How many lessons should I take? 9/17/10

Post date: Sep 17, 2010 1:39:19 PM

My colleagues and I have a reaction to this question and those similar. It's generally a pause and a stare. Reason being, we're having trouble controlling the need to roll our eyes while shaking our heads and sighing. Seriously?

If that sounded sarcastic, well...it's not. I wonder if anyone realizes just how physical a process singing is - good singing, I mean - not the "I just woke up and turned on my iPod and now I'm rocking out to my favorite Ke$ha song while on my Nordic track."

I often say to students, "Do you think I could stand on the mound at Turner Field and throw a ball across the plate?" (The kind ones say, "Sure.") Of course, the answer is no. Then I ask, "How about I study with the Brave's pitching coach, Roger McDowell for an hour?" They tentatively say, "Maybe?" I quickly answer, "Of course not. I don't have the throwing power to get it across the plate, let alone the accuracy." Then I go on to say, "What if I train every day for 40 minutes, and have pitching lessons with Roger McDowell once a week for a year?" They say, "Well absolutely!"

My final question is, "What if I actually *don't* train every day, just say that I do, but I still have lessons with him?" Then they sorta shuffle their feet and look down at their hands.

AHA! Do you see what I mean? Singing is physical! It's not something you do once a week and hope to be a master at it. It's like pitching, or gymnastics, or swimming - you need to do it over and over, every day, and do it well in order to see, feel, and hear an improvement.

This is why even professional singers bring their vocal coaches along on tour with them. Whenever I have a moment to take a lesson myself I'll go work with a friend or colleague. It's great to get the detailed feedback and really work hard on specific technical issues.

So how many lessons should you take - High school? college? graduate school maybe? during your professional career? who knows how long you'll want to take and how far you want to go. For some of us, it is a lifetime...