Reference and education

Today we look at 5 imporant questions to ask a prospective vocal coach before splashing out on singing lessons. These questions are used to assess the vocal coach’s experience. For price related quesions refer to this article: price of singing lessons. Unfortunately some of the best vocal coaches may not have the time to fully respond to all of your questions but this doesn’t mean that they’re not good. If the vocal coach doesn’t have time, you could just try a few lessons and find out the answers then. It’s best to treat these questions as suggestions.

Essential questions to help find the best vocal coach:

• How many years have you been teaching? Obviously teachers with more experience will tend to charge more for lessons. Also if the voice coach has been teaching for a while you might try and ask former students about their experiences.

• Where did you get your singing education? You want a voice teacher who has received high quality practical training and who has first-hand performance experience. The singing teacher does not need a degree from an expensive music school to be a great vocal coach so you’ll have to use your own judgement here. The most important thing is that she knows how to pass on her singing knowledge.

• Do you perform as a singer? Where? Should you have the possibility to listen to the voice coach sing, then do yourself a favor and go. You may discover a lot about his personality that you might not get to see during your singing lessons.

• Do you work with different voice types and teach different music styles? If you are looking for help with a specific voice type, or specific singing styles, you need to make sure that your prospective vocal coach can work with your voice type or the style of singing you’re interested in.

• Where do you conduct your lessons? Lessons could take place in a number of different locations including the coach’s home, your home, a studio or a music school. You will want to find out if the location is convenient for you.

• What kind of music do your students sing? You want to find out if the vocal coach is interested in the same kind of music that you enjoy. If she only assigns songs and doesn’t allow the students to choose, think about how you feel about her preferred style of music before you commit.

Lastly don’t be fooled by teachers claiming to have “never before revealed, singing methods “. Teaching people how to sing is by no means a new profession so it’s much better to go with a tried and tested singing method than to waste your money on experiments. The only exception to this advice that I can think of is Per Bristow’s revolutionary Sing With Freedom program. (Sing With Freedom review). Good luck with your singing and have fun!