Re: Voice Teachers--what to look for?

mstee
Fri, 14 Oct 2005 12:35:11 +0000

Samia–LOL. Even here in the Bay Area, the joke is that if you’re a woman, it is super competitive, if you’re a guy, all you have to do is show up. It is really not quite that bad, but guys who can sing are highly prized everywhere, it seems!

I appreciate all the feedback. If anyone else has any thoughts, I welcome them! I’ll probably have more questions, but the trial voice lesson is not for a couple of weeks yet–the first Sat. in Nov. What I know of this teacher is that she is somehow connected to one of the local Cal States, and she performs/has performed a lot. Her one student that I have heard sing (the kid whose mom recommended her) was fantastic in our middle school’s production of Fiddler–he was Tevya. He was a 7th grader whose voice had already changed, and he looked/sounded much older than he is (some in the audience were overheard saying that they didn’t think it was fair to cast a high school kid in the part). I had seen him in something the summer before and the improvement was amazing–he was completely convincing. And he sounded completely natural.

Lorelei–what you say makes sense. One of my friends in the opera chorus here says that in her opinion what a good voice teacher has to offer is an excellent “set of ears.” So I’ll look for that.

Part of my problem with the voice teacher that the girls had before was that I don’t really know what she was doing. I know she emphasized breathing, and I don’t think she did anything “unhealthy,” but she did not want parents listening in on the lessons at all, so I’m not really sure what she did in the lessons. And she was an excellent piano player, which is handy, but I kind of did get the feeling that there was a lot of playing and singing which is fun, but I just had a feeling that though what was happening was good, there should be something more to it – kind of vague, I know . . . Anyway, she was a good teacher to get started with, but it just seems time to try someone/something else. Anyway, this new woman charges $65.00/hr., (slightly above the going rate which seems to be around $50 to $60/hr. here). I certainly want it to be worthwhile!