Connecting with Singers

To understand the context of this post, please read this wonderful article on Washington Post about a pizza delivery boy playing Beethoven.

As a voice teacher, I think it is absolutely critical to meet my new singers where their interests lie.  I have many students who are interested in music that is considered non-traditional for voice teachers: pop, rock, country and so forth.  It is imperative that I encourage those interests and passions while also giving my students a solid foundation to sing well for the rest of their lives.  If I limited myself or my students to just opera, musical theater, and choral music, my lessons would be a lot less interesting and I wouldn't be able to help the many singers who love other genres of music!

If there is one area I pride myself on as a teacher, it is this: I find a way for non-traditional students to learn from and integrate their vocal training into their style of singing.  I've been blessed with some wonderful country and pop singers who grew immensely as singers and artists due to voice study, and the diversity of my students makes my job much more interesting, rewarding, and challenging.  One of the reasons I chose not to pursue teaching at the college level was that I would be shutting myself off from pop genres...and I think I would get bored!

DWS