Singers: Is it your teacher’s fault?

Those who know me, know well that one of my big and continuing concerns is the multitude of un-qualified and under-qualified, singing teachers and singers who teach voice for the wrong reasons and do a lot of harm to aspiring singers. There is, however, the flip side of the coin. When is a lack of progress/improvement/ success in singing the responsibility of the singer/student?

Case Study# 1 Recently I had a conversation with a classical singer, with whom I worked very briefly long ago when I was a student teacher.  When we spoke she talked about all of her various singing teachers over the years and outlined their problems.  These were all teachers who helped a multitude of other students learn how to sing well, but nevertheless, she related that learning from each of the various teachers did not work for her. 

I had attended one of this particular singer’s performances in the 1990s when she was working with an excellent teacher in New York City and I recollect that she had made great improvements in her tone and various aspects of her technique. I remember thinking that the teacher with whom she was working at the time helped her a lot.  I asked the singer why she left that teacher and she told me that she had attended several grad school auditions and that she kept getting comments that she was “under pitch”.   Now, having personally taught this voice, although very briefly, before leaving the area to attend grad school myself, I was very familiar with the fact that she previously sang quite flat as well as the exact cause of the intonation problem. Along with other technique difficulties, she was singing heavily and did not have enough head voice in the upper middle as well as lacked an “open throat” therefore notes in the upper middle and in seconda passaggio were consistently flat. In laymen's terms she was singing to heavily in the upper part of her voice and it was weighing the pitch down.

The teacher in New York had lessened her nasality problem, got her air moving and also help get some good support going in her body.  He also had her singing much less flat, although the problem was not entirely eliminated. Yet when this singer received comments about the fact that she was singing flat, she blamed the teacher that had helped her so much!

She didn’t think for a moment that it was HER responsibility to sing in tune! She didn’t bother to ask others whether she had previously had that problem! She received some comments and BANG! Fired her teacher!  She went on to study with a string of teachers ‘who didn’t work for her’ and, without self-examination, blamed her career difficulties squarely on their shoulders.

Case Study #2 An aspiring musical theater actress came to me because she felt that study with her present teacher was not working, because she was not getting hired!  It did not enter her mind that the teacher she was leaving was teaching half of Broadway (ok a slight exaggeration).  The fact that she was not getting hired for “straight”  non-musical productions as well, which had nothing to do with her voice training,  did not enter her consciousness when she was analyzing her lack of success. She was paying BIG money to the teacher and she was not getting the parts she wanted.  From my perspective, with the negativity she brought into the room, I could never imagine anyone hiring her, in fact, I made sure that our schedules did not match in order to avoid being her next teacher and suffering the bad word of mouth that eventually would ensue because she might continue to be frustrated with her career progress and  need a new scapegoat.

Case Study #3  An extremely talented and very successful teen-aged legit musical theater singer, with whom I worked a few years ago in London, attended a pop singing contest. The judges told the singer publically that “her musical theater training was working against her.  As her teacher, and knowing full well, how important being able to function in contemporary styles is these days to employability in musical theater,  and being able to both sing and teach these styles, I many times assigned repertoire and attempted to coach her in the principles of pop-styling. This young singer, however, was entirely disinterested in the subject, never did the assigned practice and so my thought was, she knows who she is and wants to specialize in what she does best and most naturally and I won’t push the issue. Then on a whim she attends a pop singing contest and the judges, do guess what? Blame her teacher.

On an even more serious note, when students come to me for an initial consultation and I suspect nodules or some other possible pathology, I always send them to an ENT, not only for their own good both medically and because it will inform how to proceed in lessons, but because I don’t want to be blamed for the condition of someone’s voice before they came to me for lessons!

What can singing teachers do?

If you give an initial consultation as I do, or if not, during the first lesson, take notes on your evaluation of the singer and share those notes with the singer, verbally or in terms of a report. It is up to you how much detail you present in that initial consult, and how your present the information, because you want to always be encouraging, if at all possible, and you don’t know how rapidly a singer will progress. You should, however, fully share the information with the singing student during their course of study as well as bring to their attention areas they are not addressing in their practice and what the consequences might be. Of course, if you see student after student coming to you from another teacher with a similar set of problems, you can form a  (private) negative opinion of another instructor, but do not be quick to blame the former instructor (if any) for problems based on one singer. You do not know how the singer sounded before the other teacher worked with them! You would want your student’s future teachers to offer the same level of fairness to you!

