I have a friend who used to take lessons many years ago and would like to take singing lessons again. Can anyone give me any advice to pass on regarding how to find a good singing teacher. It seems to me that with many programmes like Britains Got Talent, the Voice etc etc that there may be many not so great teachers jumping on the bandwaggon so how do you find somneone who is really good if you don't know anyone who can recommend one?
We are based in the Newcastle/Tyneside area.

In the absence of a recommendation - it might be worth contacting local choir/choral society with a decent reputation they might advise you - I have done this several times for people who've got in touch with us.

Otherwise, all you can do really is interview them - discuss what they do and what your aims/objectives are.

Pot calling the Kettle really when I started, I replied to an ad in the local paper and didn't do any of the things I'd do now! Turned out he was very good. Web sites these days I suspect, although not everyone has one.

I think that for singing more than any other instrument, going and meeting potential teachers is enormously important. Otherwise, I think the same applies as for any other instrument. I haven't noticed a particular increase in teachers since these awful television programmes started.

I think that when you're looking for a singing teacher, being clear about what sort of thing you're looking for is important. For example, I don't teach pop songs - I've never done any pop songs myself, I don't really listen to pop music and I wouldn't have a clue where to start with it. I make this very clear and if this what potential pupils are looking for, then I point them elsewhere.

There are practical considerations too - how far are you prepared to travel, how much are you prepared to pay etc. How regular do you want the lessons to be, and is the teacher able to provide this? Does the teacher teach on days when you're available? This also helps to narrow down potential teachers. Other recent threads have suggested you should be looking at the teacher's qualifications and even their pedigree, but as we are all too aware, neither of these necessarily makes a good teacher (indeed, both can equally make a bad one!).

If your friend is an adult pupil (which I'm guessing is the case), what is a potential teacher's approach to this? Not all teachers are good with adult learners, some may refuse outright, and some think it's just the same as teaching children. What do previous pupils/parents have to say about the teacher? Can anyone offer a personal recommendation?

As I mentioned before, what sort of things do they want to sing? If they're interested in exams, is this the sort of thing the teacher does? Are they looking for a teacher which provides opportunities, for example, to perform, beyond the individual lesson?

Speaking as a teacher, I provide the answers to virtually all these questions on my website, so when people do get in touch, the questions usually only relate to availability and booking a lesson. Virtually all my enquiries come through my website, so a simple Google search is a good way to start.

I think Seer Green's advice is really good.

The biggest thing I'd say is to be honest about your expectations and the sort of music you want to sing and don't be afraid to say no if you feel it's not right for you. Someone can be a great teacher, but not a great teacher for you.

Totally agree, and I think because singing is such a personal thing, honesty is even more important.

Agree with the above. My teacher was a professional counter-tenor, had performed in major venues, but couldn't make enough money from performing alone so moved into teaching as well. I started with him when he had just retired from performing as a counter-tenor. He also sang as a lay clerk for many years. He ran his local music service.

He had a mixture of youngsters and adults as pupils. One of his female pupils became BBC Chorister of the year (or whatever it was called).

He ran his own chamber choir and that provioded me with lots of experience - started off with Christmas concerts, Messiah, Stainer Crucifixion, general concerts with lots of small pieces etc.

I knew none of this at the time. I was lucky and landed in the right place. Probably a bit of planning would help to ensure a good landing.

There are teachers registers at

the Associationof Teachers of Singing - AOTOS http://directory.aotos.org.uk/
and

the ISM http://musicdirectory.ism.org/cdirectoryadvancedsearch.aspx

Hi Vile din?
I have recently returned to singing myself and despite living in England I decided to return to my Glasgow based singing teacher and to commute as and when I could. This is working a treat for me.
It may seem important that the teacher who holds most qualifications or the singer who has the most impressive CV will be the best teacher. But what works for is me that you get on with your teacher and that there is a bond between you based upon this trust trust. This is where the enjoyment and success comes from and is based upon close teamwork.

