Membership Expired Kat Hunter
Membership ExpiredForum Replies Created
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Lydia, I know the feeling.
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It’s a hard one. My policy is 24 hours, and I expect myself to give students 24 hours notice as well (more because I’m afraid of looking like a hypocrite than anything). I was sick with a cold a lot of last week and just pushed on through and kept teaching haha. Still sick today actually and a full day of students tomorrow :S
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yayyy:)
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Ok, so in terms of understanding what “tone deafness” actually is, this recording totally changed my life:
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-ballad-of-tin-ears-1.2633533?autoplay=trueSet aside an hour for it, it’s so worth it. It explains tone-deafness from a neurological perspective amongst other things and has heavily informed my process with helping these students.
cbc.ca
Many of us love to sing, but we're not all good at it. Some of us can't even carry a tune and are told not to sing. Tim Falconer dives into neuroscience, psychology -- and music itself -- to find … Continue reading
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Anyone else have facebook business pages to share? Would love to see some more!
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Loving seeing and liking peoples’ business pages!
Mine’s https://www.facebook.com/kathuntervocalstudio/
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Wow, great ideas all round! So impressed!
@Matthew I LOVE the fridge idea. Good one! And a good idea for the off peak rate too… something to think about.
@Lewis Wow, I didn’t even know you were allowed to stand outside a school and hand out things.. It’s something I’ve thought about doing before but for some reason I was always scared about being taken away by the authorities haha! Awesome suggestions of places to post fliers.
I’ve had a lot more success in the past with fliers than with online too. And it feels more quantifiable than just hoping people will follow you on facebook/twitter which is more of a long term method for developing trust with future clients. I just often don’t have the patience or the social media savvy for that stuff@Dave, totally on point. I love that you’ve really capitalised on the online space. It’s so interesting that you did so well with facebook promotion! I’d been warned off that, but maybe the information I was getting was wrong? Also great idea about the local music store. I wish I could take more advantage of that as a singer!
IDEA: maybe we could all like each others’ business facebook pages? I don’t know if this would help (I have a hard time sometimes figuring out exactly how facebook fits in the marketing picture, but I suppose a few more likes is probably a good thing)?
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Just about to raise my prices and referring back to this now has been so helpful! Thanks all:)
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Hey Frank, that’s such a good idea. I haven’t had to do the price increase myself, but this is a great way of doing it! I’ll definitely use this technique when the time comes. Another good thing about your price increase is that going from 12.50 to 15 means no more fiddling with loose change. Awesome!
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I found this to be a pretty helpful article when I was putting vouchers in place and it advocates for no expiry:
http://www.toughcookiemarketing.com/turning-gift-vouchers-into-gold/ -
Interesting!
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I’ve made it so that my vouchers and bulk lessons are absolutely non-refundable. They are both discounted, so i stand strong on this.
However I give them a whole 12 months before they expire, which I’m happy to do.
I also say that the voucher/bundle will be transferrable once. So if they’re sure they won’t use it, they can change whose name it’s in and either be compensated by that person, or gift it onwards. -
Yayy! I just got a job teaching at a highschool, and they’re considering bringing in the Rock School syllabus. If I hadn’t read this thread I would have been at a complete loss to talk about it. Thanks team!
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I don’t think youtube is killing the music teacher!
But, youtube DOES get me a little riled up, especially as a singing teacher (I don’t know how much this is the case for guitar teachers), because there’s so much misinformation out there! Content marketing has meant that every man and his dog thinks they’re the fount of all knowledge when it comes to singing (or at least would like to be for SEO purposes). Thankfully once students are sometimes confused out of their minds, they’ll decide to book in a lesson with a teacher, and start to clear things up. But I’ve had some students come to me with some really weeeeird ideas about singing that have come from youtube. -
Completely missed this post! Although I’m coming late to the game, thought I’d share what I usually teach.
I normally spend half the lesson time on exercises and half the lesson time on repertoire/application of skills to song. The focus of the exercises is almost always focused on a particular skill/goal that the student is trying to achieve. Usually this is along the lines of a) being able to sing louder or with greater dynamic control b) being able to sing higher c) removing or smoothing out register breaks in the voice (such as between chest and head voice).
However this is modified a whole lot by what students are needing. If students struggle to sing in tune, this of course takes priority. And like Eliza, I’m definitely spending more time on ear training and music theory at the moment – I think this is petty important.
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Just received an enquiry for group lessons and referred to this thread! Great advice all.
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Haha what a great youtube clip!
Helping a singer with their tone is a difficult one, especially if their tone is following their speaking voice; you don’t want to deviate too much from this and make singing feel like something that’s unnatural and divorced from the rest of their voice.
The only ideas I have are these:
1. Take a look at her vowels, and maybe do some work sustaining the 5 italian vowels, helping her to understand the difference between lighter and darker vowel pronunciations (ie. is the vowel shape closer to ee or oh? Is she tending towards a smile shape?)
2. Make sure her whole range is being worked. Sometimes a high larynx is made worse when someone feels as though they’re at the top of their chest and are hitting a wall. Plenty of hooty head voice work might alleviate this.
3. Work with her at a variety of volumes. Does she seem to be stuck at one volume all the time? Either very quiet or very loud? Sometimes working through different volumes can help the voice kind of break out of its mould if that makes any sense.Let me know how you’re going with the student and if any of this helps :).
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Hey Wes, just had a listen to those tunes – it’s sounding great! I think the first is my favourite:)
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Alright everyone, I felt like dredging up this thread to see if anything has changed? How are your musical projects all going? Are there any new people to the forum who are in bands I could check out? Would love to hear more of your collective awesome creative work.
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Thanks so much Eliza! <3
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I’d love to see what more of you are doing creatively. Anyone else out there have any vids or music?
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Wow, you’re so busy! I’m super impressed! Don’t worry, not spammy at all. So I’ve been really lazy with musical projects lately, but occasionally I do some solo stuff. This is the last thing I did, almost a year ago now! (This is great motivation to get back on the horse).
