Teaching Music in Uganda
Professional singing teacher Jordan Hodson traveled over to Uganda to teach music. As Jordan is part of the community of music teachers here on MusicTeacher.com. I was keen to share with you Jordan’s experiences teaching music abroad. Below is a small article that she wrote for our music teacher community.
Throughout my time in Uganda I learnt a very different prospective in terms of lifestyle and the way I approach singing. Whilst there I hosted a vocal workshop for the local musicians who found they were struggling with performing and stamina.
It was interesting to approach the voice in different ways as some of the performers were not just singers but MC’s. I found new challenges for my students in this particular situation as I found new obstacles such as air pollution and the different ways of living, causing more challenges for the voice due to the smoke inhalation and the lifestyle (lots of partying and drug habits among these musicians). I educated them on the effects of substances and how they each differently effect the voice.
Other challenges I faced were lack of resources – the musicians faced with poverty they didn’t have access to proper equipment for performing such as monitoring or sometimes even any amplification, having to project their voices over full bands with no microphones and bad technique.
I educated them on how to look after their voices with little resources and gave them exercises to be practising. I feel that I did improve their situation and helped being a touring musician greatly by giving them this information.
Many of these artists are a part of the label Nyege Nyege whom are currently receiving a lot of publicity and opportunities at the moment in the EDM scene in Europe and across the world. I feel privileged to have been an aid in their journey as performers.
About the Author:
Jordan is a professional singing teacher based in the Yorkshire area of the UK. She recently graduated from Leeds College of Music with a BA Hons Degree in popular music.
Currently a member of numerous bands she performs regularly around the country singing at weddings, parties and events.