So where to begin?

I would suggest that you may have to try out a few teachers in an attempt to get the right relationship going and I would approach the local independent schools for suggestions about teachers they may have or may use.
The best choirs will have lists of music teachers and I would make contact with them and ask them for their input. I am reluctant to recommend any one teacher over another but may I suggest you make contact with these people or organisations as they seemed to have some recent success?

Longbenton Community College Choir.
Nikki Holmes, musical director of the choir,
http://www.longbenton.org.uk/
Durham University Voices,
http://www.dunelm.org.uk/page.aspx?pid=760
North East Gospel Choir,
http://www.20000voices.org/tag/north-east-gospel-choir/
Newcastle College Foundation Degree Musical Theatre Ensemble
http://www.ncl-coll.ac.uk/course-informati...?courseid=12463
Backworth Male Voice Choir.
http://www.backworthchoir.co.uk/
Len Young, conductor and musical director of Cleveland Philharmonic Choir
http://www.clevelandphilharmonicchoir.com/
Sandra Kerr, musical director of Northumberland choir Werca?s Folk.
http://www.wercasfolk.com/Wercas_Folk_wome...ercas_Folk.html

I've found a singing teacher. Now the problem is persuading her to find some time for me.

(Sorry to hijack your post, Viledin4u. Good luck with your own teacher-hunting. )

Someone recently recommended that I ask potential voice teachers to permit me to observe a lesson as a way to help me decide whether or not their teaching style would work for me. I think that the idea was that I'd be able to see the relationship between the teacher and the student, and the sort of thing that the teacher emphasised (interpretation, technique etc).

I'm not sure whether I'd like this as either the teacher or the student (or indeed as the observer!).

Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether this would be useful or feasible?

I don't know whether watching would give you a good sense or not really. I know that I am often quite different with students (at school - I'm not a music/singing teacher) depending on their personalities. So you might observe someone teaching a student who's very different to you and it might affect your perception of that teacher. eg. If they're teaching someone who's very confident and experienced they may work with them in a different way to the way they'd work with a beginner who has issues with confidence, and this might give you the wrong impression of the way they'd work with you.

I may be completely wrong on that one - I know that's true of me but it may not be of other teachers. I do think, though, that the best way for you to find out is to try. I went to a singing lesson with a teacher a few years ago and, although she was a lovely girl, I got a good sense that she wasn't the right teacher for me. I really think you do know, just be confident in your judgement.

Thanks. My gut feeling was that it wasn't a good idea.

My old singing teacher had a piano diploma (as well as a higher singing diploma, and diploma in teaching singing) and it didn't really register to me at the time how lucky I was in that she could just play the piano on demand. I think being able to accompany would come high on my list were I looking for a singing teacher now.

Qualifications are nice but unnecessary - if I wanted to take exams I'd be asking about past results, particularly at the higher grades (as I've got grade 5), and an ability to accompany to some degree in the lessons - even if it was not good enough for exam purposes (I accompany my own pupils in flute lessons but not exams).

Now I've changed my mind on this one. I used to think that I needed a singing teacher to accompany me but I wouldn't be bothered about that now. It's so easy to use backing tracks, etc. that I wouldn't see that as essential. I know this has been discussed here before and that there are a lot of singing teachers on here who can play piano but choose not to accompany for the most part.

Hi Viledin
A very good question and you have recieved some good advice already.

Having had a couple of poor teachers in my past which caused damage, it is a worry that you will go to someone who looks good on paper, may even be a great singer fantastic accompanist - but a dreadful teacher!

I think having consultation lessons are essential, as not only do you need to get on, but you need to feel comfortable with their teaching style as well...but bear in mind that when progressing you will be asked to do things which may not feel comfortable to you - if your previous technique was poor and you are trying to improve it. The teacher will also be looking to hear what your voice is doing at the moment - what you feel needs attention, your expectations for the future as well: this they will balance with what they feel the voice needs and how they would progress with you to achieve these things.