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Some ideas for getting more strength/flexibility into those high notes:
1. Can she do a tongue-trill or a lip bubble? These sounds are GREAT for working up higher.
2. Can she go “woooo!” like you would at a gig or sports match? This sound might trick her into finding some ease and release up the top.
At the end of the day, don’t be afraid of spending a lot of time up high on nice relaxing sounds – the more time she spends there the more comfy it’ll be :).
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Wow, interesting!
So her voice is consistently getting stuck at F4. Which is bizarre, because even if she was chest voice dominant, she should still have at least a good major 3rd above that still in chest. She really seems to give up on G4. To be honest to some degree it sounds like she doesn’t even try for those notes! Or like she can’t hear them properly.One problem is that this song is really wordy and fast. Which probably makes her think she can get away with singing lower notes rather than being in tune, as it moves so quickly from note to note anyway. I mean G4 isn’t even high for an old lady mezzo let alone a young kid. This song almost entirely stays within a chest voice range other than the occasional C in the middle of the song, and the 3 sustains on C at the end, so as much as she definitely needs work opening up head voice, I don’t think it’s the only problem here. This sounds partially like a tuning problem to me. Also I would encourage her to be as soft as she likes and to really listen to the accompaniment.
PS. Wow I just heard 1:51. And she gets it! After the instrumental! Maybe this is partly a nerves thing? I would slow everything right down. I would also give her an exercise where you make up a melody sticking mostly to notes between G4 and C5 (the notes in the song she struggles with), and get her to try learning it as quickly as possible by imitating you. She needs to get used to feeling how awesome and easy it can be to be in tune on those notes so that she knows how to navigate the song a little easier.
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@Eliza Thanks for sharing your timetable! Great to see how other teachers structure their time.
Lately I’ve been scheduling small gaps (15 minutes) between some students so that I feel fully prepared and have had time to read my notes on the student before they come in. This does make the whole process a little more time consuming though.
@Ben, I know how you feel! I feel as though half the point of working for oneself is that you get to choose when you work! At least to some degree. I choose not to work Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays, so I get a nice big weekend to rest up and plan. And spend time with the cat and the husband.
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Hey Ben,
Not to worry, I don’t think it’s bad form at all to talk about money. I think within a friendly community like this one, transparency is only a good thing!
As much as this is unhelpful, I think you have to really think through how much you feel what you’re offering is worth. For quite some time I was charging what you are; 25 an hour. But I knew I was underselling myself, AND I was burning out because I was fully booked, and was taking on so many students that I wasn’t able to pay the attention to each of them that I wanted. In that case I really should have raised my prices much earlier, and set a limit on how many people I wanted to see each week. So… here are some questions to ask yourself:
Keeping in mind that running a business like this involves time spent on other things (accounting, marketing, scheduling lessons, etc. etc.), how much time per week do I want to spend 1-1 with students? How many different faces do I think I could see in one week and still offer maximum value to each and every student? if you taught this maximum number of hours per week at the chosen price (and allowing for some cancellations and losses), what would your monthly income look like?
Also… a business coach I read called Jenny Shih says “if you double your rates, you have to be able to feel like you’re also doubling your value”. She says that although it’s always a good idea to aim high, often when businesses aim too high without actually feeling ready to take that on, they end up self-sabotaging by feeling embarrassed about their prices and no longer being as enthusiastic to tell people about their business.
So yes, DO raise your prices for sure. But you might choose to only do it in increments and test it for a while at each price. Make sure you do whatever work is required to feel really comfortable and proud of whatever price you’re asking, and you’ll be good to go :).
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@Louisa As for asking for money upfront, you definitely don’t have to make it compulsory. If you put on a little discount for a certain number of lessons booked at a time, and let all your students know about this (and the fact that it means they don’t have to think about bringing payment separately to every lesson, so, less to have to think about), you may find that even young adults jump on board.
@Ben, the subscription idea could work. I know a guitar teacher in my area that uses it. Just some things to think about though: a) what system would you put in place for weeks where the student would have 5 lessons (for example there are 5 Mondays this month), b) if you’re allowing students to offset (which is a good idea), would you still have to have a normal cancellation policy in place? For example 24 o 48 hours?
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Yesyesyes! Since I started offering block bookings it’s made the admin side of my life SO much easier, especially where cancellation policies are concerned because people have already put the money down, and know what kind of commitments they’ve made and make sure they know their way around the policy, which avoids any confusion. But you’re right, it does take some self control when you’re looking at your finances. I tend to put away as much as I can in separate savings accounts for rent, bills etc. when I get a big lump of money so that I know exactly how far it’s going to go.
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I think it depends what you mean by “public performance”. Often when public performances take place, it’s the venue that pays the performing rights association, not the performer.
Are you concerned about recitals?
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For women:
Taylor Swift is good for beginner songs, but very wordy, so that’s the trade-off.
Valerie (Amy Winehouse) is upbeat and fair easy.
I’m like a bird by Nelly Furtado only goes up to Bflat and is fairly speaky.
Royals by Lorde is fairly straightforward and low too.
Somewhere only we know (lily allen did a version of this from memory)For either:
Let it be by the beatles it pretty simple and doesn’t have a huge range if you can put it in a key that suits the student
Same with yellow by coldplay.For men:
Most things by oasis (wonderwall or don’t look back in anger, both dead simple)
Hallelujah
Under the bridge – red hot chilli peppers
Other side – david gray
Four seasons in one day – crowded houseA few ideas to get started with at least:)
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Hey Rosie, I find myself agreeing with most of the things said above.
Definitely try to make the phone call. I used to be terrible on the phone, but I’ve found it’s a skill I’ve gotten better at (through sheer force of will and practice). I’ve also found that when I speak to a student on the phone BEFORE the lesson it can offer result in better retention after that first lesson as you’ve already got them on side.
That said, absolutely don’t feel as though you need to offer a free lesson (or a free “consultation” for that matter). If you treat them with a warmth and respect but set clear boundaries, demonstrating the worth of your time, the student will be grateful for this. Boundaries are important so that both parties (teacher and student) know where they stand.
