Why You Need to Take More Than One Voice Lesson

A friend and vocal colleague recently expressed frustration about the growing phenomenon of emergency lessons. What are emergency lessons? Emergency lessons are lessons that students try to set up inappropriately late. Here are some examples:

• Setting up 5+ lessons less than a month before a college prescreening or college audition.. and demanding that the teacher work with YOUR schedule (Good luck!)
• Setting up 1-2 lessons with a voice teacher before an audition with no intent of returning. Please, if this is your intent, be honest with the teacher, and come prepared. Not knowing your repertoire before the lesson is a guaranteed waste of time.
• You got a lead or a solo and schedule a lesson 1-2 weeks before the performance... and you still can't negotiate the range of the song (i.e. you can't sing certain notes).

I'm sure there are more examples but these are the most common. Before I continue, let me say that I understand that some folks innocently don't understand what an appropriate timeline for accomplishing their vocals goals looks like, nor do they understand the difference between a vocal coach and a voice teacher.

Let's break down the timeline first.

Of course, this timeline is idyllic, but it gives you an idea of how long it takes to prepare for something. As a voice teacher, it is difficult for me to explain to folks why they "didn't get the lead/solo" when they have only been with me for a handful of times and it is their first singing experience. That would be equivalent to expecting to win a half marathon after having only run 5-7 miles a handful of times. That's an unreasonable expectation for the amount of time invested. It does not mean you should quit singing... but also means, it will take time to accomplish your goals and that you need to trust your teacher.

Now, a teacher is not a pianist nor is it a teacher's job to teach you music. A teacher's job is to condition your instrument. Again, I will make a sports analogy: there are conditioning coaches and head coaches for a reason. One helps you understand your own biomechanics and the other helps you to understand your place on a team or in performance. Voice teachers are the conditioners/personal trainers: we help you understand your instrument and show you how to use it the most efficiently. We cannot do this to our greatest extent if students do not practice. We cannot as easily cross apply technique in warm-ups to technique in repertoire if we are doing your work on top of ours.*

A coach is a pianist first. Ideally, a coach has taken collaborative piano classes, maybe has a degree in it, or is a really skilled and versatile accompanist. Their job is to prepare you for performances (but again, it is not their job to TEACH you the music. That is your job). They will pay special attention to your pitch, rhythm, dynamics, articulation, diction, etc, and will act as your scene partner. 

I am speaking to an intended audience of 17+ in this post. I do not expect children to abide by these guidelines BUT to be aware of them when they become an adult. Remember, taking private lessons entails a mutual relationship. We are not miracle workers... but we will certainly better serve our students with explicit and honest communication.

*[Practice: it looks different for many different folks. I will write about this in a later post. But know that I do not expect folks to have the same practice regimens].