Asking around from other singers who produce a good sound in the locality can be very useful, also attend some masterclass workshops - even if only as an observer. This way you have an opportunity of seeing their teaching technique in action and being able to evaluate the feedback they give other singers - if you can understand what they are saying about a singers sound and changes they suggest the singer to make that improves the end result (albeit perhaps only fleetingly) then you should be able to trust their judgement when they come to giving you feedback - particularly if it is not what you are expecting to hear!

AOTOS - as mentioned is a good resource, and possibly the BVA - British Voice Association.

Good luck. It is so important that you get along personaility wise and that you feel they understand what you need - and that you can trust them implicitly!

I guess it's all about personal preference, and if good piano skills are high one someone's list, so be it. A word of warning about that though:

It's the job of a singing teacher to teach you singing. That ALWAYS comes first.

I picked up students from singing teachers who were great accompanists, but they hadn't taught them a morsel of technique. If asked what they did in lessons, singing songs/arias and working on them musically (which some people mix up with "technically") to full accompaniment always was the main focus.

One doesn't exclude the other, and a lot of singing teachers are reasonable pianists. It is a fact though that if you focus on an accompaniment, part of that focus is taken off the student, no matter how brilliantly you play. Every student who wants to learn technique has to be sure they are happy with that.

I play alright (wouldn't call myself a pianist though ), but the main focus of my piano lessons at Uni was to virtually simplify any arrangement - we've been specifically trained on this because they knew they don't teach budding pianists, but singers who only need the piano to study songs, or give the student a very basic idea about harmonies.

All the student needs is a basic harmonic concept, and even that doesn't come at the start. If they take exams, it is of course paramount they have practised with accompaniment, but that's easy enough to do (and not necessarily the singing teacher's job in any given case).

I had coaches myself who played the piano far better than me, and none (!) of them ever accompanied me during the technical stages, and only some would accompany when the song was a technical wrap. In fact, the higher up the food chain they were, the less they touched a piano (although they could have done a reasonable job). Probably because they knew their job is to pay 100% attention to what the student does vocally.

To the OP, I guess the question to ask is: What do you want/need? If making music is high on your list, you don't necessarily need a good technique teacher and are probably better off in a music ensemble of some sort (also cheaper). If you want to learn proper technique, you need someone who can teach it. And, as others already said:
Especially in singing, you need someone who can actually teach the style you want to sing, which is different from technique, but has implications on it (as in making certain choices to give you the sound needed for a certain style).

Crossover only makes sense if you want to be a crossover artist. In all other cases, it sounds comical

I wonder whether it depends on what sort of thing you want to sing? Are backing tracks more easily used for those who want to sing pop songs? (I don't know either way!). For me, I've been lucking to have singing teachers with good piano skills. If I was looking for another one, it wouldn't be top of my list, but I'd see it as favourable, even if the skills were 'limited'. But, as Dugazon quite righty says, it's down to personal preferance: what might bother me might not cross the mind of the next person.

Some years ago I was a volunteer pupil at the AOTOS teachers' course. Being taught by a dozen people in one week gave me some strong ideas of what a range of possibilities there are. One "teacher" couldn't actually read music and was baffled by the 9/8 time signature of the Morning Has Broken I'd prepared. For someone looking for a teacher a useful question might be would they be able to teach theory to grade 5 alongside the singing?

I totally agree that not everyone who can maybe sing a bit themselves should teach (at least the person you describe was doing some sort of PD though, and everyone needs to start somewhere. Whether they are the right teacher for every type of student is another question).

However, if someone can teach theory alongside the singing only matters if you actually WANT to learn theory/take exams, and if you are prepared spending time of your lesson on it. It isn't the singing teacher's main responsibility to save the student money, and be an accompanist and theory teacher alongside everything else. Their main responsibility is to teach singing. It is also completely legitimate for the student to rather have an allrounder than a specialist though, so it really depends, and it can take a while to find a good match.

