Meet Daniel Hendrick | Singing Teacher & Vocal Therapist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Daniel Hendrick and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Daniel, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Singing Opera at times can inspire, it can lift consciousness to higher and higher levels. Music in general, can vibrate at frequencies that seem to be healing to us, body and soul.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Over the years, I’ve told the story of losing my singing voice to many people, virtually everyone would say the same thing to me, “Daniel you’ve got to share that with the world”; but it wasn’t until I met a very special human being, Dave Mcguigan that I actually began to consider it. As I processed my life’s events and Dave’s encouraging words, it became self-evident to me, I had to write my life’s story !

When I was 16 years old, my sister asked me to sing at her wedding, My father directed me to our family den where I would find a recording of the great tenor Mario Lanza
singing The lord’s Prayer, he’s the one you’ll need to listen to, he said.

I had no idea who Mario Lanza was. I found the record and began to play it.
From the first phrase I was hooked, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, this voice was absolutely divine, it transported me into an altered state of consciousness.
Not long thereafter I noticed there were other records with funny foreign names like Tosca, Pagliacci and Rigoletto, I wondered, what is that stuff? So, I took out one of the records, and listened to what felt like ‘God’ singing to me.
I played the record over and over again, I found myself on the verge of tears, I ran to my father and said “dad, what is this stuff in these foreign languages”? he said, “that’s opera son”, and with a big lump in my throat I said “dad, I want to be an opera singer”.

At this point, I was sure I was going to be a professional opera singer, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into, a few years later I found myself on a runaway train heading for a certain crash, and crash I did, at the Enrico Caruso competition for young tenors, In Milan Italy. I lost my voice, completely lost my voice, I left Italy sounding like a teenager in puberty,
devasted.
Soon thereafter I frantically consulted with leading doctors and teachers throughout the U.S. all to no avail. My dream to many, seemed to meet an early end.
But I still had this ‘knowingness’ that I was to be an international tenor. Teachers, ministers and even a rear admiral tried to convince me I was living a fantasy, or a childhood dream.
Friends dropped me like flies, I felt alone, abandoned, and at times suicidal.
But the one gift I never lost, was the greatest gift of all! The gift of ‘Knowing’ one’s call.

When you ‘Know’ – you don’t give up.

When you ‘Know’ – time and space can seem to be irrelevant.

When you ‘Know’ – you just know, no matter what anyone else says or thinks.

So, how does one ‘Know”?

Well, there are always signs around us leading the way, showing us the path, much of the time they’re hidden in the shadows of life’s experiences.
Unraveling these experiences is like a secret code the universe has prepared for us to
decipher. Signs surrounded me throughout my life, many I experienced in real time, many I missed and didn’t understand until years later.

I struggled through obstacle after obstacle, I prepared like Rocky Balboa for the Apollo Creed fight. I became a champion, I lost it all. I became a champion again.

Now that I am retired from the Opera world, I devote myself to helping singers learn healthy vocal technique that will last a lifetime, as well as helping people who have lost their speaking voice, to regain their ability to speak! Because of what I learned early in my life when I lost my voice, I feel blessed, that now I can pass on to others the unique techniques I discovered to restore speech.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Definately in San Diego, it would be the music-food scene. Cocina del Rancho in Rancho Santa Fe, Cicciottis Trattoria in Cardiff by the Sea, and, the ‘God Father’ of them all, The Westgate Hotel on Monday night’s in downtown San Diego with the great Julio de la Huerta on the guitar, He has been there for over 20 years, and has created a musical vibe that is like no where else in the country.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Mario Lalli, Jane Randolph, and Giuseppe di Stefano were all three incredible influences in my life. Clearly without their guidance I would not have achieved an international Opera career!

Website: www.DanielHendrick.com

Facebook: facebook.com/daniel.hendrick.520

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TenorDanielHendrick

Other: www.KnowYouKnowBook.com