TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

as a teacher of singing

My goal as a teacher of singing is to create a safe, welcoming, and challenging environment for students to experience singing as a demanding art form that can bring ultimate joy to the singer and to the audience, in ways that few other human experiences can. When students are learning to sing they must be allowed to make a great number of mistakes and some really horrible noises before they understand what good singing is, and wherein their potential as creative musical artists lie. Singers must be allowed to try their voices without fear of ridicule or qualification, without apprehension or trepidation, and without the feeling of being overly self-conscious and shy with projected tonal production.

No matter what the style of singing, be it pop-belt or legit, strictly classical, or rock-and-roll grate, the goals of vocal pedagogy are the same: singers need to be able to perform for long periods of time under often difficult circumstances producing the exact sound they wish to make. To this end, specific techniques of breathing, varietous tonal color, the use (or disuse) of vibrato, tonal placement and position, and personal connection to the music simultaneous with connection to the audience are of paramount importance. This is student-centered learning in its most obvious example as all singers have unique voices; no two singers sound exactly the same and it is this individualism that makes singing the most personal of musical performances, and potentially offers the most satisfying of all audience experiences.

There are many ways for amateur singers to perform in front of an audience and I always encourage my students to embrace the possibility of Karaoke, singing in community-level choruses, performing as a headliner or back-up singer in a pop/rock/country band, and singing chorus and solo roles in local musical and opera productions. Most of my students have expressed a deep and abiding interest in singing professionally and I am thus tasked with being as honest and direct with them as I possibly can. This is a very competitive field with ever-fewer positions and an ever-increasing number of highly qualified singers. Students need to understand the limitations of this vocation and the inherent need to be able to make a living. I know many singers, classical and otherwise, who have enjoyed great success within a more limited (and realistic) framework than as a member of a stadium filling rock bank, an oratorio soloist, or as a Broadway or operatic diva. Teaching music is a privilege, and teaching singing is an honor.