A performer preparing for a gig or audition for instance probably doesn't care about exams and theory. They would want someone who can teach (vocal) performance, not someone who points out the time signature of a piece, what key it is in, and what's the difference between a crotchet and a quaver. It's really horses for courses.

Again, it all comes down to what the prospective student requires, what level they are at, what their goals are. These are questions students needs to ask themselves. The only responsibility of the teacher is to honestly answer if that's what they can offer.

I meant it would be a useful thing to ask about - not in order to learn theory but to know whether the teacher actually has some knowledge about this.

I'm looking for a voice teacher who can train me to use my voice without feeling or sounding strained. I also need help to extend my length of phrases that I can sing without having to take another breath, and help to access my higher range.

I don't want to perform, I want to teach piano and musicianship (and perhaps choirs) to children and adult starters. I need to end up with a voice which sounds pure and clear rather than sounding like an opera singer - a voice which my pupils would be easily able to copy.

How would you describe that need over the phone to a potential teacher?

I would understand totally what you meant, so I'd say just as you've written here

Yep! Just say exactly that. And maybe what sort of style of music you've envisage your choirs singing as well.

Well, that appears to be a consensus! Thanks everyone.

Sorry to be taking over your thread Viledin4u.


One more question: Does anyone have a recommendation of a voice teacher near the Hampshire/Surrey border?

There's some pretty good and some pretty advance advice being given here for someone looking to start out with a new singing teacher. There's a danger that some of the advice given will encourage potential singers to run before they can walk.

A singing teacher should be the person who teaches you how to sing first and foremost. Along the way the singing teacher will develop the voice by using exercises in breathing, projection, dynamics, phrasing,tonality, colouration, diction and a myriad of other essential but very taxing things which all contribute towards a student becoming a successful singer. None of this has anything whatsoever to do with the teacher skills in accompaniment

The teacher will do this in most instances by demonstrating what is required in some way or other. Usually the teacher will use a piano , or some other keyboard which will further be useful as an accompanying instrument. But a piano is not actually essential for a student to learn how to sing. It merely becomes a requirement to be well rehearsed at accompanied singing in order to comply with exam requirements and for some performance purposes.

So the standard of any accompanist in the early stages of learning how to sing is less important than in the more advanced stages where the musical accompaniment becomes pretty challenging stuff.

It would be ideal if the singing teacher is a highly skilled piano accompanist as it is at the core of an accompanists skill set to be able to support the singer from the outset, and not to inadvertently become the soloist. But this highly skilled accompanist may know very little about the art and physical skill involved in singing.

Most music schools and conservatoires have as an entry requirement that students hold keyboard skills at ABRSM grade 5 or equivalent. The assumption therefore is that these students have had an opportunity to practice these skills in the process of learning. So soloists should have a modicum of confidence in singing teachers who hold qualifications from these music institutions.

What is important is the standard at which they can demonstrate singing technique at all levels.

What part of the advice given makes you think that?

Yes, I can recommend two in NE Hants (OK not THAT close to the surrey border but not too far away) if you PM me.

Hi Maria,

I attempted to explain this in my last post. You may see I make reference to some contributions to this thread which seem to over emphasise a singing teacher's credibility as an accompanist , with no reference to any training whatsoever in vocal technique and performance skills.

To do this will likely result in a singer learning very little from a simple accompanist who has little or no experience teaching singing . Indeed there is every likelihood that the singer will pick up very bad singing habits early on as the accompanist plays their heart out at concert standard, only to miss what the singer is doing at any given moment during practice .

These errors will take forever to correct and may result in serious but completely avoidable damage to the vocal folds in this way.

The question posed by vile din was about a singing teacher and the inclusion within the context of our discussion ,any additional question of any standard of accompaniment skills should be taken as a handy bonus by the singing student.

Are you referring to my post? - where I described my teacher's accpompaying skills? - I'm pretty sure I mentioned her performance and teaching diplomas in Singing.

