What Is Voice Teaching?

WHAT IS VOICE TEACHING?
One of the things I love about being a voice teacher is the investigation discovery aspect of the job.

Yes, there are important and quantitative rudiments that comprise a well crafted bel canto singer e.g. compression in relation to efficient phonation, balanced Italian vowels as connected to personal vocal fingerprint, heavy and light register range access as associated with organic tessitura and so on.

In layman’s terms, all of that jargon means the following: learning how to breathe as a singer, finding vocal power, singing with your authentic tone, and accessing a healthy vocal range.

I have found, especially in my work with my LSU vocal technician/alexander teacher, in order to uncover the discovery aspect of vocal training, it’s a meeting of the mind, body, and spirit.

Each student comes with a different set of physical, verbal, and emotional variables. Those who I have encountered who taught me the only right way in their eyes didn’t help me grow in my vocal journey.

I have taught all ages over the years from single digits to senior citizens. People’s singing journeys are a puzzle; one that I have been privileged to copilot.

The voice teacher gig is never boring. There are always new things to learn for the teacher-guide and singer.

Today I continued my work with a gifted singer; a robust and formidable tenor.

We worked through the Italian vowels and found common ground via breath, intentional release, height, expansion, and direction.

His feedback was inspiring and indicative of his thoughtfulness as a human.

Some of my favorite Patrick quotes include the following:

“My vocal sensation is often going only as well as my neck feels.”

“Distraction, singing lyrically, and being in motion helped me free up my sound.”

“Well that was scary, my sound felt honest”

So what is voice teaching in my opinion? Voice teaching with the most effective results is most often collaborative, adaptive content exploration, learning to unlearn set approaches, and a living experience of garnering our muse.