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Open mics, and the idea of collaborations happening between students is such a cool idea! I’m still on the hunt for an open mic near me that feels chill enough for me to recommend it to my students or hold an event there. I think what’s happening near me is that sometimes a bar (not a cozy little music venue, but a sterile bar with zero space for the performer) will hold an open mic night to prop up their booze sales and have music without having to pay musicians. Bad vibes!
I think overall though, fewer concerts is not a bad idea. Better to do a smaller number of things in a way that feels good, than to burn out!!
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Amazing advice! This is all super helpful.
You mentioned you did a paid event? How does the money end of things normally work? Do you pay the venue?
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I agree with all the above. She needs to get an ok from an ENT before taking the next step with her voice.
That said, if she’s had nodules for a LONG time (as in she got hard nodules as a kid that never went away and were not removed – I’ve taught a student like this before), and is considered ready to work on her voice, working with a voice teacher will help her develop a more sustainable way of using her voice in speaking and singing, which can only be a good thing.
But yes, even if she gets the “OK”, don’t feel like you have to take her on. Like Matt said, if you’re not confident, it will rub off on the student.
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I wish I could help with this one but all too often it seems to be a case of “who you know”. Would love to see some more information out there about this.
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Damn, that sounds so stressful, Beckie. I agree, you should have an honest conversation with her (over the phone if necessary) about how she’s feeling about lessons. It may not be a priority for her at the moment if she’s sick, and dealing with a lot of life mishaps, so it pays to be empathetic about that and potentially offer to put lessons on hiatus (ie. stop reserving her time), until she’s “ready to come back” (she may never be, but at least you’ll get a straight answer and be rid of a student who sounds more of a headache than anything). And in the mean time, if you’ve taught lessons that haven’t been paid for, then that money is absolutely *owed* to you. So make it as easy for her to pay it as possible. Maybe ask if it’s ok to send her a paypal link, so she can pay the amount instantly, so that neither of you have to worry about it anymore. Get it dealt with and do it as quickly as possible. xx
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“Some people will always take the road of least confrontation/friction…telling someone that their services aren’t required seems to be too much for some people and they will avoid that at all costs.”
Yes, this is so true. Totally agree with your points, Mark! I think by nature a lot of us music teachers are sometimes quite assertive, organised or upfront, as these are often skills that come with the job. So sometimes it’s hard for us to put ourselves in the shoes of those who would avoid talking to you about whether or not your service is still relevant to them at all costs! We need not be disheartened though. 1. You can never please everybody 2. Even the people you do please may not be the right fit for you forever. Sometimes people just decide no. 2 of their own accord haha.
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Up until this year students were paying me lesson by lesson. Now I ask for payment in advance (although I’m not very good at this all of the time), and people have the option of buying 4 or 10 lessons at a time, at a discount. I don’t ask for notice when people quit. I do try and ask for feedback when it happens so that I can understand if there’s something that I can do to better my teaching…. but really there’s very little we can do.
I know it’s not really helpful, but I find mindset plays into this a lot for me. I think I’ve just finally accepted 4 years into this job that people are going to not show up occasionally – this happened with a brand new student this morning in fact! There are ways to prevent this, such as maintaining a solid line of communication with the student about their needs and to make time for calling them if the alarm bells go up that they may not be engaging with your business as you’d like. At the end of the day though, you’re a service. And when people stop prioritising that service or have second thoughts or it becomes no longer as important to them, they’ll just stop coming in. in fact if they think they’ll be reprimanded for quitting, they’re probably MORE likely to cut off all lines of communication when they stop showing up, as hard as this is for us.
One way to not feel this as harshly is to be booked out so much that the break is a welcome relief (if only this was me haha!). Another point is that if the student really cared so little about you that they gave you no notice, then perhaps it’s a GOOD thing that they’re gone. And an opportunity now arises to work with someone new in that time slot who is far more enthusiastic. This will make your work much more fulfilling as well. I know this sounds bleurghhk but at the end of the day there are pros and cons to this job. The pros are getting to inspire new people all the time and helping them unleash their creativity and having the flexibility that comes with working for ourselves. The cons are that people will piss off and may take for granted the time and effort you put into them, and chasing them up is only going to make them resent you more, even though it represents a loss of income on your part. It’s bleak, but unavoidable. For me personally, even though I’ve currently made peace with this as much as possible, I know that in the long term this unpredictability will probably take its toll (what? there are jobs where you get paid leave and predictable work hours and guaranteed income?? sign me up haha) and I’ll find a more stable line of work. Sorry if that got heavy and philosophical haha.
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Although my knowledge of the Uk legal system is not thorough, I would imagine that regardless of the law it would, in fact, be unethical to ACCEPT a student if you feel you’re unable to serve them as they would like, and if you know you can refer them to a different service that would much better cater for their needs.
For example, I now don’t teach anyone under the age of 16, don’t often teach people with disabilities, and don’t teach people with vocal injuries unless I know what I’m doing and am confident I am the best person to help these students reach their goals. This is not me *discriminating* against people. If parents enquire about lessons, or students with special needs enquire, there’s a teacher I refer them to who is AMAZING at this kind of work (when I watch her working with kids and compare it to my much more technique-focused adult-friendly teaching style, it’s a no-brainer). If students with injuries enquire, I request a letter from a doctor or ENT with an “ok” to start vocal training and specifics. It would be UNETHICAL for me to accept these students when I can refer them to other people who are far more knowledgeable than I am, in helping specific students achieve the goals they are aiming for.I know it’s much more sensitive when working with people with disabilities, and you have to watch your wording, but if you feel uncomfortable teaching someone, then taking their money for a service you aren’t well-equipped to provide is bad news no matter how you look at it.
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All good, Lily, glad to be of help! xx
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Hey Lily, just listened to the recordings!
On a side note, I ended up taking on my own hoarse/scratchy voiced student. She said she had bad acid reflux, which was probably the cause, but it was causing her enough problems that I decided to send her to an ENT before seeing her again. It might be nothing, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry with this kind of stuff.
