| | From: "Lea Ann Martin" <LeaAnn@k...>
Date: Fri Mar 22, 2002 3:34 pm
Subject: Re: [vocalist] to Lea Ann, connecting threads..
| Hi Deanna
Thanks for writing me...you know I understand where you are coming from.
This area is really not what you would call an area that is very focused on
the arts or anything cultural really. The teacher I had before I switched
was 19.00 for a half hour, she (I think) had a masters in vocal pedagogy.
Her focus wasn't really on opera though...and she was really focused on her
teenage students.
I didn't mean to aim my previous comments at you really...what I wrote was
really sort of a knee jerk response to other saying Double and triple your
rate with no regard for the current market. I have paid more than 15.00 an
hour....because my last teacher was more than double that for an hour...In
light of my current situation I don't even know what I think about anything
anymore...
If your students love you and you are giving them the best instruction
possible then you are certainly worth whatever students are willing to
pay....I know if I were teaching I would wonder "am I a good teacher" and
the only way to judge that would be through the abilities of your students.
For all my touting how fabulous my new teacher is...I have a constant sore
throat when ever I sing....so how dumb am I?
I think once I finish what I have paid for I may well move on yet
again....if I cannot find any satisfaction with this teacher. Perhaps once
she recovers from her delivery and whatever else....(I have no children so I
have no idea) she will be in a position to help me again. What I should do
until that time is a mystery. I think I hold people to too high a
standard...I always expect people to behave in a professional manner (people
I am paying for a service anyway) and I really do understand that it's hard
to be commited to bed rest etc...but I think the situation should have been
handled differently.
The market for vocal teachers here is a strange one. We have only a handful
of teachers here....there prices range from 10.00 for an hour to 45.00 an
hour....for the head pf the music dept at the local University. And when
you are cold calling about lessons....as a student how do you know what you
are getting? I guess that was the point I had been trying to make
before....when you call around and find a teacher who has a master's degree
and she charges 19.00 for a half hour and you compare her to someone who has
(or is working on...as is the case with my own teacher) a BA and who charges
more...how do you know who to choose?
It's confusing I think...for the teacher and for the prospective student.
Off topic question...do you think it's possible to push a chest voice up to
an a flat below high C? That has become the question of the week for me.
It is probably the answer to why my throat is hurting.
I hope I didn't offend you with my earlier posts. That was not my intention
at all. :)
Lea Ann
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