Selecting a Voice Instructor
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A search for singing teachers on the internet today will yield thousands of results. How does one narrow down one's choices, and weed through those options?
There are many different teaching styles and techniques to choose from, and you may need to interview and "audition" several potential teachers before finally hiring one to train you. Going into initial meetings with some knowledge and accurate information about what you should be looking for in an instructor and in a technique will help you to ask the right questions and to intelligently evaluate the teacher’s responses. (Reading information on a site like this one is a good start.)
It is important to remember that there are quite a few different methods and techniques that can be used for voice training. The method taught depends on the teacher and his or her training. In order to ensure that your money is not being wasted on a bad teacher or on a style of teaching that doesn’t work for you and your needs, monitor your progress closely. If several months go by and you aren't seeing any improvement in your problem areas, you may need to switch teachers. (Your lack of improvement may not necessarily reflect an individual teacher’s skills. Rather, it could mean that the way in which you learn best and the way in which the vocal instructor teaches are mismatched.)
However, be careful not to quit too soon because, even with the most skilled instructors, it will often take months before notable improvements in range, strength and control begin to be seen. Everyone develops at a different pace. Singing students may also sometimes hit temporary “plateaux” and setbacks in which their progress seems to slow down or even stop before they enter the next phase of vocal growth; kind of like a growth spurt.
Do not settle for substandard lessons. The voice, as I have already cautioned, is a very delicate instrument that should not be entrusted to ignorant or inexperienced hacks who have strange philosophies about what produces a good singing voice.
Below are a few important considerations to make when searching for a vocal instructor.
Good Reputation
One of the best ways to find a good vocal instructor is through word-of-mouth within the music community. Other singers are often the best sources for reliable information on who is effective and worth their fees. Talking to singers active in your local music scene, calling universities with music programs and music instruction schools in your area, contacting music industry organizations, and checking with choir members from your local churches or school choruses may produce a good list of reputable teachers for you to interview.
I first came to an awareness of my instructor while I was in a musical theatre production. The actor who was playing the lead male character had never acted on stage before, but his voice was so impressive that he was the perfect casting choice for the play. He had unfailing control, great range and a beautiful tone, whether he was singing soft ballads or songs in a hard rock/heavy metal style, and I would get goose bumps all over whenever I heard him singing. I was curious to know more about his training, and that curiosity earned me a business card and a referral to one of the best, most reputable vocal technique instructors in the area.
Knowledge
Don’t be easily impressed by a teacher who sounds as though he or she knows what he or she is talking about upon your initial interview or lesson. He or she may be no more than the vocal instructor equivalent of a used car salesman. Throwing around common or popular vocal terminology doesn’t necessarily mean that a singing teacher will teach you good technique. Again, it would benefit you greatly to enter the meeting already equipped with some head knowledge about technique so that you can ask direct questions and evaluate what the teacher says in light of what you already know about singing. If the technique or vocal training described by the teacher sounds a little “quirky”, then go with your gut and continue on in your search for a more suitable instructor.
Your instructor should be able to demonstrate some understanding of the physiology of the voice, the mechanisms involved in correct breathing, and how sound production comes about. These are the very basics of what a singing instructor should know.
The vocal terminology (e.g., projection, support, placement, vibrato, etc.) that students generally hear can be confusing, and misguided teachers who lack knowledge can pass along that faulty thinking to their students, potentially causing vocal damage. It isn’t sufficient for a teacher to throw around common singing terms without also having a grasp of what they mean and how they can be explained and applied.
If a prospective instructor uses terms like “projection”, for instance, be sure to find out if he or she truly knows how desired volume is correctly and safely achieved. (Many people incorrectly assume that making one’s voice heard requires shouting, or at least singing more loudly than is sometimes comfortable. This kind of faulty thinking and poor technique leads to vocal strain and fails to emphasize the value of sound placement on the hard palate and clear tone to create natural, unforced volume.) Personally, I never use the term “projection” because it suggests to singers that forcing out more volume is necessary in order to be heard.
If the teacher encourages the use of a “vibrato” and discourages singing the notes straight (sometimes referred to as “straight singing”), be sure to find out whether or not he or she understands how a true, healthy vibrato is achieved. (Many singers “fake” their vibratos by quivering their jaws, tongues or diaphragmatic muscles, often creating unwanted tension in the body. This method sometimes produces a very exaggerated vocal wobble, which will often force the singer to slip too far away from the desired note. A true and healthy vibrato is only achieved when the correct mix of placement, tone, resonance and volume is accomplished. Vibratos should never be forced, but should occur naturally when the voice is ready. Obtaining a vibrato should also be considered neither the primary objective of taking lessons nor the ultimate goal of every singer.)
