WHAT REALLY IS VOCAL TRAINING?

There are as many techniques as there are teachers. Many of whom does not even teach near actual Vocal Training.

So what is Vocal Training? How do we know that it is the right lesson we are getting?

The answer is in the term itself . It's called Vocal Training because the lesson is about the correction, training and development of your Vocal (voice). The end result you should be looking for is how your voice can express the emotional requirement of "any" song.

Expanding your vocal range, power, repertoire, breathing, exercises and drills are just Skills set required to sing songs with less effort. These skills, if present would make the actual Vocal development easier. That is assuming you don't possess some of these skills before taking the lesson. But they are not Vocal Training! In a Music Degree for Singing, these skills are pre-requisites just as Talent.

Some singers without any formal training can acquire these skills set provided of practice and talent. How? because these are purely the physical area of our vocal instrument, therefore, it takes a series of physical drills to achieve.

If you compare yourself to a pro singer then it's clearly that the singer is the better one based on his skills. If you would to compare two already established singers, how would we gauge who the better singer is? The one when he sings, expresses true, honest emotion which can be achieve only with TONES.

Tonal quality is what the audience hears and how singers are judge. Think about it, how do you appreciate your favorite singer?

Now let's define Tone. It's a sound and it's not tangible. Also, it's subjective. This is why in Vocal Training, learning how and what to hear is crucial. You can't sing what you can't hear! The beauty of singing lies on the singer's Tonal quality not his voice quantity.

If you don't possess a nature-given voice, then take lesson for that. Know your own Voice. This way, it would be easy to find the better songs. Remember, Vocal Training is about the voice, the rest are just skills and effects of you doing it right.

HOW TO IDENTIFY A GOOD SINGING TEACHER

Are you aware of what to expect taking the lesson? Would your aim be to learn, understand, improve, develop and be better? Looking for the "right teacher" would be your first step. Unless your aim is just to occupy time then knowing a good teacher from not would be informative.

The purpose of this Blog is to provide you the critical knowledge of who can teach you best and who will waste your time.

What you need to understand first are the elements that a teacher would work on. These elements are the things you bring to the teacher and would be the deciding factor on how long, how fast, how effective your lessons would be. Yes, it's not just depending on the teacher.

1) Talent level - musical ear
2) Voice condition - how you sound
3) Bad habits - what you learn wrongly
4) Confidence - willingness to project your voice

So ask yourself the following questions if you are taking lessons now;

Did your teacher even discuss these elements at the beginning of the lessons?
Did your teacher started the first lesson without assessing your good and bad?
Do they explain and make you understand the lessons or just merely practicing songs?
Are they making you do some theoretical exercises but neglect to connect to your practical singing?

These are the teachers who can't teach!

Not all who claimed they are Singing teachers can actually teach. Some of them can't even do what they preach. Even those who can sing, it is not automatic that they would know how. You will just end up doing more harm than good to your voice.

Here are the following criterias of a good Singing teacher:

1) The teacher must be qualified.
2) A qualified Singing teacher must know how to play piano.
3) A qualified Singing teacher should know how to sing classical songs.
4) The scope of his lesson should be more about using your voice. Not just volume, loudness and range.
5) Teaching is about listening and providing solutions; ask your teacher to expound that.

Improvement should be realize by YOU and not the opinion of your teacher. After all isn't that what he is teaching you? Lessons are more about learning how to hear so you would be able to do it with the song you are practicing, and all the songs you can apply what you have learned. To be a good singer, one must develop and good sense of hearing.

Learn the right way and not just settle for misguided lessons. You deserve better to realize your true potential.

Lessons or just Practice!

Are you aware of what to expect taking these lessons? Of course, if your aim is just to occupy time then it should not matter where and who teaches you. Now if your aim is to improve and develop, you better be sure your lessons are for that.

For example, if you are learning Ballroom dancing, would learning the steps (routine) be enough to call it dancing lessons? Well and good if you already have the flair and gracefulness to dance, but if not, you better choose a teacher that does more than teaching steps.

How do we know if our piano teacher is giving us the right lesson or is just using the methodology of practicing the songs. Would it result to being able to play good any song or just the songs during the lesson.

This will be the similar case with singing teachers. Specially because the students have more or less been singing or using their voices prior to lessons. You could also be just learning more songs and not lessons for Voice improvement. Have you learned and developed the ability and skills to sing well? If you are only good on songs you learn with the teacher, then you can't really say you know how to sing. That means, you memorize how to sing the said song but have no idea to apply in other songs.

The real problem here is because you are just taught by memory. You were given the skill of how to do it but not the skill to hear. There were no principles and methodology.

In short, these teachers have got to know the real cause of the problem first, not the effect, before they recommend the proper solution. The key is this, the student should be made to understand the procedure and what's happening with the teacher.

So the question is this; Are you practicing with your teacher or you are being given an effective lesson?