How I Teach
Oh, it’s a curious thing, this thing called voice teaching. Here are 10 things off the top of my head that shed a little light on how I teach.
Less talk, more singing. The best lessons are almost wordless, even if verbal explanations are necessary.
Demonstration. It has to come out of the teacher’s mouth, enter the student’s ear, then come out their mouth. It goes back and forth like this until the student can do it on their own. This is how it was done in the 18th century and how “ring” is acquired. You’d be surprised how many students “get it” on the first try, the ear being able to “gulp” large amounts of auditory information.
Exercises and scales. No one jumps into singing songs and arias in my studio. I don’t care if you are a star. I want to hear you sing a 5-tone scale and all the basic stuff beautifully. Why? Singing is a craft. Once you can do the basic stuff? Sing your face off!
Messa di Voce. The greatest of all vocal exercises, I will teach it to you after the basic coordination has been learned. I break the exercise down into digestible bites and feed it to you bit by bit. To master this exercise, you have to master your breath.
Encouragement. I slather it on the moment you nail the thing you are working on. Yeah. You got it. You did it. Excellent! Now do it again so we both know it’s not an accident and the product of real skill!
Bring the thing that’s not working to the thing that is. I consider this a principle of learning. If a vowel is weird, it’s best to sing a vowel that’s working and bring the weird one to it.
No break. No Pause. This is a matter of neuroplasticity and builds on my previous point. If you want to make a weird vowel pure, sing a pure vowel first and then sing the one that's been weird right after it, without break or pause. If you break or pause (and lose your breath as a result), the neural connection in the brain will be lost.
Inspiration. I can teach you how to breathe, but the real appoggio involves leaning into your Self.
Cracks bring down the house. Little things will turn turn into big things if they aren’t addressed. The aspiration you make when you portamento to a higher tone, the hole between E and F, and the scoop on all the notes above B must be fixed.
Do you have any questions? I ask this at the end of every lesson; and while it may seem to contradict my first point since it involves talking, it brings us full circle. I encourage you to engage your technique deeply and thoroughly. The only way to do this is to investigate it, play with it, and test it out. Those who question go further than those who don’t.
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