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From:  "Steven Mello" <spmello@a...>
Date:  Tue Mar 5, 2002  4:21 am
Subject:  RE: [vocalist] can we discuss lesson prices?

Ok, I've tried to stay out of this thread because I have VERY strong
feelings and didn't want to impede the discussion that has been going on. I
think it's gotten quite off the mark, though- something like going to a
baseball game and watching nothing but the concession staff - and so will
chime in with my thoughts.

Those of you who have written that a teaching fee should be relative to the
going rate in the market are, of course, correct. Also correct are those who
have written that teaching voice is as legitimate as any other profession
and should be compensated accordingly. I think the real issue, though, is
earning according to one's qualifications - an extremely subjective thing
when it comes to voice.

A fellow list member wrote:
>I would NEVER pay anyone with a BA 50.00 a lesson. I don't care how long
>that person was teaching...I myself have two BA degrees, and I am NO
>expert on either subject.

Yes, I agree completely and will go one step further. That anyone with a BA
and little performing experience would ever be so presumptuous as to teach
voice is beyond me. I was appalled by colleagues of mine from grad school
(much less undergrad) who felt that the printed document they received upon
completion of a two-year course of study outweighed faulty technique and
allowed them to open voice studios. Of course it is possible for a twenty or
thirty year old to understand voice so completely that they are capable of
effective teaching, but I have no doubt that that is an extreme exception. I
shuddered when I read the posting from the list member who began teaching
after one undergraduate pedagogy course. How can one teach singing without
first developing and learning to rely upon (in live performance) a complete
technique? Imagine taking a semester of a foreign language, then taking on
private students for tutoring??? Or maybe taking a dozen or so tennis
lessons before accepting aspiring tennis pros as your students???

Ah, but not every voice student aspires to sing on a professional level, one
might say. Ok, but does that mean that the student doesn't deserve
qualified, healthy, productive instruction? Heck, when I first began
studying I had NO thoughts of switching professions (I was an
instrumentalist through and through and had foreign service in my sights)
but now find myself in the beginning stage of a real career.

The real issue behind this thread, in my unsolicited opinion, is not lesson
prices but charging what one deserves to earn. (Again, a subjective thing
without a doubt.) There are teachers in New York who charge $100-200 a
lesson who don't deserve bus fare for their "expertise," and those here and
elsewhere who are worth their weight in gold. We've all heard stories of
teachers who take on one natural talent who makes it big and then become
"good teachers" by reputation, even if they never turn out another major
singer in the next twenty years of teaching. (I'm NOT naming names.)
Meanwhile, a dear friend of mine (dramatic mezzo) has gone to some of the
"best" and most expensive teachers on two coasts and gotten nowhere
technically, but now for a mere $37 per hour is building a technique that
works.

As you work through your decision whether (or how much) to raise your rates,
please consider factoring these ideas into your thoughts. Have you produced
singers with reliable techniques who have realized or begun to realize their
potential? Then charge accordingly.

Ok, enough ranting from me. Thanks to anyone who has read all the way to the
end of this post!

Best to all,
Steven.






  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date  
17792 Re: can we discuss lesson prices?Imthurn Melinda   Wed  3/6/2002  

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