Kirbanu

Kirbanu

I’m Kirbanu, an Australian vocalist, songwriter and vocal coach based in Germany. I believe in being the best version of you. As a vocalist, that starts with your voice. It is unique. So embrace and empower it. Use the tips on my website to help you. It’s never too late to be amazing and never too early to begin!

Please don’t tell my husband but I’m having a wild, passionate affair… with the voice.

Seriously, vocal science turns me on. I just love being lost in how this incredible instrument works, and using that understanding when I sing. It’s amazing! Plain and simple.

So at this point you could think that I was born a singer. That I was gifted from age 4 with the perfect sound. That my parents groomed me through childhood to cultivate my gift. Perhaps this fantasy would lead me to some fancy music conservatory like Julliard. And then culminate in a mesmerizing performance onstage with Beyoncé in front of millions. Great though it would be, this picture couldn’t be further from the truth.

Surprise, I’m not a famous pop star!

Though I’ve loved singing all my life, for a long time I lacked the confidence to seriously pursue it. Even when I was finally performing on stage, I still had so many doubts about my voice. I was incredibly insecure. Having grown up in a world where music was basically forbidden, I felt ashamed of longing to be a singer. This fear was so strong that I sang in front of no one. I kept my love shut away. I practiced only in my car, in secret.

But true love cannot be pacified. And as I aged my love became a wild fire burning inside, longing to be released. I needed to sing. I had to understand the voice. I felt like a bird trapped, longing for release and I knew I could only find that release through embracing and empowering my voice. So I cracked.

Leaving it all behind

Much to the conservative world’s horror, I threw away an esteemed academic career, quitting my Masters in Science and all I had achieved in the first 25 years of my life. “Fuck it, I’m going to be a musician” was my reasoning. So I got a guitar (I couldn’t even play it at the time), packed my backpack and left.

Forged in the fire of travel and dedication

I spent the next 7 years, travelling around the world, consumed by the fiery longing to understand my voice. And regardless of where I was, I studied, and I practiced. I devoured books on music theory and vocal science. I attended tutorials from online Universities on ear training, composition, orchestration and performance. I taught myself to play the guitar and piano.

When money was tight, I’d even clean toilets for cash just so I could afford private vocal lessons. Why? Because I wanted to be the best singer that I could possibly be.

My 10.000 hours

Throughout all of this time, all of those years spent learning, practicing and refining my vocal technique, I was accumulating the necessary hours towards vocal mastery. As I improved, and as my understanding deepened, a funny thing happened: People started coming to me for coaching. What initially started as one or two individual lessons, evolved quickly into a series of workshops that I have now given to hundreds of people through Germany, Australia and the UK.

All of the little secrets about how the voice works, how to harness its moods, vulnerabilities and changes, and essentially how to experience vocal freedom, have now been packaged for you into a solid technique that I’ve developed.