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BIOGRAPHY
How do you find a good singing teacher? How
do you match your needs to the teacher's skills? What questions
do you ask?
The voice is your vehicle
Teaching vs. coaching
Rock on Mozart ?
First Lesson
Talent and motivation
The voice is your vehicle
You're a singer, maybe even a professional,
but someone or something is telling you that your chops need
to improve. You've decided to take some singing lessons, so
you ask your singer friends for some names, you check the
yellow pages, you surf the web, all in search of that teacher
who'll help you take your voice and your singing to a higher
level.
Trying to find a good singing teacher is like
trying to find a good auto mechanic: you want one you can
trust, who understands your needs, and one who knows what
he or she is doing. Take me and my friend Chuck, for example.
As singing teacher and auto mechanic respectively, we have
a lot in common. We both know our customers' "vehicles"
inside and out. We know how to maintain them, and most importantly,
we have good ears and eyes to diagnose and fix them when they
have problems.
We also know our customers. Some come to us
very informed about their vehicles, while others know little
or nothing. We understand that certain customers require a
lot of time and patience as we explain what's wrong, what
needs to be done, approximately how long it will take, and
how much it will cost, while other customers understand quickly
what's going on. Whatever the case, it's our job to meet them
where they are and lead them to where they need to be.
Teaching vs. coaching
If you're looking to improve your singing, help
comes in two forms: a voice teacher or a voice coach. A voice
teacher is someone who works primarily on technique, the "how-to-sing"
part of singing. Technique has to do with training muscles
to do what they're supposed to do in the act of singing. It
includes the breathing muscles (respiration), the sound-producing
muscles (phonation), the sound-quality muscles (resonation),
and the sound-shaping muscles (articulation). Through various
exercises such as scales, triads, and arpeggios, these muscles
eventually gain more strength, coordination, and flexibility.
A voice coach, on the other hand, is someone
who works primarily on performance and repertoire, the "what-to-sing"
part of singing. That includes picking songs that suit you
and your voice, putting them in keys that fit your vocal range,
and helping you develop the performance skills and confidence
to sing the songs well. There are teachers, including this
teacher, who work on both technique and repertoire during
a lesson.
If you're a beginning singer, or an advanced
singer with some vocal issues to solve, the voice teacher
should be your first stop. Solving technical problems will
clear the way for better repertoire and performance development.
Rock on Mozart ?
Whether your search is for a voice teacher,
a voice coach, or both, be aware that many teachers and coaches
are specialists who only work with one style of singing. So
if you're a rock 'n' roller, studying with an exclusively
classical teacher may not be your best choice. You need someone
who understands the technique, the style, and the repertoire
of YOUR music.
Don't let anyone tell you that classical vocal
technique and rock technique are the same, or that "if
you learn to sing classically, you can sing anything."
It's just not true, as evidenced by how badly and awkwardly
many opera singers sing pop and rock material when they try
it. Classical vocal technique emphasizes formal language,
full and resonant vowels sounds, and a constant vibrato from
the onset of the tone. Pop and rock, meanwhile, demand conversational
language, narrow and sometimes even noisy vowel sounds, and
little if any sustained vibrato. < br>
First Lesson
Armed with that information, let's say your
search has landed you in Ms. Pedagogue's studio. What should
you expect? The first lesson usually begins with you singing
a song of your choosing so the teacher can see and hear what
you can do as a performer. What follows next may be some vocal
exercises to determine such things as your vocal range, pitch
accuracy, breathing habits, register coordination, dynamic
levels, rhythmic skill, agility, and tonal memory.
Near the end of the lesson, the teacher should
give you some idea of what she perceives as your strengths
and weaknesses. These need to be measured against your own
list of perceived strengths and weaknesses. This is a critical
comparative evaluation because if you think you sound like
Britney Spears and the teacher thinks you sound like Britney
with a spear in her throat, you're obviously not on the same
page. Unrealistic expectations and inaccurate or uncritical
estimates of talent and ability can doom a student/teacher
relationship from the start. A teacher who fawns over you
and tells you you're the most wonderful singer she's ever
heard may make your ego feel good but may not help you to
get better as a singer. Conversely, a teacher who is critical
to a fault and very stingy with praise may squash your confidence
and stifle your growth.
Talent and motivation
Simply put, the teaching-learning process gets
down to two things: the talent and motivation of both teacher
and student. Singers are not created equal. Some of us have
been given a large amount of that genetically-imparted ingredient
called talent, while others have been given very little. Without
it, aspirations beyond singing in the shower are unrealistic.
No amount of motivation or hard work will overcome a lack
of talent. A talented person who is highly motivated, however,
is much more likely to succeed than a person who is talented
but lacking motivation.
Teachers, too, must be talented and motivated.
They must have the talent to hear and see good and bad technique,
and the skill to reinforce the good and eliminate the bad.
They must be motivated to develop to the fullest potential
each singer whom they accept in their studios. They must also
respect the individuality of their students and resist the
urge to "clone" singers in their own image. And
finally, they must be gently and affectionately honest with
their students so that realistic expectations and goals can
be set and achieved, even if it's to be a better shower singer!
Now, call those singer friends of yours,
check the yellow pages, surf the web. Hopefully this article
will help you find that singing teacher whom you can trust,
who knows what to do with your voice and your singing style,
and who can help you achieve your vocal and artistic goals.
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