The Pros and Cons of "Goal-Oriented" Lessons

Created on Easil

Goal-oriented lessons.... teachers have a love/hate relationship with them. What are goal-oriented lessons? Usually they are a finite number of lessons that students take to accomplish a specific goal, like auditioning for a musical or first chair in orchestra. Students come in with a specific piece or two that need to be worked on, take a few lessons, and then once the goal is accomplished, they hit pause on lessons.

As a singer who has taken goal-oriented lessons before, I understand their necessity. Let's look at the pros and cons for both students and teachers.

PROS:

There comes a time when students become self-sufficient enough that they need only take lessons (with an appropriate timeline) when applicable for a certain goal. They just need a quick tune-up because they already work on their own technique and practice regularly. These students are students who have already done the gritty work of learning rhythms, pitches, language, tempo, dynamics, etc. I am generally not "teaching" these students their music (which is not a voice teacher's job: that is a blog post for another day). I am exploring the boundaries of music-making and acting with these students. I love this- it is fun and we know exactly what to expect in terms of a lesson structure. The student makes informed musical and acting choices with weeks of in-depth work.

CONS:

There are students who will only take lessons to prepare for something. Again, we understand. Just know that retaining technique is difficult unless the student is really self-sufficient, intrinsically motivated, and recording all of their lessons and listening back to them. Like exercise, if we do not maintain the flexibility, strength, and endurance of our voice, we will lose it. This can be both frustrating to the student and the teacher. 

Teachers invest heavily in their students' success. Our work is deeply personal, and goal-oriented lessons... feel transactional. Again, it is what it is, but know that who you are matters in how you make music. Your instrument is unique. We want to make sure our instruction is not only safe and correct, but personalized.

So if you have an audition coming up, sure, take a sufficient number of lessons (3-4) but coachings are better as you become more advanced. Just have realistic expectations for yourself and the teacher.