Make sure you ask a singer, when you first meet him or her, exactly what their goals are and make sure that you feel that you can help that student reach those goals.  If a student with no previous training comes to you two months before an audition for a top conservatory to prepare the audition, you must be up front that there is not the proper time to prepare this audition. You can still take the student and do the best you can given the fact that goal is unrealistic. In many cases the student can and will attempt the audition the next year and be successful.
If a parent brings you a child with the stated goals of winning auditions but only want to the child to have a half hour lesson every other week  when the child has many areas that need to be addressed, don’t set yoursel and more importantly the child,  up for failure by agreeing to help achieve the goal on insufficient instruction time.

What can Singers do?

After you have carefully selected your teacher based on qualifications, experience, word of mouth, how they themselves sing, and the way their other students sound, be honest with yourself. Are you putting 110% effort into becoming a good singer? Are your goals realistic based on your present level of ability? Are you putting enough effort into getting your career going? Simply paying a teacher and attending lessons does not guarantee you will get the results you desire, be they becoming a better singer or becoming a big star.  A teacher can only give you , accurate information, appropriate feedback and guidance ;  A good voice  teacher can make or break whether or not you learn how to sing, but you need way more than that to have a career. As far as getting cast in roles and working is mostly about what YOU bring to the equation.  That is a truth that is sometimes hard to face, but once you do face this, you will  greatly increase your chances of reaching your goals.

Should YOU become a Singing Teacher?

Should YOU become a Singing Teacher?



I have been approached for advice, from time to time, by fellow singers who are considering doing some teaching. Sometimes it comes in the form of a panicked request for “materials” before a job interview for a teaching position. Other times it is a singer bouncing ideas off of me about whether or not teaching singing is right for them and whether, in my opinion, they have something marketable to offer. Sadly, sometimes it is a singer who has not been serious in their own training, as well as  unsuccessful in obtaining paying work as a performer due to a deficit in skills, who considers becoming a singing teacher. Often they have little actual interest in teaching,  but needing to get some work to keep them afloat until they get the paying performing work, they decide to become teachers. I have therefore organized a few points about teaching the art of singing, which I hope will be helpful to potential singing teachers and their potential students.

1)    Most importantly, you must first be a skilled singer in order to teach the art of singing. There is an old saying, very insulting to teachers, that goes something like ”Those who can, Do, those who CAN’T.... teach”. Well, as far as singing goes, you absolutely have to be able to do it (or have been able to sing in the past if you are advanced in years) in order to teach it. Period. Full stop! Now, you may be an excellent, experienced and skilled performer who does not wish to or is unable to engage in having a singing career and still be an excellent teacher. Several esteemed teachers I know of are such individuals, they missed the boat of a performing career for themselves because of family obligations, health problems or having initially received poor training and then found themselves to old to establish a performing career, but they do possess the technique they are teaching. If you have tested the technique in the professional arena all the better.
 Occasionally, I have a call from an absolute beginner who wants to train to become a singing teacher. My advice is always to train to become a singer and if you do not have a burning desire to perform then you will have a head start to being a good singing teacher. I do not subscribe to the “Music Education philosophy, which trains "music teachers".  Music students are "musical souls", be they adults or children, and they respond to fluid, expressive, enthusiastic playing and singing from skilled performers. Mediocre "Music Ed" specialist teachers have, in my opinion done more to kill off enthusiasm from the public for serious music than the influence of the vapid commercially-promoted recordings with little"musical content" that are fed to  young listeners.

2)    Conversely, just because you can sing does not mean you can teach. Never the less, as discussed in 1) above, it is a very good start. There are many natural singers who have beautiful singing voices but do not understand exactly what they are doing to produce the sound or if they do understand they are unable to communicate it. You need to be able to do both. Sometimes singers understand how to make a nice sound with their own instrument but do not understand how different vocal instruments function or how to approach singers with different technical problems from their own. I am going to make a few high sopranos angry now, but I will say it anyhow. There are many sopranos, with high light voices that are able to make attractive sounds without learning how to sing properly. This is because it is possible for some tiny little soprano vocal mechanisms, to create what is an attractive sound to the public, when they are young, without the kind of breath support that most other types of voices absolutely must have in order to function. Often these singers have decent performing careers until their voices mature and they find they can no longer sing without retraining. It has been said by colleagues of the famous soprano who shall remain nameless, that she was an inverse breather. An inverse breather pulls up and in, instead of expanding the body with the air. A singer such as this may not understand how critical it is for other types of voices to breath correctly and then fail to address this issue with their students.(I often drive myself crazy trying to get some high light sopranos to breath correctly, but since they can get away with their bad habits some do not learn the most optimal way. I think even high light sopranos sound BEST when they breath properly like everyone else so I will never stop insisting that all singers breath well. Baritones generally get further than tenor simply on the strength of their beautiful natural voices whileknowing very little about technique. It should be remembered a singer cannot transfer his or her lovely voice to a student, only their knowledge.