If your post tended to over eemphasise the importance of accompaniments skills . Then a most emphatic yes I am referring to your post. If you are not referring to an over emphasis on accompaniment skills.Then, No I am NOT referring to your post.

Can we now return to the question posed which was far from this petty squabbling about who said what to whom and offer vile din some meaningful advice on the question of singing teacher selection?

oops...posted in wrong thread

*confused*

Are you accusing me of "petty squabbling" for asking if you were referring to my post?

Yes.

I feel we have reached a point in this thread where contributions are beginning to diverge from the question posed 'How do you find a good singing teacher' that it may be useful to include the very interesting and necessary subject of accompaniment in a separate thread. Whilst the thread may be more appropriately placed within another forum such as the viva piano forum , or in a general forum, the subject of accompaniment has been raised within this one as advice to vile din when choosing a singing teacher.

Accompaniment, and piano accompaniment in particular, is a discipline in itself and is quite different altogether from the necessary skills pianists are expected to display as soloists , either during performance recitals or within exam situations.

Indeed some institutions such are Trinity College still offer accompaniment as a separate discipline in their graded exams to assist accompanists improve their accompaniment skills and to gain accreditation for this improvement.

There is no element of instrumental teaching of soloists within the syllabus as the emphasis is clearly to develop essential areas such as keyboard transposition and supporting the soloist.

The requirements also include some of the essential piano skills required to successfully play the separate singing art song styles of lieder and chanson. There the accompanist is at the same time, the second member of a duo,an accompanist in the traditional sense and the accompanist is further expected to offer intrepretation of sound effects, mood and add colour to the lied or chanson.

So what make a good accompanist. Perhaps the famous accompanist Gerald Moore will guide us to the name of the divergent thread in the title of of his book' Am I too loud'?

Surely the need for accompaniment skills will depend on the type of student.

If a singing teacher can get themselves a practice that concentrates solely on vocal technique for advanced students then piano skills may be largely unnecessary, and at that level the separation of technique and repetiteur/accompanist makes sense.

But, most teachers presumably have a wider variety of student, in those instances the accompaniment skills are likely to be required more, since as well as technique the teacher will be teacher repertoire and the student will be learning how to sing with accompaniment.

I feel that the selection of a instrumental teacher including a singing teacher (the voice being treated as an instrument) is fraught with issues. Indeed it may be even more important to select the right singing teacher, that is the one who is an experienced vocal coach and who perhaps has some performance skills they may be able to pass on.

If you break a violin string, for example, the solution is to replace the string and this will take only a few seconds. If ,on the other hand, you over stress the vocal folds it may take a very long time; months or even years in some extreme cases of specialist interception to repair the damage.

As a singer I feel I can comment on some issues surrounding the successful selection of a singing teacher. But it is far too easy to accept that there is an acceptable substitute for the solid application of strong vocal technique. There isn't.

Rosfrog,
If you look carefully at some contributions to this thread you will see that some have suggested that it may be important in selecting a singing teacher that your singing teacher is a accomplished accompanist, or indeed an accompanist of any merit. Whilst it may be useful for the singing teacher to be able to play the accompaniment in the process of practice and for the soloist to become familiar with accompanied performance this is not as important in early steps towards learning how to sing. Unaccompanied 'A Cappella' singing wouldn't exist nor would it work at all if this was the case. So a singing teacher who has accompanist skills is handy but not essential.

Other contributions suggest that singing to recorded backing tracks may be adopted , perhaps, as another acceptable substitute for an accompanist, or possibly even a singing teacher?

Recorded backing accompaniments are usually pitched at bland, middle of the road settings of pieces. There is no opportunity for the song to become yours with recorded accompaniment as the artistic interpretation, or lack of this, is fixed and there is no room for maneuvering. The recording may be too fast or too slow, or not fast or slow enough to suit your musical interpretation. There will be little or no use of dynamics and the recording cannot support the soloist. At worst the piece may not be available in a suitable key and this may, in the worst cases result in over stressing the vocal folds.

