About Me

Claire Underwood is a London based vocal & performance coach with over 17 years of coaching experience. She provides technical expertise and musical guidance to stage performers and film actors of all abilities and has worked on many of the UK’s well known and best loved musical productions. Claire is well known for her friendly and uncomplicated approach, ensuring she is the go-to coach for many top producers and agents.

Claire works with productions to assist the performers to find accuracy, efficiency and ease in their performance. She works directly with Musical Directors, Supervisors and Directors, helping to create the required style and narrative of the performance. In her one-to-one sessions Claire provides a safe space for performers to explore and craft their role, giving them opportunity to work through challenges while also assisting with vocal technique.

Claire is an experienced musician who has performed classical and cabaret repertoire, as well as session singing and choral work. As a performer she understands the pressures and challenges her students and clients meet, and can help them to find their way through to giving a joyful performance.

Production Credits

Work with Me

People sing better when they are comfortable, and when given the information they need to utilise every vocal quality they have. First and foremost, it is imperative to locate your authentic voice, even when you are in character or emulating a style. Your voice is unique to you, and no-one else can sing the way you do! So we work together to find the core of your sound.

Once we've found that central quality, we work to accommodate the needs of the character, the musical style and the interpretation into your performance. I will enable you to find your own interpretation of a song, and to deliver it safely and consistently, maintaining a healthy technique which will strengthen and preserve your voice.

A lesson with me always begins with a warm up session during which we explore different areas of technique and then expand that technique through repertoire. If you are preparing for a particular role we will continue to monitor the technique throughout the rehearsal period to accommodate your on-stage requirements. If you are working to strengthen your technique we will do this whilst also building a useful portfolio of audition repertoire.

ShowMinds

Claire is the founder of ShowMinds, which runs workshops and retreats ​allowing singing performers to concentrate on their mental scripts, and to ​work through stage anxiety and discover their true voice.

ShowMinds runs a weekly workshop called Secret Sing, allowing performers a ​completely safe and confidential space to rehearse performance. If you are ​interested in attending a Secret Sing workshop please DM @ShowMinds on ​instagram, or email enquiries@showminds.co

“Ray Bradbury wrote "Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down". Claire built me my wings.”

Helena Bonham Carter

Testimonials

“Working with Claire is always a pleasure. She knows how to get to the core of the problem, if there is any, and fix it like magic! And she does it with a great energy getting the best out of the performers building up their confidence and making them feel comfortable and secure with their technique”

Alfonso Casado Trigo (Musical Supervisor: Les Miserables, Musical Director: Old Friends)

“It’s very difficult to describe adequately the enormous influence that working with Claire has had upon me,

immeasurably improving my confidence, musicality and my range. I cherish her guidance through major concerts

and all manner of performances. Claire is always up for a challenge and every working session is punctuated with

joy and laughter. I owe her a great deal.”

Anthony Andrews (actor/singer)

“Claire is an informed and inventive teacher. A fine singer herself, she has a firm understanding of what it takes to

approach material technically and textually. She is able to solve many issues for me, technically, by customizing

vocalises to suit whatever challenges I face. And she has a fine ear for truth in performance. Claire is encouraging

and persuasive. She breaks things into small parts and puts them back together again, with great care and respect

for the student-artist. She always peaks my curiosity and keeps it interesting. She is committed and always positive

and will take you as far as you are willing to go.”

Marcus Lovett (the Phantom, Phantom of the Opera, London 2013/14)

Contact

Email

enquiries@showminds.co

Instagram

@ShowMinds