3)    A singing teacher must understand how different personalities and voices function. Don’t think that all you need to do when teaching others is repeat exactly how your teacher worked with you. I adjust my teaching to each singer. If a singer is a hardworking perfectionist who is very hard on his or herself,  I have a very different attitude than I do with one who is a slacker. If a student has a hyper-phonation problem we do completely different vocalizes than if they have a hypo-phonation problem. Many singers who makefirst attempts at teaching voice, simple regurgitate what worked with them.  So how does one learn about other voices? In the normal course of a peforming career singers observe what works and does not work with other voices and voice types. As a student, it is important to sit in on other singer’s lessons and attend master classes in order to learn about other kinds of voices as well as taking classes in pedagogy. The easiest way to do this is in a University or conservatory music program. If you are a fine pianist you can volunteer to play for singing teachers and observe, observe, observe.

So, if you think you have something to offer, how do you get started? One excellent way to gain experience is to barter singing lessons in exchange for other services. Be upfront about your level of experience. I started teaching in my late teens. At that point I had two years at university under a good teacher, it was more than five years since my first paid gig and had already won several competitions and made a recital debut at Carnegie Hall, so I was not exactly green despite my age. I exchanged singing lessons for guitar lessons. It was a great deal, I was learning on my second instrument AND getting experience as a singing teacher. Soon I was getting results and references. So I started to charge a little, but I worked exclusively on technique and taught only other musicians who knew what they were doing otherwise. Then my teacher started referring high school age students to me and was kind enough to monitor my progress with them. Then she had me take some of her students while she was away. I think I did help even my first students but I was quite aware that I had so much more to learn. I had to start somewhere, and if you want to teach singing you must start somewhere too.

If you are just starting out and do not have knowledge that is broad or deep, only teach what you know best. If you are a natural singer but an experienced performer, why not be a performance coach and have a group workshop. You don’t have to mess with any technique. A performance coach can help singers with their style, dramatic interpretation and stage presence. Just make sure that the singers who work with you are getting technique instruction elsewhere if they need it. If you only feel totally confident with one style than only teach that style and be up front about it.

Finally, the voice studio should not be a graveyard for frustrated singers who are not making it, or never made it, passing on their technical deficiencies to those who don’t know any better, although it very often is. Teach for the right reasons: because you really want to help people and because you are honestly interested in the human voice.

Do You Know the Difference between a Singing Teacher and a Coach?

1. Singing Teachers, also known as Voice Teachers
These professionals teach singing technique.  They address how the voice is produced. They teach posture, breathing, resonance, breath support, the way the mouth opens, how to shape the throat and  other issues that effect how the larynx functions.  They give instruction to singers about how to warm up and care for their voices and how to apply the technique to repertoire.
Singing teachers help singers increase the range strength, pitch accuracy and beauty of their voices.These professionals are almost always, themselves, singers.

2. Singing Voice Therapists /Voice Rehabilitation Specialists
These Professionals help singers recover from traumatic voice injuries and voice abuse as well as preventing problems in the singing voice.Generally they are singers with specialized training.

3. Performance Coaches help singers to interpret repertoire and apply acting, stagecraft, and presentation skills. Performance coaches are trained actor/directors and may also be musicians (pianists/singers).

4. Diction/Foreign Language Coaches help singers to pronounce the texts of their lyrics accurately.  They must be familiar with the language and how to apply it to music. They may be singers, pianists or musically educated linguists.

5. Piano-Vocal Coaches help singers prepare repertoire stylistically and accurately as well as suggest repertoire, while accompanying them on the piano. These professionals generally have strong piano skills. Most, but not all are performers.

6. Vocal Accompanists also known as Collaborative Pianists are musicians, who specialize in performing music with singers. They understand how to play their instruments in a way that allows singers to sound their best. They are high level performing pianists and usually excellent sight-readers.

Traditional Theater Taboos- Know What They Are!

One of the quickest ways to become branded an outsider is to not observe the traditional theatrical superstitions. Now, in general I am not a superstitious person , however, respect for the traditions of the theatre is a nice way to pay tribute to the history and community of the theatre as well as an indication that you have an interest in being a considerate and dedicated part of a theatrical community. It also shows that you are a good and serious performer and that you are educated.