But anyway, on to your student, it doesn’t sound like there are any serious problems to me. The scratchiness is only light, and could just be allergies or a minor irritation. But the air-escapage, that’s something different. And that’s definitely the thing you want to address.
So basically, the gist of it is that she is not connecting to her chest voice or “modal voice”. You can hear this from the breathy “heady” sound of her voice throughout the range, and also in her tendency to be slightly sharp (it sounds like she’s hovering down to the note from above at times). This is unsurprising for an operatically trained singer. In opera, female sopranos are often not taught about chest voice at all and are not even asked to sing below C4, which becomes functionally problematic in the long term (especially if they want to sing contemporary music, which is much more chest dominant).
If you’re wondering how to correct this, you could start with speaky sounds or twangy sounds from the bottom, on a /nae/ sound, for example. I remember Matt Pocock posted a blog about this some time ago, but really, register habilitation and balancing is the work of Bel Canto (IVA, SLS, etc.). If you’d ever like a quick lesson with me to talk about chest voice/head voice balancing, let me know :). If you’d like some reading material, one of my favourite pedagogues in this area is Cornelius Reid, and you’ll find some free articles on his website- http://www.corneliuslreid.com/ . I also LOVE a book called The Naked Voice by Stephen Smith, which features a beautiful way to introduce the registers using natural speaking sounds, and includes a cd for exercise examples, which is very helpful.
Hope that sets you on the right track!
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Hmm it’s hard to recommend exercises without hearing it. Definitely try getting a recording :).
It’s not unusual for high notes to be breathy, but hissy/raspy sounds like something different all together. I’m not sure what though without hearing!
Lack of fold closure will cause breathiness in the tone, but not any kind of abrasiveness – that’s something else.Although at the end of the day, fold closure is not reaaally helped that much with the straw exercise or with VVVs etc. As these are semi-occluded sounds they’re more rehabilitative rather than strengthening. If you want to strengthen and thin the folds out, the best way is probably using a bratty/witchy sound.
Just make sure there’s no uncomfortability/pain going on with her voice – you wouldn’t want it to be an injury. And at the end of the day, if you’re not sure, or there’s any doubt, don’t hesitate to send her off to an ENT, just so both of you can have peace of mind.
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PS. Is there any glugginess as well? Does she often clear her throat or feel the need to?
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Hey Lily, would love to hear a recording of this so I can get a feel for what’s going on.
Is it happening across the entirety of her range or is it worse on some specific notes? -
Glad to be of help. Or “no wuckas” as we say down south:)
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Interesting topic. I have a few ideas:
1. As much as it sucks, it is their choice. As service providers we really have to get in their shoes and see what they’re getting from lessons. Of course we have to encourage them to improve and make sure that they ARE objectively improving. But what is almost MORE important is that THEY feel they’re improving. Like from their perspective. It may be that they’re actually happy to repeat lessons, so that it sinks in. Or maybe they need more structure. The key is, they’re paying us for that 1 hour (or whatever the allotted time is), and then they control the other hours in the week until we see them next. We have very little control over that. Our only responsibility here is to help them feel as though they’re improving, and to encourage them to make space in their lives for that. Some people just want to spend an hour a week basically wasting time. But that’s their prerogative and we still get paid anyhow. So the more important question to ask is “what are you wanting to get out of singing lessons?” “what do you want to improve on, in relation to your voice?” “Do you feel like you’re moving toward this goal quickly enough?”. If they say “no”, then we set up structures that encourage more practice. If their goal is to have fun, and they’re improving at a rate they’re happy with, there’s no incentive to practice and they won’t anyway, and that is ok too.
2. Practice has to be focused and goal-oriented. Give them 1 thing to practice, that only takes 5 minutes (so as not to be overwhelming). Say “if you only practice 1 thing this week, this should be it! But for it to work, you have to do it every day. In the shower, or in the car, I don’t mind, but make space for it every day”. If they start the habit and 5 minutes turns into 30 (because, you know, singing is fun), then that’s a bonus.
3. Ask them questions about *where* they practice. A yoga teacher once told me “the best way to get people to practice yoga is to tell them to leave their mat open in the living room at all times, not rolled up. That way, every time they walk past the mat they think “maybe I could just do a pose or two”, and suddenly that pose or two ends up being 20 minutes of yoga. I always ask students where they practice and give them tasks like putting up pictures of singers they love in that part of the house. Or if they practice in the shower, I give them exercises they can do without accompaniment. If they practice in the car, I suggest they burn their exercises onto disk, for example, or I get them to put post-its on the dashboard with ideas about singing.
4. Give them the authority to KNOW if what they’re doing is correct or helping them, and how. The worst thing is going home and practicing it and not even knowing if you’re doing it right, or if the exercises are actually helping you. I have a worksheet I give students, with a table, where they can write their most important exercises. It has at the top the goals the student wants to reach and then says “I can reach my goals by doing….”
WHAT (here they write in what the exercise is) | Why? (the purpose of the exercise) | How do I know if I’m doing it right? (What to listen/feel for, and how you know it’s working) | How often? (usually I write “daily” here, but it never hurts to remind them of this) |
And I help them fill out the table.Don’t know if these points help! But hopefully they do x
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As for your student, it’s hard to say without hearing. But as far as I know, Think is in Bflat, and it’s reeeallly high.
The top “freedom” notes are around F5, which is truly getting into second bridge/passagio! So if she’s not totally comfortable in middle voice yet, getting into head voice may just take time.
My only thought is that given how many Bflats are in this song, that’s dangerous territory for a really chest dominant singer unless she can mix well (I think Adele would just about keel over!). But like I said, it’s hard to know what’s going on without hearing her, and if she’s using twang to thin out and keep the folds adducted, chances are you’re definitely on the right track! -
So… this get’s a little crazy, but here’s what I believe to be true.
– bratty and witchy sounds both adduct and thin the vocal folds with a higher-than-normal but stable larynx position.
– a sobbing sound (or a cry if it sounds sobby – sometimes it’s hard to know we’re talking about the same sound!) again adducts the vocal folds but with a somewhat lower larynx position.
