On Thu, 26 Sep 2002, Dolphin aura wrote:
> I don't feel like I am progressing with my current
> voice teacher at college, I have been with her for a
> year. I want to change my voice teacher, but I really
> like my current one as a person. I do not want to
> hurt her, but I do not think continuing to study with
> her would be benificial. What should I do to change
> teachers without offending her, if at all possible?
The best approach would probably be to sit down with her to discuss how
you feel. It may well be that your teacher is as hesitant as you are to
"push you out of the nest" - but she may also recognise that it is time to
do so. Talk to her honestly but gently about the "holding pattern" you
feel you're in vis vocal progress. Ask her if she can recommend a teacher
you might go to next - if she feels she is involved with your "moving on",
she might be less "hurt" (though she really shouldn't be - as much as you
like one another, it is still a PROFESSIONAL relationship of which you,
ultimately, are in control - it's not a marriage, or a parent-child
relationship, or even a friendship, though if you're lucky it may BECOME a
friendship after you remove the professional element), and also if you
solicit her help in moving on, you will be reinforcing the message that
you still value and respect her opinion as a professional.
The worst thing that can happen is that she will be hurt, resentful, and
get nasty about it. If this happens, please do NOT allow such a response
to manipulate you into not doing the right thing for your vocal
development. In any case, once you tell her you feel you should leave,
even if she were to persuade you not to, believe me - the professional
relationship will never be the same, and you're unlikely to ever make any
real progress with her again.
Go with your instinct here. I stayed too long with my last teacher, and
given how much progress I've made with my current teacher, I can only look
back with a kind of wistful regret that I allowed emotional/relationship
considerations to cloud my judgement and make me forget that the whole
point of going to a voice teacher is to LEARN HOW TO SING. All students
need to progress, and progressing usually means changing teachers in the
progress, if only because a new teacher will come with a different frame
of reference, a different vocabulary, and a different background - all of
which you can "mine" for new nuggets of vocal wisdom.
New ears hearing your voice can be VERY helpful too!
Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
________________________________
I want to know God's thoughts...
the rest are details.
- Albert Einstein
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