Why I Became a Voice Teacher

This has been a very busy summer for voice lessons, and a new student asked me why I became a voice teacher.  I thought I would post my response since I think it is important that my singers know why I love to teach and work for my students.

When I first start voice lessons, I was a graduate student at the University of Houston.  My college choir professor, Kenneth Sheppard, is a VERY well-connected conductor who knows pretty much everyone in music in Texas.  He knew I was moving to Houston and offered to introduce me to Rob Phillips, the choral director at Clear Springs.  We met and he offered me a voice teaching job on the spot.  

When I started voice lessons, my motivation was purely financial: I was trying to reduce the amount of student loan debt I needed to take on during graduate school.  However, I quickly discovered that I really enjoyed teaching.  Even more importantly, my students enjoyed working with me and I seemed to have a knack for teaching.  My voice studio quickly expanded and I had to really balance my teaching schedule with my graduate studies, which wasn't always easy!

Meanwhile, my love for performing started to decrease.  Put simply, performing had become a job.  I was performing not because I loved it, but because I was a good singer and it was what I was SUPPOSED to do.  And the sacrifices to be a performer were daunting - constant travel, lots of hardships for my wife and future family, unsteady pay etc...All these factors really began to weigh on me before graduation.

I was thinking about all the things I would need to do to become an operatic performer...move to New York City, get several opera internships (called YAPs), and then I had an epiphany.  I thought to myself: Why am I giving up so many good things - a great teaching job that I loved, a beautiful wife I see every day, a home to come home to and a neighborhood I loved - all for an operatic career that might or might not happen, and that I wasn't really enjoying?  By that point, my voice studio included several high schools and many private students.  I knew that if I really devoted myself to teaching I could make it a full-time career.  And most importantly, I really enjoyed teaching and found voice lessons to be a great way to earn a living.  I truly had a job in which I loved my colleagues, voice students, hours, etc....basically, I had the good life right in front of me.  All that was stopping me were the 'expectations' I and my performing colleagues had put on myself.

Even with all those factors I mentioned, giving up my 'dream' of being a performer wasn't easy.  I knew the performing life was not for me, but not pursuing it felt like I was 'giving up.'  I had so many people in my corner that believed in me as a singer that I felt like I was letting them down.  But ultimately, I decided my happiness was more important than meeting other peoples' expectations.  And a funny thing happened; when I gave up performing full-time, all my friends and colleagues were happy for me.  They just wanted what was best for me, and assumed performing made me happy.  When they understood how I was feeling, they were still in my corner supporting me.

So that's my story.  The lesson for my students - listen to your heart and do what you love, not what is expected of you.  Pursuing your happiness always ends well. Be true to thyself.

DWS