– a dopey sound only lowers the larynx without necessarily causing more adduction (in fact in many cases it will lessen adduction. In other cases it will simply deepen the level of adduction so that more of the “belly of the fold” (vocalis muscle) is used in vibration).Now… the word tilt is really kinda misleading. The fact is that your thyroid cartilage will tilt whenever the cricothyroid muscle is used. And this is the main method of stretching the vocal folds (ie. making a higher pitch). So really, regardless of the quality of the tone, the cricothyroid muscle is primarily involved in pitch-making. But I’ve heard a lot of people with estill backgrounds talking a whole lot about “tilt”, so maybe there’s something going on here? You’d have to explain it to me:)
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Pharyngeal sound is just another word for the witchy/bratty/twangy group of sounds. I know some teachers would split hairs over this – actually some teachers would cry war haha, but this is what I’ve seen in common usage. All of these sounds raise the larynx and allow the vocal folds to adduct more easily and consistently.
Dopey or cry sounds are also pretty rad. I love a good cry/whine sound especially at the top of an exercise if someone’s voice is flipping a little too much into falsetto at the top.
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Yes! Silly noises are the best. Actually I find this can be a big hurdle for some students at the start. There are some people who could do well with a pharyngeal sound for example, but it’s a really uphill battle to get them to just let loose and imitate the sound, even though I assure them it’s meant to sound ugly and bratty and like a silly accent.
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Wow, great idea Lily!
It reminds me of a student that came in recently and she won’t be able to make the next recital, so we were trying to think of a good performance goal for her (she gets very nervous), and she came up with the idea of using Snapchat! I’ve never used snapchat but apparently you can take a photo or video of just about anything, and it goes up on your snap chat and stays there for 24 hours. So she felt it could be a good way to let her friends know that she’s a singer and to do a few seconds of singing for them (a mini performance), with the knowledge that if she got embarrassed about it, it would be taken down in 24 hours anyway, never to be seen again. A nifty idea!
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Haha yes, this practicing thing is a whole new topic!
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@Wes is she able to sing the scales when you sing them along with her?
Also, I don’t know if this is helpful, but I had a similar experience with a girl once and very gradually we got her to come out of her shell, but something that was integral to the process was making sure she had recordings of the scales to practice at home and that she had a practice space that she felt comfortable with. Even though she’d be really nervous in the lesson, she was still committed to improving so she’d practice her warm ups at home by herself (with no-one listening), and then eventually that’s what gave her the confidence to try doing them “infront of someone” in her lesson. Maybe this might help?
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Wow! The plot thickens! Keep persevering!
Yep, getting her helper on board with trying to learn the lyrics is a great idea.
It’s kind of difficult to explain why someone shouldn’t add a beat if there’s a real lack of musical understanding in the student. This is of course not the real reason, but the most simplistic I could make it would be that if you add in an extra beat then you’ll end a beat late and it’s important that you “finish with the backing track”. This avoids having to explain chords progressions and bar lengths for the millionth time, even if it is a little misleading haha:)I was trying to think of songs with easier lyrics and the first thing that came to mind was Let it Be by the beatles. Don’t know if that helps!
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A few ideas….
For the rhythm side of things, I used to be a dancer and do dance competitions, and I remember at competitions, there was this deaf girl who was the most amazing tap dancer! And I asked her how she could hear the music and she said through vibrations in the floor! So maybe you could try something like this…. Get your student to touch the speaker so she can hear vibrations and chose a song with a really defined kick and snare sound – as the kick will often play on the one, and the snare on the other emphasised beat in the bar. Maybe if she can combine touch recognition with some knowledge about how drum beats work it could help? Sometimes people don’t even realise that you can usually count 4 beats per bar, and that usually something will indicate when the new bar has started. I once had a student who was really struggling with rhythm, so I found a song with a really awesome distinctive, repetitive drum beat (I chose Eple by Royksopp – this has a slightly more complicated kick pattern though, so you could choose something even more simple). This has no vocal melody, so we only had to focus on the grove. I just got the student to do a hand movement to every “1” beat. And then I added another hand movement for the snare, and before long she could find the beat in the whole song. Then we talked about noticing how the chords and melody also changed on every “1” beat. Maybe something like this could be cool?As for lyrics, I remember learning in highschool psychology that we learn things better by associating the learned thing with other information; that’s why mnemonics work! So you could try to talk about some things to associate the lyrics with so that they stick in her memory better. You could start by talking about what the lyrics are discussing, what they mean, what story they’re telling (semantic memory). How the story changes in verse one to verse two etc. You could use other information too, like noticing if there’s a certain rhyme scheme or alliteration. Talk about how these sounds make the same mouth shape (physical memory). Maybe taking the time to talk about the lyrics could give her more to hold on to?
I’ve got no idea if either of these things will work but could be worth a try!!
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Yes! I love Karyn O’Connor! I’ve had some lessons with her before and her fees are surprisingly low given her expertise. She’s awesome.
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Hahaha i LOVE eyes=indicator.
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@Eliza Woah, I’d love your analogy explained a little more! I’d say the larynx is the pitch!:)
@Lily: I have to say there’s a whole lot more I could learn about vowels, harmonics, formants etc., but if you’re interested in learning more about the acoustics side of singing, I thoroughly recommend checking out a guy called Ken Bozeman (http://www.kenbozeman.com/) I saw him talk at a vocal conference last year, and he explained harmonics really well and in a really practical way and it blew my mind:)
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Yep great points, Chris!
Slowing down and clarifying the purpose of the exercise is a really good one to get them back into focus. I think sometimes when you slow down and discuss it, it also provides a space for the student to ask more questions, which can only be a good thing.
Another way of REALLY making sure the student understands what is going on and understands the value of an exercise, is to ask them to do an exercise once the wrong way (or the old way), and then the right (or new) way again. This takes a lot of concentration but allows them to really feel the difference between the old habit and the new habit. This way they can directly hear and feel the difference and it will make practice easier at home if they feel themselves slipping into old habits during the week.
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haha exactly!
