I’m Tanner Smith, a tenor and graduate student in Vocal Performance at the University of Tennessee. After stepping away from singing for a season, I returned with a deeper appreciation for how powerful, vulnerable, and life-giving this work can be. That experience shapes the way I teach—I understand what it feels like to rebuild, to start again, and to want your voice to feel like home.

I’m especially drawn to opera and the craft of vocal technique: breath, resonance, registration, and clear, honest communication through text. In lessons, I focus on helping singers build a healthy, reliable technique that supports expressive, stylistic singing—whether in classical repertoire, musical theatre, or auditions. If you’d like to know more about how I approach lessons, you can read my Full Teaching Philosophy.