My job as a teacher is…

Posted 3 months, 4 weeks ago at 6:03 pm. 1 comment

What is my job as a voice teacher?

I have decided to define myself is as a voice teacher.  I believe that everyone has the RIGHT to sing.  Research has shown that human beings are born to be musical.  Even more, humans are born to be singers (see Daniel Levitin’s book This is Your Brain on Music).  This means that EVERYONE can sing.

As a voice teacher, it is NOT my job to like or dislike your voice.  It is not my place to help you “be famous.” It is not my job to decide whether you can have a career or not.

It IS my job to help you to sing to the best of your physical ability.  It IS my job to give you information about how your instrument (your body!) works and how best to affect it.  It IS my job to change my teaching style to best suit each student individually in order to maximize their potential.   It IS my job to make singing fun and enjoyable.  It IS my job to encourage you to let your voice out and be free.  It IS my job to give you all the information you need in order to reach both your short-term and long-term goals.  It IS my job to help my singers learn how to practice effectively and affectively – what do they need to do in order to teach the body the HABITS of an effective singer?

Singers must be “mental” in order to sing well.  The main function of the vocal chords is to manipulate the air (this is part of what I tell my singers in their first lesson).  This means that the chords are part of the automatic nervous system, so we cannot successfully send direct orders to the chords.  We must place the voice WITHIN a situation where the desired effect will occur. A great example that I use is this question: “Can we TELL our eyes to dilate? No.  Can we put our eyes in a situation where they will dilate? Yes.”  This is analogous to how the voice works.

As I’ve stated in previous postings (notably in: “I don’t care what you don’t want”), we must think in terms of “positive directives.”  This means that we focus on what we’re looking for and using identifiers to analyze what we’re looking for.  To help with this, I have developed my “C list” (to begin with).

• Clarity of tone
• Cleanliness of tone
• Confidence of production
• Consistency of tone
• Capability of vocal production
• Clarity & consistency of VOWEL
• Consistency of “spin” in the tone
• Can I TRUST this sound? Do I know what will come out when I open my mouth?
• Are the breath and tone “marrying” together to function as one dynamic unit?
• Freedom of production
• EASE of production
• Can I TRUST this sound? Do I know what will come out when I open my mouth?
• Facility of vocalization
• Is the “fila di voce” present? Is the voice seemingly “hung together on a thread of sound?”
• Is there TONE vs. PITCH in the sound?

Nowhere in this list do I pose judgmental inquiries.  Judgment is not my job.  To produce the best sound, we cannot listen to ourselves as we would another performer.  Our ears are hearing “twice at a time delay” (both through internal, sympathetic vibrations as the sound is produced and then “normally” after the sound has left our mouths) and the brain does not successfully process this information in a way that is productive.  So, we must listen to the elements of the sound, decide what is working well and on which issues we need to focus.

These analyses are applicable no matter what genre the student chooses to sing or at what level the singer chooses to perform (from the shower to the stage).  The CHORDS function in the same way to make sound.  Style is then placed upon solid vocal function.  As a voice teacher, I must facilitate all who wish to sing.  I don’t discriminate in terms of age (I don’t take students younger than 10 because of cognitive/analytic ability), vocal ability, musical knowledge, career aspirations.  My job as a teacher is to help my students know their own voice so that they can be THAT singer when their 70 (you know, the one everyone points to and says “Wow! They’re amazing!”).

What do you see as YOUR job as a teacher?

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