Tessa Quayle

At the age of 4, Tessa’s musical journey began with learning the violin. After gaining grade 8 she turned to her passion of vocal jazz and studied at the Christchurch Jazz School graduating in 2001. After another year of studying and gaining her Diploma in Teaching, she found herself head of music at a secondary school in Wellington.

Two years later Europe was calling so she headed off on her OE basing herself in London. While in London, Tessa performed, taught, and continued her learning with some of the UKs best jazz singers and musicians.

On returning to NZ Tessa recorded an album which was nominated for ‘Best Jazz Album’ 2010, taught at the Massey University Jazz school, sang in many jazz festivals across the country, and have appeared in two other NZ jazz albums.  Now based in Nelson, Tessa is immersing into the scene here and is involved in performing, teaching and as the musical director of the Nelson Jazz and Blues Festival.

Whether you are a total beginner or an experienced performer, Tessa can help you reach your goals.

Lessons are tailored to individual needs and can comprise a mixture of basic technique and warm up routines, song interpretation, style, improvisation, microphone technique, performance skills, getting ‘gig’ ready, theory, keyboard skills for practice, and specific vocal techniques.  Tessa has successfully guided vocal students through all levels of NCEA and the Trinity Rock and Pop exams up to grade 8. Although Tessa teaches any style of contemporary song, jazz is her passion and specialty. It is an absolute pleasure for Tessa to share her knowledge of this, whether you would like to just sing tunes from your favourite jazz singer and learn the foundations of this style or want to get a deeper understanding and delve into aspects like improvisation.