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It’s only rarely I get a student that seems like they’re not ready to improve. I don’t mind if they doubt my advice and ask for clarification – I enjoy those moments where we can discuss things and get nerdy:). But maybe a couple of times a year I’ll get the commitment-phobe come in. This is the kind of person who has tried 10 different singing teachers in the last year and then doesn’t quite believe me when I come up with some new advice they haven’t heard before, but is also cynical when they hear something familiar. To be honest I don’t really understand this mind-set. The other kind of commitment-phobe I’ve witnessed is the one who’s tried swimming, then tennis, then oil-painting, and then has finally come to you. The kind of person that doesn’t know what they’re looking for and doesn’t really want to practice or even improve; they’re just kind of lost. These people are also usually really “busy” but are bad at prioritising your (and their own) time. They never practice and they’ll reschedule you 3 times in a row so they can fit in some other hobby and not even think that they’re putting you out haha.
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Yep, 100%. I always say “this is the place you can make mistakes. Make every mistake here so that when you get on stage there are none left to make”. Or something along those lines.
I feel like the crux of when I get most frustrated with students is when they don’t believe in *my* advice. If they don’t believe in themselves and beat themselves up for making mistakes then at least they’re showing a whole lot of bravery showing up for each lesson. It’s when they’re having their doubts about me as a teacher that things can become difficult, because then it’s difficult to connect with them and get results.
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Nice templates! I’ve never used templates (much to my own detriment) so now seems a good time to start! Great ideas all round.
I would definitely agree that time is of the essence when responding to initial enquiries.
I also find that it’s helpful if people leave their number so that if they’re not getting back to me after that, I can ring them up. I’ve found some people are just really busy and need that chat on the phone to get themselves organised :).
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Do either of you use “games” with your younger kids? I feel as if there’s a certain age at which musical games stop being helpful and start being “lame” or something. Just reading what I’m writing now, feeling so out of touch hahaha!
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Too true!
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For most bel canto teachers I’d say (coming from Tosi/Garcia/Caesari/Reid camps) mix isn’t a “sound”, it’s an equilibrium to ideally be in most of the time. It’s the voice’s balanced home base. Not too chesty, not too falsetto-y, not too flippy. Just right.
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I don’t think mix is confusing at all. Mix is the thing that happens when it’s not a flipped falsetto, nor is it a pulled chest voice. It’s what takes place when there’s a free, strong and resonant full sound above the bridge/passagio. You’re literally “mixing” the firm fold adduction found in chest voice with the CT stretch (and a “resting” larynx) to create a connected head voice (ie. mix). Coming from the bel canto camp, mix is just about the only thing we teach (of course in lessons I throw in other things too, but on a technical level this is it for me).
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Definitely!
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I would call this “teaching mix” . Granted it’s a pretty heavy mix (I’m sure you’d probably work towards thinning it out a little more so it’s not so extreme feeling), but it’s still a mix to my ears. So I’m surprised that you don’t think you’re a teacher of mixed voice!
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Hey Wes,
I think you have to feel what’s right for you, but I don’t like letting people off when they’re sick. Sometimes if it’s a short term illness and it looks like they could come in for a makeup lesson later in the week I’ll do that so they don’t have to pay for lost time. But generally I still expect people who fall ill to pay for their time (although they’ve prepaid, so I usually get to skip this conversation), reason being:
1. If they’ve booked it then no-one else can have it. This is especially the case for evening times, which are usually booked out. And also I want to have a life, so if I’d known in advance that I’d have the evening off, I could have planned a nice dinner or something. Think about it from their perspective; if they were expecting to do an overtime shift at work, and cancelled all plans accordingly and then showed up at work and were told they didn’t need to come in after all, they’d be pretty pissed off. I think this is fair. But also because evenings are so popular, if I know in advance that someone isn’t coming in, I can successfully offer it to someone else.
2. If they know they can “get away with not paying” if they tell you they’re sick, then what’s to stop them taking advantage of that in future? Where’s the consistency. If I’m holding other people to the policy come hell or high water and let them off, then it doesn’t bode well. Of course as Matt indicates, it’s helpful to be flexible when it’s really necessary. But consistency builds trust and respect.
However, I have it so that my cancellation policy is only 75% of the lesson fee (which is prepaid), which means that either they get that 25% as a refund or as a discount off their next lesson. Framed like that, I’ve not had anyone have a problem with it.
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Just an update on the things I implemented earlier in the year:
I’m happy to say I went from a 24 hour to a 48 hour policy and it was no problem at all.
I’m also happy to say my welcome pack pdf has been a huge success! People who come to lessons know how professional it is, and are far more understanding and far more likely to offer to pay if they haven’t already, when they cancel. It’s single-handedly made business SO MUCH EASIER. Would highly recommend it:) -
Hey Lewis,
I’ve had a look at your T&Cs :). Here are my thoughts:
1. It’s very wordy. And still quite formal. The sheer wordiness of it has a chance of scaring people off! “Lessons will take place at the times and dates agreed between the teacher and the pupil (or parent/guardian) before each block of lessons” could just be “lessons will take place at an agreed time”. Or, on the basis that this would be assumed (when else would they take place?), you could just write: “lessons are paid for in blocks of four and are taught on a weekly basis. Lessons usually take place in the home of the student, unless a different venue has been agreed on.”
Note: I find it interesting that you’re teaching at THEIR house. Don’t you lose a lot of time (and therefore money) this way? I’d be interested to know why you chose this. Also I can imagine this might factor into why people don’t want to sign up for lessons indefinitely? Saying you’re willing to welcome a relative stranger into your home weekly for the foreseeable future, with no recourse to refunds if say there is an emergency in the home (illness/instability for example), could be pretty intense. Just some things to think about.
2. I’ve never seen 72 hours before! You’re really stepping out with that one! And “only one holiday will be acceptable”! Woah there. And one whole week’s notice for rescheduling! I’m not saying these are bad ideas, but have a think about how it would make you feel reading this as a new student, trying some scary brand new hobby for the first time, and all of a sudden you have to deal with only being able to take one holiday every so often.
