Just a bit of food for thought for all who may have considered changing teachers, but haven't for fear of the unknown - either fear that they don't know enough about (1) their own voices; (2) the pedagogical process; (3) self-confidence to make the "leap".
I changed teachers a little under 2 years ago - and it took my old teacher "booting" me out of the studio for me to do it. It was the absolute best thing that could ever happen to me vocally and in terms of self-confidence. In the past 2 years with my new teacher, I have overcome 90% of all the intransigent vocal problems that my old teacher was, frankly, at a loss to help me do anything about.
Also, while she was never discouraging, she was not exactly actively ENcouraging either. My new teacher, by contrast, is the most wonderfully encouraging person, who loves singers, loves vocal music, and is just all around optimistic and a great "cheerleader" for her students. Pedagogically she's right on the mark.
In hindsight, I realised many months ago that I had spent entirely too long with my first teacher, and that I had learned all she was able to teach me at least two years before I "got the boot". Why didn't I see this at the time? Like I said: Not enough self-awareness about my own voice - and more importantly, not enough self-confidence.
I write this as an object lesson to other "frustrated" students who may vaguely sense that all is not right between them and their teachers. All evidence may seem to say that the problem is the singer's - not the teacher's - and "in a vacuum" the teacher may indeed be doing the right thing, and may for other students be doing the right thing. But if you feel that something isn't right for you - well, who among us has enough time to wait and see if it's just something we don't "get" now that will suddenly strike us later? If you reach the point where you feel that your teacher doesn't quite speak the language you need to hear, or more importantly, if you feel that your teacher concentrates entirely on the negative (the things you do wrong and have to fix), and doesn't give you three times as many positive-reinforcement messages as "do better" messages, well - take it from me, it's time to be brave and find another teacher. It's not that your current teacher isn't right: it's just that he/she isn't right for you. A good vocal pedagogue is NOT always a good psychologist, and we voice students need the latter at least as much as we do the former! There's no reason why you can't find a teacher who is good at both. My current teacher is living proof that they're out there!
Karen Mercedes http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html *************************************** Verdi and Wagner delighted the crowds With their highly original sound. The pianos they played are still working, But they're both six feet underground. - Michael Palin
|