Experienced Performers and Serious Voice Student Questions

“I want to find a great teacher and see how good I can get!  Yeeeeahh!!!” Yeeeeaaahhhh!!!  Let’s do it!  (I can be serious, too, if that’s your thing.)

“I just want occasional coachings/auditon prep, etc.” Great!  Just go to the online lesson scheduler to easily book a time.  If there are no suitable times online before your audition, then… I’m full. Feel free to phone or email me to see if we can find a time, though.

“Hey, wait a minute–don’t you cast for shows, too?” Yes, but just because I can tell you exactly what we’re looking for for a given role, and work with you to help you nail it, vocally, this doesn’t mean you’ll be any more likely to get cast–wait–yes it does!

However, it would still be unethical for me to let the directing team know that you’re serious about your craft and your training as demonstrated through our lessons/coachings in such a way that might tip the scales in your favour–wait–no, it wouldn’t!

“I’m pretty happy with my voice, already–anything in it for me?” There could well be (but I’ll tell you if I think you’re doing great without me).  Even someone who has their range and tone together might want to tweak the odd thing.  Sometimes there is a word or a phrase that might feel a little too tight, or not as in tune as you’d like, or you might not like what you have to do with your tone to make the notes stay connected–I have some great tools for ironing out these spots.

“I’ve had so many voice lessons, but I still have some limitations–I think I’m stuck with them, though.” Okay.  Have you ever had lessons with a Speech Level Singing teacher? The methods and the results are a lot different than any other voice lessons I’ve seen–I’ve chosen to train in this method because I’ve seen it work where other methods/teachers have been ineffective.  I really hope you’ll check it out.

“I know I reach a bit, up high, but I get by okay, especially if I’m careful.” I hear you.  Talk to me if you ever want to get rid of the strain completely and/or find out how high you can really go.

“I have this friend who used to be able to sing really high just fine, but now their voice seems to be getting lower, or less resilient.” This is normal, in a lot of cases.  A lot of women in their 20s, and guys in their mid-30s  may experience their voices either deepening, or becoming less responsive to an unbalanced technique that previously worked fine for them.  To fix it, they may need to retrain a bit, and that may involve the trying new things and changing long-standing habits.  The good news is that, unless their technique was stellar to begin with (very rare), if they do retrain, they can often  get all their range back and more, provided they get the right training.

Some thoughts on what might happen to people who don’t retrain when this happens:  They might get by, but singing might become more stressful and less fun.  Then might become hypochrondriacs to varying extents, because they know that their voice now needs every little advantage it can get.  I don’t want to push anyone in a direction they’re not comfortable being pushed; I’ll just say that it really doesn’t have to be this way, and I hope that, if this might be happening to you, you’ll try a few lessons–if only to understand more about what your options really are, and to experience a glimpse of how easy it can be–if and when you’re ready.