How do you go about finding the best voice teacher for you? Not every voice teacher will be a right fit. Not everyone who teaches is even a teacher. But what constitutes who is a good fit for you? Here are five points to be aware of when you are looking for the voice teacher that would be a good fit for you:
Find A Voice Teacher Who Makes You Feel Comfortable
We can’t stress the importance of this enough! Of course, every single person comes into their first lesson with some level of tension and nervousness and that’s expected! Your teacher should be someone who, after those initial lessons, makes you feel comfortable. Your teacher should create an environment in the teaching space that invites you to sing.
One of my very first voice teachers ended up being too demanding with high expectations I was not equipped to reach. I became overwhelmed and intimidated to the point where I didn’t make any vocal progress and I ended up quitting. Later, I found a teacher with more patience for my own learning curve. You want a teacher who has enough emotional intelligence to read your personality and know how much to challenge you and when to back off.
Find A Voice Teacher Who Brings Out the Best Side of You
It’s a known fact that personalities of certain people bring out certain personality traits of your own. You want to like who you are with the teacher you are working with. That is a key phrase: do you like who you are when you are with your teacher?
If your voice teacher makes you feel anxious or brings out other negative feelings in you without gently working alongside you to manage those feelings, then it might be time to find another teacher. Negative feelings left alone and not addressed will grow. This negativity will work against a healthy vocal technic.
Find A Voice Teacher Who Shows You Technical Progress
There are a lot of people out there who give voice lessons but aren’t really voice teachers. What are their credentials? Professional training? Professional gigging? Even then, just because they have performance experience or a degree, doesn’t make them a teacher. Ultimately, you want to be able to see your voice develop. You want to see your own progress happen.
Of course, just like learning any other skill, there will be seasons of lulls that you have to work through in order to reach your break through. During a lull, consider if it’s the teacher’s lack of direction or if you need to be putting in the daily practice in order accomplish the task at hand. Let’s be real, many of us learners don’t put in the daily work for the progress we want to see. Be sure to take an honest evaluation on who is really stunting your progress. Is it you or the teacher?
Find A Voice Teacher Who Develops Your Unique Sound
The last thing you want is a teacher who wants to make you into a mini version of themselves. Instead, they should help you find your own unique sound. Each person has their own voice and your voice teacher should help you shape your sound. At the same time, be open to critique. Your vocal lessons are a fine balance of protecting who you are and accepting critique for your growth.
A Voice Teacher Should Never Guilt-trip You
Sometimes it is good to try another teacher to get a sense of the teacher you have. There is nothing wrong with that! It’s your progress that matters! You are investing in yourself so do what it takes to get the best return on your investment of time and money!
If you want to try out another vocal instructor, your teacher should never guilt-trip you for it! That is a sign that your teacher is holding their own ego above your needs. Even if they disagree with your decision, you must come to your own conclusions. Consider their input of course, because they may be right, but don’t be intimidated to explore what you need to feel confident about your choices. Your teacher should let you go but be there with open arms when you return. They should understand that certain teacher personalities work differently with each student and that ultimately, each student must find the teacher they work with best.
At Martucci Music school in East Sacramento, these are the kinds of teachers we value and hire. All our teachers understand that what matters most is a student’s personal development and if that means they would like to try other teachers then our teachers are completely understanding and more than happy to let students make those decisions and explore their options.
To inquire about our current voice lesson availability today!