3. If you wanted to make it even less formal (which I would urge you to think about; these are people you want to develop quick and friendly rapport with, after all), you could stop using third person to refer to yourself and/or your client. For example, you can use the word me, I or myself instead of “the teacher”. Also the word “invoice” could come across a bit icky. You’re trying to make this look like you’re offering a beautiful, homely encouraging service to people, not just a business transaction. Perhaps “payment reminder” or something along these lines is better. Also “ratified” is terrifying. This word is for UN protocols, not sole traders.
I could go on, but I’ve kind of already gone to town on your T&Cs. Sorry about this. I come from a family of academic editors, so it runs in the veins. The TL;DR is 1. Make it shorter 2. Consider whether YOU would take up lessons with someone who imposed these rules, and consider your target market (the reality is that if you teach all kids vs. uni students vs. adults, you need to be tailoring your policies so that THAT group of people will feel empathy and connection and safety towards your business). 3. Change the wording so that it’s more like you’re just having a conversation with a new student.
There’s the gist:)
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For sure! No, I know I’m doing ok. It’s just I’ve been finalising my welcome pack, but the policies section always looks really long because I’m giving umpteen reasons for each policy rather than just being straightforward. I think sometimes it’s just about finding a balance over time that works for you :). Thanks for the encouragement xx
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Wow, Ruth! I love that letter! So straightforward and to the point. Tough but fair sounding.
I also love that it makes you seem really confident! I sometimes struggle with the balance between explaining my policies, but not sounding like I’m apologising for them haha! But yours just sounds friendly and assertive. I think I need to work on my confidence :P.
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Hahaha! Yes, that one really gets me. When people who have lessons weekly are like, “Is it ok if we just postpone today’s lesson to next week?” And inside I’m like, it’s not called POSTPONING if you’re just cancelling a week!
But yes, you’re right. It pays to be upfront and clear right from the start, but sometimes if you can rearrange the lesson, it shows a lot of empathy and can build the connection with the student if they realise you’re going out of your way to help them out; it’s always a fine balance.
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@Dave, some really great points there. You seem to be pretty level-headed on this one and have some great ideas.
@Danny, you’re right. Sometimes it’s just difficult to draw the line… You definitely need to be already on good terms with someone for this to work, and if someone is sly enough, they’ll try to use the “i’m sick” reasoning in future. I know with some of the best students I’ve had over the years (incidentally also the ones who were more committed to practicing and getting the most out of lessons), if they were sick and had to cancel at the last minute, they’d apologise for putting me out and OFFER to pay the cancellation fee because they understand that otherwise it’s a loss to a small business that they support. That’s how you know you’ve got some good eggs:)OK, so for me personally in 2015 I ended up basically having NO policy because I was so lax, and it was definitely to my own detriment. And one person in particular who knew about my (thinly held) 24 hour policy would cancel repeatedly 25 hours in advance. Not really showing respect for my time!
In 2016 I’m taking advice from a lot of you and completely restructuring everything! I think this is what I’m going to do:
1. lessons have to be paid at least 48 hours in advance to confirm booking. I was worried this would be a logistical nightmare but then I realised many of my students pay by bank transfer anyway, so they can just set up the transfer to come through earlier each week/fortnight.
2. Serious 48 hour cancellation policy. I’ll have a sign up n my studio, I’ll send an email about it to all my current students, and I’m in the process now of putting together a welcome pack pdf for new students! This is exciting as I think I can put in a fair bit of useful info, and the policy stuff can be couched in between “What to bring to lessons” and “How to get the most out of your lessons” so it doesn’t look so harsh all by itself haha!
3. Bulk booking discounts. Based on your suggestions and some things I’ve seen, I’m going to offer a discount on bundles of 4 lessons (useful for monthly payments), and also a more significant saving with “buy 9 lessons, get one free”. When students purchase this, I’ll give them a little card to stamp off the lessons as they go so students know how many they’ve got left. (Thanks Beckie for the great inspiration!!)I’m really excited about implementing all these changes. But only time will tell how effective it all is!
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The vista print loyalty card idea is a really good one! I might even use it for people who pay for “9 lessons, get one free” bundle up front, so they can keep track of how many lessons they’ve used. Awesome:)
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Hey Beckie, what’s your loyalty scheme? It sounds like a really good idea.
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True! I don’t know why I get so nervous over this stuff! Good to have y’all here backing me up!
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OK, so I’m going to enforce a new cancellation policy next year because I’m finding that the 24 hour one isn’t working for me (i’m getting people cancelling exactly 25 hours in advance ha! And it’s still not enough time to reschedule someone else in that spot). So I want to go to 48 hours. I think it’s also a good idea to take monthly payments at the start of the month or at least to have people paying a week in advance…
I’m not sure about charging people 100% of the fee though with 48 hours. Because with 48 hours if people get sick they definitely won’t know that far in advance. So I’m thinking I should make the cancellation fee 75% (I charge a fair bit here so maybe this is more reasonable).
I’m not sure if I’m being too soft. What do you guys think? do you have a problem with your policies when people get sick? -
Becki, that’s a great way of doing things! Very clever. Do people keep paying for lessons via paypal after that first booking, or do you get them to pay cash once that deposit is down? I always shy away from using paypal in an ongoing way for fear they take too much of a cut from my incomings…
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Great idea! Do you introduce this right at the start? Are people nervous about paying for two classes at once when they’ve just joined up?
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Wow, so there’s quite a few of you who don’t do this full time but might like to. Perhaps it’s time to open a new forum topic…!
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Haha, I know the feels. I’ve been teaching full time for more than four years now and I still occasionally get the question “so do you do this full time?”, which is funny. It happens less though now that I charge more. I used to get it all the time and I think that was partly a sign that I was undercharging.
Also maybe a sign that my decor at the time wasn’t as cool as it is now. I think for whatever reason the decor of the room you teach in seems to make a difference!? -
I know it might sound incredibly simple, but most students (but not all) will nearly always hit the right note if they listen to the note, take a slow breath and then sing – I find most students seem to make a wild stab in the dark with notes, just trying to fire one out to get the exercise over and done with rather than actually using their ears!
