers, hobby singers, karaoke singers, speakers, voice-over artists including animation voice character development, teachers, and basically all voice users.
Contact Rita for a free 15-minute consultation to find out if Rita is the teacher/coach for you. Rita teaches out of her home studio in Long Beach California as well as online via Zoom. For free tips and more you can sign up to receive emails at Rita Castillo Voice.
If you have questions, email: ritacastillovoice@gmail.com