[Guest Teacher]

I have someone with an even worse case of this as he tends not to hear it even when we do scales (he’ll sometimes be as much as a third out without hearing it!).
Firstly, reassure him it’ll come with time and work, its something to be developed rather than a piece of head knowledge, secondly, get him to critique himself after singing (even if he doesn’t hear it yet, the act of critiquing helps open up the awareness), then I’d frequently get him to sing a cappella or preferably with yourself or someone else accompanying him so he can concentrate solely on the voice.
I’ve been working with this student for over a year now and although the issues are still there, I’m getting a lot of positive reports from friends and family about how much better he is. Keep at it, he’ll get there!

[Guest Teacher]

I’m a support worker 25 hours a week although I’d love to take the leap to do this full time! The day will come soon though now that my client base is building.

[Guest Teacher]

I had this exact comment this week. I think partly because I look a lot younger than I am. People keep thinking I’m a student and doing this on the side….perhaps need to think a little more about my dress code!

[Guest Teacher]

I’ve been trying to figure this one out for ages. I have a student at the moment who struggles with Pitch and I’ve been doing a little experiment with him.

I got him to download a Chromatic tuner, the one we have been using is DaTuner Lite which is free on Google Play. I asked him to sing any note and then try and make that note a C. Once he found C I made him hold it and then find D, E, F, G until he was able to sing the simple scale.

He said the fact that he could actually see what his voice was doing made it so much easier for him as he is a visual person. Even though he isn’t completely there yet, we are already starting to see improvements!

[Guest Teacher]

I don’t have set excersizes for breathing but try and teach them to breathe from their diaphragm while they are actually singing. I have found that it gives their voices more support especially while trying to hit those long high notes. I have also found that breathing properly gives students more confidence and belief in their abilities.

It’s different for every student though and it’s also difficult because naturally while walking or running or doing any sport we don’t breathe from our diaphragms. I found out the only sport where you do breathe from your diaphragm is swimming