Few of us will ever sing like contestants on “The Voice” or “American Idol,” not to mention the performers on Broadway or The Metropolitan Opera. But that doesn’t mean we cannot improve our singing and get joy out of making sounds from “the universal language.”

Germantown resident Connie Koppe has dedicated more than 40 years to helping Northwest Philadelphia area residents do just that. Koppe will be teaching the six-session course, “Rediscovering Your Singing Voice,” for Mt. Airy Learning Tree (MALT) from Oct. 10 to Nov. 14 at the Church of the Annunciation B.V.M., 324 Carpenter Lane in Mt. Airy. Koppe will promote confidence in students of all ages to make musical sounds they might not have thought they were capable of making.

Koppe, who earned a bachelor’s degree in music education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1973 and a master’s degree in vocal performance at Temple University in 1977, has taught singing at MALT for 25 years, teaching actors, singers and corporate CEOs to use their voices more effectively. She also taught at the former University of the Arts and gives private speech and singing lessons from her home.

“A lack of self-confidence is certainly one issue with many students,” Koppe told the Local last week. “Others have trouble hearing harmony. Some people have been told they can’t sing and are hoping to claim this basic human pleasure. This class addresses these issues.

“Many MALT students have sung in choirs in the past and want to understand more about singing, or return to choral or solo singing. Many who have taken my singing classes have joined the local community choirs and chorales. I usually have a few who want to learn to sing with their musical instrument. My MALT students have ranged in age from preteen to early 80s.”

Koppe directed 15 operas and musical plays between 1999 and 2024, mostly for the Delaware Valley Opera Company and Philadelphia Christmas Revels performances. “Each has its own moments of success,” she said. “Probably the production of ‘The Magic Flute’ in about 2007 was my favorite. At that time, Delaware Valley Opera performed on an outdoor stage behind the Hermitage Mansion in Fairmount Park. I was interested in using puppetry for the snake and birds and other effects.

“I had a great props mistress, set and tech crew, and singers who were up for the challenge. I was inspired by the puppets used by the children’s theater company, Enchantment Theatre. The show was very well received.”

Koppe teaches what is called the Linklater Method. Yoga is all about body movement and some breath use, and some of it is used in Linklater work. “Kristin Linklater created her work initially to teach actors to speak Shakespeare with full use of breath, clear thought and with the whole body to convey meaning,” Koppe said. “It incorporates Alexander work, dance, Feldenkrais work and yoga as well as the acting and voice work of Iris Warren and Kristin Linklater.”

Bonnie Van Uitert, a longtime voice student of Koppe, told the Local, “I’d like to say how much I’ve enjoyed my lessons with her. I’ve learned so much about how the voice works, resonance, how to project, etc. It’s so nice to be able to carry a tune, not embarrass myself in group singing and join a community choir. Not only does Connie do a great job teaching, but she has a wonderful, warm personality that makes it easier to sing and express yourself.”

As a child, Koppe began to sing in her church choir in Schenectady, New York, in between her family moving from Kansas to Conshohocken. By age 9, she was singing solos. By junior high, the family had relocated closer to the Philadelphia area. That’s when she began singing at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Lafayette Hill. At age 16, she began taking singing lessons. During college, she was a soprano soloist in a church and continued singing at several different churches until 2001. She was exposed to theater, opera and the church choir, and in the four decades since then she has taught thousands of others to find their voice.

Who were Koppe’s own favorite singers? “I always say that Shirley Jones and Julie Andrews taught me to sing,” she replied. “I would play their records as a young teen and sing along ... I loved listening to Beverly Sills and Mirella Freni. It was also the era of folk music, and I listened to and sang along with Judy Collins and Joan Baez.”

Koppe, a member of Actors Equity Association, also volunteers in the library at the John B. Kelly Elementary School in Germantown, and leads poetry workshops in the classrooms. She has a long list of productions for which she was costumer, and she ran the costume shop for the Temple University Opera for 12 years. And Koppe leads a “rounds” singing group once a month called “Gather Round,” during which participants — including several MALT students — sing the exact same melody but begin at different staggered times, creating overlapping harmonies.

“Perfection is not what it’s about,” Koppe said.

For more information, visit conniekoppe.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.