(This of course doesn’t work all the time, but gets students actually listening, which I think is a very common problem with a lot of people ‘new’ to singing) -
Wow, Wes! What a great idea! I’d been pondering over the use of technology for something like this for a while, but found my tuners at home too sensitive, so if the voice would shake slightly, or there would be ay background noise, the thing would go haywire! I’ll definitely check out that app.
On a similar note I’ve been wondering if something like that sing-star game could have application in something like this? I’ve only played it once, but I remember it being all about tuning the notes and not much else. Something like this could be cool potentially, I’m not sure.
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@Matt: I like the idea, but I suppose my one concern is that students might become over-reliant on using larynx height and articulator tension to get high sounds, which might then cause problems down the track as they get more advanced. Have you ever seen this to be the case?
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Awesome! Sometimes it’s about getting the student into that headspace where they’re not trying to muscle through everything and instead just listen and allow the tuning to happen. Yes!
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Indeed! Progress can be so slow. Switching to piano is a great idea. I often get students to try to visualise intervals, but piano would make that so much easier.
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@Matt, thanks for the AWESOME explanation. And I’ll look out for you now I know you’re on the singing reddit too! Although now I see it, you’ve said SLS is “rubbish”. Pretty huge call there. As someone who teaches what is basically SLS technique, I’d love to see your justification for that one!
Also, for clarification, if the diaphragm isn’t active during singing, then what would you say are the muscles used to create the slow controlled exhale used for singing? Or are you saying the resistance is all at the throat/mouth level?
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Woah! Super inspiring:)
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Nice one, Monika!
Yep, just as I thought; recoil isn’t so complicated after all. Phew!
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Awesome! Matt should be here to help us out haha!
So I just read that, and I have to admit I don’t really understand? If it’s something the body does naturally isn’t this whole idea just about being aware of the outbreath and not focusing too much on the in-breath or making it laboured? This just seems like what happens naturally.
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Hey Eliza,
I’ve looked for information about natural diaphragm recoil, and I can’t find anything! I’ve learned about how the lungs have an elasticity to them and so when they’re stretched to take in air, they naturally let go of some air suddenly as a recoil (I think!?).
But I haven’t been able to find anything for singing specifically.
An chance I could get you to explain a bit more? Do you know of any videos out there that show this so you can see the effect? Or if you could even upload a vid, that would be super amazing. I’d love to write a blog post about breathing soon, so any info would help a heap -
Awesome, will look into Vocal Process.
And yes, Eliza, I totally agree!!!
You DO have to adjust as you go to keep the student in balance – I think of it like a pendulum swing, the student will often do things towards one extreme at the start (too muscly or too breathy for example), and then as they learn new co-ordinations, may swing the other way! The key is to help them identify with the condition of balance (the right amount of airflow synching up with everything else) rather than the tool. When a student stays with the same tool for too long, it sometimes becomes a hindrance rather than a help as they drift toward another extreme. Totally on the same page :). -
Eliza- Rad! That’s good to know about it being more about recoil. Gives me something to research and ponder to see if it can help my teaching :).
And what you said 100% – it’s totally about balance!! This is a reason I spend so little time on breathing. Because often you can address the balance by changing things on the throat level first, and that’s just so effective (and the breathing gets better as a bi-product!). Using tools like vowel, pitch and volume to affect the intrinsic muscles of the larynx is really helpful for most in addressing that balance. Woohoo!
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@Wes, I agree that deep breathing gives people confidence. On the rare occasion I do address someone’s breath, it’s often to get them into the mental state of being confident and prepared. Although I note that often when this takes place, a change has also occurred in the students’ posture. I believe that posture and breathing style are so intertwined that sometimes if you address one, the other just comes along with it. And a nice “nobel” posture, as it’s often called, also works wonders for the psyche.
@Eliza, it’s interesting that you feel like focusing on deep breathing helps to stop over-exertion. Do you feel that this is partly psychological as well as physical, as mentioned above?
I’d like to add a caveat as well, that whatever breath you push through the throat from the lungs has to be accommodated by a corrosponding strength in the throat to resist that air pressure, or else you won’t end up with more “support”. Try filling up your lungs with the perfect deep breath and then sighing it out. Not very supported right? But if you do the same on a nice loud ahh in a strong chest voice it feels the exact opposite! Super supported! I’d like to quietly suggest that the idea of support is not purely breathing dependent but in fact comes from the air, source and filter all working in tandem (or the lungs, vocal folds and vocal tract/vowel). If you give a singer who is already too breathy a breathing exercise, feeling as though she just needs more support, you may in fact be encouraging her to compress and expel MORE air, which will then overload the already weak adductor muscles of the throat.
I guess my point is that breathing is important as a psychological device, as a posture-rectifier and often there-by as an auxiliary way of keeping the larynx stable, but the idea that “support comes from the diaphragm” is often too simplistic a model.
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So you’re saying it’s a lot to do with awareness right? Just being aware of what the body does naturally to control and accommodate air. Because I 100% agree with you that it should be the same breathing as speaking. Natural, automatic etc.
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We’ve talked about this on the facebook so I decided it was time to make it happen. These are some things I’d be interested to hear about from you guys, but feel free to wax lyrical and tangentialise where necessary :).
1. Do you choose to teach breathing yes/no? Do you teach it for all students or only some?
2. If/when you do teach breathing, what are your aims? And what is the perceived result in the student when these aims are achieved (physically, sonically, psychologically etc.)?
3. How much time do you typically spend on breathing (per lesson or per student)? Do you see it as a pillar of technique that must be worked at repeatedly, or is it more “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”?
Go!
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I love the idea of doing stretches if the student has had a stressful day. This is something I’d love to do more.
I see you use the word engage a lot, like “engage with the diaphragm”. I haven’t seen this terminology before. Obviously we always use the diaphragm no matter how we breathe – we use it in our sleep! Could you explain what you mean by engage? Are you just talking about a low breath rather than a more “clavicular” one?