To use them instead of an accompanist during practice or during recitals transforms the excitement and thrill of live performance into Kareoke.

Recorded backing tracks are, however, useful for practice when all of the note crunching, word learning, dynamics, use of rubato and your musical interpretation are firmly in place. They allow soloists to practice on their own so that they can practice asynchronous timing. They are also useful at this point for warming up.

So accompanist skills are useful for singing teachers and for singers to have but they are not essential for singers to learn how to sing.

In my lessons one of my aims is to get my students singing independently and happily with a backing track or a piano accompaniment

However some of my students can't sing in tune without either myself or the original artist.
Others can sing with the piano where the piano is also playing the melody
Others can sing with the piano just playing accompaniment and no melody but they cannot then sing in tune with a backing track
Others are fine with a backing track but can't sing in tune with the piano
Some can sing in tune if it's the original key but if we change the key then they insist on still singing in the original (I wish I had this talent )
Others have trouble keeping in time with the music so if I'm accompanying on the piano I vary my speed

So as you can see with such a range of students I am glad to have piano skills. Especially when we're breaking down a small part of the song. However, those who don't have piano skills no doubt have their own ways of doing things and if it works for them and their students then that's great.

I think backing tracks are marvelous things. The kids love them and they sound great! It really helps them get in the mood of the song and they feel just like their favourite singers. Plus with backing tracks I can focus on their singing rather than having half my brain on the piano.

Hi express yourself,

Have you considered making your own recordings of accompaniments. This may be more useful to you as it will be your interpretation and be your musical direction. The tendency for your interpretation of being bullied by the backing tracks I have previously mentioned will be addressed. If you re-interprete the piece make another recording of the accompaniment?

I have done that for songs which have no suitable backing but to be honest it's not such a problem regarding interpretation. We can speed up or slow down the backing as a whole if we like. But with pop music you don't really have a great deal of tempo variations within a song. Especially at the level I teach at.

What I do regularly do is alter the order of verses and cut out instrumentals or middle 8s. I do all this with audacity by chopping up and rematching the different parts in the backing tracks.

Plus of course, within the boundaries of the rhythms in the track, we can alter the vocal line to add or take away ornamentation and alter the octave etc etc.

It's a good point that I hadn't really considered. Do any other teachers of pop songs alter the backings to allow for interpretation?

Hi express yourself,

That's a very good point about audacity's ability to mix things up a bit.

In pop culture there is an expectation on the part of your audience that you have to make the song your own,' To keep it real'. There are plenty of very good examples of this on display in BBC1's 'The Voice' programme where the original recording of very well known pop songs are re-interpreted into a completely different pop style.

This certainly works for soloists. Don't you think it would be exciting and radical for a choir. I hope this gives you food for thought?

Unfortunately to do such a thing in a performance would involve gaining arrangement permissions from the copyright holders and there is a fee payable for this. So in my choirs we stick to the original so we don't fall foul of the law. But then that is a topic for another thread!

Doing it in lesson times when there's no audience is not a problem but who wants to learn something they can't legally perform or record! Not me!

Hello Rosfrog,

I'm very reluctant to begin a game of forum ping pong with the use of each other's quotes.

Here in your last post is a classic example of the danger I mention that some of the advice given will encourage potential singers to run before they can walk.

'I don't know where you've heard backing tracks from, but they don't sound like the ones professionals use. The singers I work with who use backing tracks (mostly the classical artists who don't have a regular accompanist or then musical theatre people) use tracks in the right key for their voice, recorded by professional musicians. As you don't seem to like the idea of accompaniment nor of backing tracks - what would you suggest singers use? '

The question posed here is 'How do you find a good singing teacher' not an accompanist, how to use recorded backing tracks for singing and it most certainly is not a discussion of the physiology and pathology of the larynx. You have strayed far from this path and you appear to have misunderstood my opinion of the use of both recorded backing tracks and an accompanist. My opinion of neither of these have any bearing on how viledin4u may find a good singing teacher for an inexperienced singer.