Capability
Your voice instructor should be able to demonstrate for you the exercises that he or she is expecting you to sing.
No one would walk into a music studio to take a lesson with a guitar teacher whose knowledge of technique and music theory were purely, well, theoretical. That teacher would need to be able to do more than merely direct the student to play. He or she would also need to be able to practically demonstrate the techniques that he or she is attempting to teach to the student. Many students learn best through practical demonstrations that they can then imitate.
The same holds true of voice instructors. (Mind you, just as a competent piano teacher doesn't have to be able to play at the skill level of a concert pianist - an extraordinarily rare calibre of musician, indeed - a singing teacher doesn't necessarily need to have a successful performance career in order to be a worthy, skilled teacher.) Your voice instructor should be able to do more than simply hear you sing and make either subjective or objective judgments about your performance, as though he or she were a judge on American Idol. While being able to hear whether or not something sounds “good” doesn't necessarily require that one have any singing abilities, training a voice does require that one understand the physics involved, and know what to listen for - the finest details - and how to correct problem areas. It is not sufficient to think of singing merely as either good or bad, and a voice as either pleasant or unpleasant, and those who merely listen to singers tend to base their critiques on emotion, not technique.
Note, however, that having tremendous technical ability does not guarantee that a singer will make a good teacher. A teacher needs to be able to convey his or her knowledge in a way that makes sense to his or her students. For example, if a teacher wishes to address overall weaknesses in the student’s tone, such as overly breathy, nasally or “throaty” qualities, being able to explain what is meant by these descriptions would be helpful for a student who is having difficulties hearing and evaluating his or her own tone. Becoming a good singer is about developing an awareness of one’s apparatus and the sensations necessary to produce desired tones in order to gain better control, and this goal can’t be achieved if a teacher’s instructions are unclear.
You want to find someone to train you who is both skilled as a vocalist and knowledgeable about singing and vocal anatomy. Also, he or she should be able not only to explain concepts in a way that will help you to understand them and to apply them, but do so with patience, flexibility and creativity. (Trust and comfort levels are very important in helping you and your teacher work together as a team.)
Credentials and Qualifications
Not all good instructors have formal educations, like degrees from Berkley College of Music or Julliard, nor extensive performance backgrounds.
Be cautioned also that not all voice instructors with degrees from university vocal programs or teaching certificates from workshops can sing well or properly, as has been evidenced by my own experience working with a couple of graduates from such university vocal programs whose tonal quality, technique and control are poor and who even struggle terribly with pitch. I have also worked with students who have developed vocal damage, (such as strain and vocal nodes) through improper technique that was taught to them at those very same universities.
This is not to suggest, by any means, that all singers who graduate from university vocal programs don't sing properly. I am merely informing my readers that formal credentials are not always to be trusted above other signs of expertise, such as good reputation and results.
I would caution anyone searching for a vocal instructor to be especially aware of that teacher’s training. While it isn’t necessary for a teacher to have a degree from a prestigious music program or university – again, these degrees don’t necessarily guarantee that the graduate has developed excellent or even correct vocal technique - the teacher should at least have taken voice lessons for a reasonable length of time with a skilled instructor.
Ideally, you’ll want an instructor who has years of vocal training behind him or her. Take special note of the type of training that he or she has, and who he or she has studied with. Take the time to research your potential teacher's teachers, if possible, to get a better idea of the quality of his or her own training and background. Typically, the technique that the instructor teaches is also the technique, (or sometimes a modified version of it), that was taught to him or her.
There are teachers out there who have never taken voice lessons themselves, and have acquired all of their knowledge about singing via the internet (e.g. researching and reading discussion forums, etc), picking and choosing which bits of information make the most sense to them and which bits of information fit with their personal philosophies about singing. In some cases, the teacher has even taken the step of purchasing pre-recorded vocal lesson programs from other instructors. Without the benefit of having had a live teacher to ensure that they are indeed learning correct technique, however, these teachers may not have acquired any real skills. Some teachers rely on their own performance experience, claiming that years of singing with a professional band have automatically given them the expertise necessary for teaching others. Essentially, these teachers are self-taught, and have used themselves as guinea pigs, experimenting with different techniques and exercises to find what works for them. Then, they proceed to teach these vocal tricks, which may or may not be helpful and safe, to others.
While it is possible that a singer can teach him- or herself correct vocal technique, I would like to think that a student desiring to take lessons would want to find a teacher whose knowledge about singing is broader and more reliable. It seems imprudent and unnecessary to give money to someone to teach you what you could just as easily learn on your own from the internet, (just as that teacher did). Some of the information on the web is accurate, and some of it is not, and a student has no way of knowing how much of the incorrect information the self-taught teacher has absorbed and will pass along to his or her students.
