A few weeks ago I wrote about getting out there and finally finding a vocal coach to help you sing they way you have always dreamed you could. Always remember that you are the one who is paying for the lessons. This gives you the right to ask pertinent questions of the potential vocal coach to make sure that they are the right fit for you and that you won’t be wasting your time and money.
The big thing for me is to ask the question of whether they are classically trained or not. As you are reading this blog from the Canadian Musician Magazine website, I am assuming that you are looking for a pop approach that would include styles like rock, metal, r&b, soul, country and jazz to name a few. If the vocal coach in question is classically or musical theatre trained, it’s important to ask the following questions:
1) Are you willing to teach a pop production way of vocalizing?This includes singing powerfully with good technique in your full voice and using the breath to add texture and emotion to your songs.
*some classically trained vocalists and teachers are very much purists in their vocal beliefs and absolutely disdain the pop singing approach which some have said “ruins ones voice”
*at the other end of the spectrum, I have encountered some musical theatre performers that have been coached to “belt”. Not a word I like to use as sometimes the mechanics of getting power from this approach are not explained properly and the singer ends up “yelling” out their song and potentially doing damage to the voice.
2) What is your approach to breathing within the body of a song? (Meaning, do they advocate frequent breathing or running a long time on one breath?
*if the vocal coach tells you that they will be teaching you to run on one breath until it’s gone… run…away. In my world, success of singing pop music depends on frequent breathing of various sizes of breath. This will enable you to maintain great pitch, call upon power when you need it and infuse the song with amazing emotion by using your breath to “colour” the tone of your voice.
3)What is your terminology for the different placements of the voice. For example, chest voice, full voice, head tone or head voice. Does you approach advocate staying in full voice high into the vocal range?
** this is important because you need to understand where your sound is resonating and realize that pop placements are different from the classical or even musical theatre placements. If you are going to sing a rock song, you want to be sure to keep it in a placement like full voice where you can get power, be on an emotional edge, and still maintain control. Often in classical singing, you would be coached to “flip” into your head voice much lower in your range than when singing pop music. Pop is all about pushing the boundaries with good technique to stay in the right placement for the song giving the song the power and emotional edge that is correct for the style. A wrong placement example would be someone singing Aretha’s R-E-S-P-E-C-T in a head tone making it sound like “the church lady” lol. So Wrong…
To me, these are the 3 most important questions to ask a vocal coach. If you decide to go with someone and it doesn’t quite feel right doing what they are coaching you to do, keep looking for someone. Just because they may be an expert in their field doesn’t mean they’ll be the right expert for you. Feel free to email me through either of my websites if you have any more concerns about finding a vocal coach.
Until Next Time… Happy Singing!
Angela
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