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From:  Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...>
Date:  Wed Jan 2, 2002  2:43 pm
Subject:  Changing teachers (was: Too many lines...)

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





  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date  
16138 Re: Changing teachers (was: Too many lines...)Sharon Szymanski   Wed  1/2/2002  
16167 Re: Changing teachers (was: Too many lines...)drama_diva_au   Thu  1/3/2002  
16198 Re: Changing teachers (was: Too many lines...)Lloyd W. Hanson   Fri  1/4/2002  

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