But for your benefit alone Rosfrog. I am a singer of lieder and french chanson at beyond grade 8 standard and as such it is imperative for me to have a piano accompanist of note to complete the duo requirements in the art form.

I also regularly use recorded backing accompaniments but , apart from for practice and warming up, these are not for me .Whereas my efforts are to stick to the spirit of the question posed on finding a singing teacher.The backing accompaniments you allude to which professional singers use, may not be affordable to singing students or amateur singers and they will not be appropriate for singers who will have not yet learned the art of singing.

The vocal folds are very robust and with good sense they repair themselves in time. I bow to your greater depth of knowledge of medical conditions caused by overstressing the vocal folds. and I hope, as a singer, never to need your services.


You may feel that you wish to open a thread in discussion of your clinical voice specialist expertise on the question of overstressed vocal folds. But may I suggest that it has no place in a thread which asks for advice about how you find a good singing teacher. Perhaps this thread may not be received in the intended way or in the spirit of starting singing by inexperienced singers?

I'm completely confused

But just one more thing about backing tracks... I purchase mine for about one pound each and the quality is fabulous. I use amazon or karaoke-version

Thanks for all your advice. I have passed on some info to my friend and is now up to her to pursue things in a way that she sees fit.

(...stop yer squabbling )

Hi,
I see things quite differently....There are a number of different kinds of professional people who teach singing.
1) A vocal couch- a person who plays with students and knows a certain amount about the voice.
2) A singing teacher- a vocal specialist who may or may not play themselves.

The last thing that I want in a singing teacher is an ok ability to play along with students. I think it is much better to spend 75% of the time dealing with the instrument your learning ( the voice) and then, often through your teachers connections, go to work with a professional pianist, who's playing can inspire you to do better and who can bring out elements of the music an O.K. accompanist can't. I also believe that the last thing I want my singing teacher to do while I am singing, is to be playing themselves. I expect their focus to be on my playing (all singers should consider themselves musicians and the voice their instrument). If you played the violin, you wouldn't want your teacher to be busy playing themselves when you are trying to learn a piece and need their help!!
Also, ALOT of vocal faults and mistakes can be hidden when an accompanist is brought in TOO EARLY.
Also qualifications are essential and are proof that the teacher has an understanding of vocal pedagogy.
SO MUCH DAMAGE has been done (sometimes permanently) and continues to be done by those who dont really understand what them are doing. You must be in command of your instrument BEFORE other musicians are brought in. And that means a ###### of alot of work before backing tracks or professional accompanists are brought in.

I rather like the sound of one of these.

Me too!

MKP, I agree with you that I'd prefer my teacher not to accompany on the whole - I usually use backing tracks - but I'm interested in your idea that you shouldn't bring any accompaniment in too early. Do you mean they'd be singing without any accompaniment at all in the early stages of lessons? If so, at what point would you bring it in?

Hi,
I think it really depends on the student, but all in all I dont like to see an accompanist or backing track introduced before the aria (or particular section of study) can be sung through (without significant vocal faults). A friend of mine, who is an accomplished advanced singer told me that when she was studying (in the early days), her teacher ust to always accompany, and every wrong note, dynamic marking, tempo was putting her off. It also meant that she was not given the time to study the piano line, literally sit down with a recording of it or just the sheet music), to read through and learn the music and notice any small details that could be incorporated or influence her interpretation.
I guess it really depends on standards. Many people are happy making an ok job of a piece and belting it out with some form of backing as soon as possible......but for anyone interesting in professional singing....details, details, details. Of course, as a singer becomes more advanced things move much quicker as many vocal faults should be ironed out by then, and also the musical ear has grown and can respond much quicker to other instruments, I am mostly speaking about young singers rushing to hear the finished product and those teachers who are not giving students time to breathe in all the musical elements around them......I see more and more of it these days...There are too many singers and too few "Singing musicians" coming through....just my take on it