Dean Kaelin, full-time voice coach and part-time Pony League coach, was in the middle of baseball practice recently when the call came.
David Archuleta, the popular "American Idol" contestant from Murray, was on the phone. He was on his way to a rehearsal and wanted his coach's help.
Sitting in his car in an adjacent parking lot, with a portable keyboard in his lap, Kaelin guided Archuleta through a series of voice exercises via phone to warm up his vocal cords, and then the two of them discussed what song he would sing for his next TV performance and what key he would sing it in.
The next morning, while driving with his family for a day of skiing at Alta Ski Resort, Kaelin sat in the back seat of the car with his keyboard talking Archuleta through another warm-up routine.
It's all part of the job these days for Kaelin, coach of the Dodgers of the Mount Olympus Pony League and coach of the hottest star of the hit TV series "American Idol."
Archuleta depends on Kaelin and calls at all hours. Kaelin was watching "American Idol" on TV recently when Archuleta called from a backstage bathroom just minutes before he went on stage to sing for 30 million people. For the next few minutes, they performed a variety of voice exercises — lip drills and scales and mimicking what could only be described as cartoon voices. Then Kaelin sat back and watched his protege perform.
"That was kind of surreal," Kaelin says.
Kaelin caved in and bought his first cell phone this year just to make himself more available to Archuleta. Kaelin carries a small keyboard everywhere he goes to assist their voice drills. He has pulled off to the side of the road to warm up Archuleta in his car, and he has warmed him up while in a grocery store. Archuleta has called Kaelin from cars, vans, hotels, stores, bathrooms and studios.
"Got a minute?" Archuleta began the other day. "I'm having trouble with this one part (of a song)." Once he called Kaelin while walking to a studio, with strangers staring at this kid who was singing into a phone as he passed them on the street.
"He calls for a variety of reasons — to keep his voice loose and in shape, or because he wants ideas or to discuss arrangements or to hear what something sounds like," Kaelin says.
Archuleta is not the first performer Kaelin has taken down this road. Three of his students have been "American Idol" finalists — John Praetor made the Top 25 cut, and Carmen Rasmusen and Archuleta made the Top 10. The phone coaching actually began with Rasmusen.
"'American Idol' pretty much sequestered her, but she was not getting a lot of help from them," Kaelin says. "She could call when she had a free minute, and we would do phone lessons or warm-ups."
More than 20 of Kaelin's students have tried out for "American Idol," and almost all of them survived at least a round or two. "We don't really gear toward 'American Idol,"' he said. "The students are just looking for a place to perform."
He also has worked with SheDaisy, the Hughes Brothers, Kerri Strogh ("High School Musical"), the Taylor Family singers and the Saliva Sisters.
Predictably, when one of his students makes his mark on "Idol," Kaelin's phone calls increase. He gives individual lessons to 85 students in a tiny house that has been converted into a studio. He hired four teachers to help handle the load. He also trains students around the world via Skype, including students in Austria, Great Britain and New Zealand.
"It's just word of mouth," Kaelin says. "I've never had to advertise ..."
Kaelin has dabbled in the music business since he was a young boy, first as a local performer and later behind the scenes as a studio musician, arranger, producer, voice coach and songwriter. In one capacity or another, he has performed on more than 75 CDs, including seven of his own whose themes cover such genres as jazz, Christmas and LDS.
"In many ways, I feel like I've been preparing for ('American Idol') my whole life," he says.
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Kaelin was raised in a musical home. Bob and Melba Kaelin built an addition onto the back of their Salt Lake home to create a music room for their five sons. They filled it with two pianos, an organ, vibes, drums, guitars, a stand-up bass and lots of music. The only rule: The music had to stop at 10 p.m. to give the neighbors a measure of silence.
Bob and Melba were both musical, but growing up in the Great Depression left little leisure time or money for music study, much to their regret. Bob had a great singing voice and sang in choirs; Melba couldn't afford piano lessons, so she taught herself to play.
"They made sure all their kids had a chance to pursue music," Kaelin says.
They were all given formal music instruction, and the boys soon formed a family band. Dean, the fourth child, began singing at 3, performing in rest homes, churches and family gatherings. He began performing professionally with his brothers at 9, playing drums, guitar, stand-up bass and piano at school and church dances. He had to stand on a Coke case to reach the top of the bass. He played so frequently that he taped the ends of his fingers to protect them from blisters. He liked to collect instruments and "figure out how to play them." Eventually, he could play 15 different instruments.
"I tell students they don't have to practice; they just have to play all the time," he says. "I remember I sat down once with a piano book — 'Great Songs of the '60s' — and played through the whole book in six hours. It was fun."
Kaelin attended Skyline High and played for the school's baseball and football teams, as well as the family band. He had become the group's lead singer "by default" when he was 13. By 19, his voice was damaged from long nights of singing and his tendency to "scream" when he sang. After Kaelin sang three-hour school dance gigs, his voice was reduced to a raspy whisper.
He served a two-year mission in South Africa for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which produced the side benefit of giving his voice time to heal. After returning to Salt Lake City, he attended a voice clinic given by famed Hollywood voice coach Seth Riggs. Kaelin wound up accompanying Riggs on piano, and afterward Riggs invited him to California to fill the same role.
He completed a degree in jazz composition at the University of Utah and then drove to California to work for Riggs. As Riggs' assistant, he played piano for Bette Midler, Leslie Ann Warren, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Bernadette Peters, among others.
"I was there because I wanted to write and arrange," Kaelin recalls. "But I listened to him teach and thought it was great."
He started taking voice lessons from Riggs to learn to sing "in a way that I wouldn't injure my voice, and so I could learn to sing the high notes," he says.
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Eventually, he wearied of Los Angeles and returned to Salt Lake City. After hearing the dramatic improvement in Kaelin's singing voice, acquaintances asked him for singing lessons, using Riggs' methods.
"I started helping them with their voices and suddenly I had a waiting list of 40 students," he says. "For about two years I found myself apologizing for being a voice teacher because I didn't have a great voice. What I realized is that there had never been a vocal problem I hadn't gone through, which helped qualify me as a teacher. I had had an injured voice, a strained voice, breathing problems, no vibrato, an inability to sing the high notes. I never looked back after that."
When Kaelin began teaching in 1983, there was no voice instruction available in Salt Lake City for any style other than opera. He offered the first instruction for singing, performing and recording in the pop, rock and country arenas.
"It took off," Kaelin says. "I had more students than I could handle. I had to train other teachers to help me. Now there are several teachers in town who are excellent."
Kaelin also has continued to work with Riggs, who retained him to establish an international program that uses Riggs' method to teach vocals. Kaelin has been training teachers in Austria, Australia, Holland, Ireland and Poland.
The musical aspirations of Bob and Melba have been realized in another generation. Kaelin has made a career out of music. His five children are all musical — they take regular lessons from their father at his studio, where his wife, Susan, doubles as office secretary.
Sarah won a Broadway role in her first audition. Anna is honing her songwriting and producing skills in Nashville. Alison was awarded a musical theater scholarship to the College of Western Wyoming. Roby and Joey both play instruments and sing.
"My parents' legacy has continued," Kaelin says.
With the success of his students on "American Idol," these are heady days for the teacher with the small studio in Salt Lake City. "Things are really busy now," Kaelin says during a phone call. Then he apologizes and excuses himself.
Archuleta is on the other line.
E-mail: drob@desnews.com