 

There are many traditions and certainly many are no longer in use, but I will list the most common ones below. I strongly hope that any present or former student of mine would at least be aware of these.


 
1) NEVER wish someone good luck(especially inside a theater). unless of course you are trying to send them the EVIL EYE. If you don't know what the evil eye is find out. (NO I don't think it actually exists any more than fairies do but I do know what a fairy is). Break a leg , In bocca al lupo, etc. Knock 'em dead is OK too. If you send good thoughts prayers, thinking of you is I guess, OK but LUCK .... NO!

 

2) Never mention the Scottish play in a theatre, or it's opera versions. If you don't know which Shakespeare this is find out, OK?
 


3) Don't use real props if you can help it, especially flowers(think allergies) mirrors(duh). Don't use real holy books. For g-d sakes use toy guns.
 


4) Don't whistle in the theatre! The first stage hands were Sailors. The first stage hands were out of work sailors (think of all the ropes etc. There is a reason why is is a theatrical rig. Whistling is how they signaled each other. Send the wrong signal and a you could get crushed by a sand bag. OK now everything is computer operated so yes this is antiquated but knowing this and not whistling is an acknowledgment that you realize that a set is a dangerous place. Life and death. A very beloved stage hand was once crushed to death during an opera production I was in. No it was NOT caused by whistling of course. But hopefully you get my point. Have respect for your work environment.

 

5) Maybe in the current green world we can give up keeping the ghost light on, but find out what the ghost light is, ok?

 

6) Don't use brand new make-up opening night.... very important. Think... allergies... the wrong color etc. 



7) Don't complain about your bad dress rehearsal. Bad dress= good opening night. Good dress also = good opening night.

The Reality vs. The Fantasy of Becoming a Pop Star - for parents of young singers

Is your teen a promising singer?
Do you think your teen might be able to become the next big singing star? Are you looking for an experienced singing coach as well as career guidance?

Lots of kids have big dreams and it is natural for parents to want to assist. Transforming a promising young singer into a marketable artist is not a simple task though, it takes solid training and a lot of work. Since being a singing star is the number one fantasy profession that people have, it is extremely competitive and it makes sense to get the best training possible!   It  is a very positive thing that serious training with an eye towards entry into the profession builds various skills that will be valuable to your child whether or not he or she actually goes on to pursue a career in the music industry.

Interestingly, from a record company A&R director’s point of view, labels are DESPERATE to find the next singing star because young singers who can fill that role are extremely rare, while at the same time hundreds of thousands if not millions of young people want to be that star!

Et this point you are probably asking yourself how this can be possible? How can such a large number of people want to be pop stars and yet finding an actual potential pop star is like finding a needle in a haystack. What is the divide? The job requires a very specific kind of individual with a VERY specific set of skills and traits.

Let's examine these:

1) The industry is looking for unique artists to do original material or put a new twist on existing songs. The ability to emulate and mimic the stars of today, especially Adele, who is all the rage with children and teens, is not going to interest of impress anyone in the industry.  By the time your pre-teen or young teen is ready to join the industry, today’s sound will be passé. Most kids focus on emulating current stars, which is the exact wrong thing to do once they have decided to showcase themselves to the industry.

2). Because almost all forms of commercial singing are amplified, even Broadway shows, how good a singer sounds in terms of tone and being in tune as well as how well they "sell the song" in performance is much more important than being loud.
 Of course, with training and maturity, voices gain strength in the right way, but what most kids do to imitate the contest winners they see on TV and other advanced singers is not at all proper belting, it is simply 'yelling a song'. This can permanently damage the voice as well as simply not being at all what the industry is seeking. Moreover, Imitating the way Adel sang on her breakthrough album, is imitating a technique that caused her to lose her voice and undergo surgery. 'Yelling a song' and improper loud belting. does, however, impress your child’s friends, or anyone else who can't perceive much more about singing than volume at a close distance(which is very different from the actual ability to project the voice on stage) which makes the issue confusing for your child. A large percentage of kids are also, encouraged by their parents try to sing as loudly as they can, all the time, and that is the exact wrong thing to do.


3) Because producers need singers who can learn things quickly and accurately, aspiring singers need strong musical skills. 
If a singer has extensive formal training on a musical instrument they have a good head start to be able to apply that knowledge to their singing. If not, these skills can still be learned by a singer through the study of music literacy (learning to read music) ear training, improvisation and then the study of music theory.  Don’t make the mistake of  thinking that just because you think your child can mimic his or her favorite star that he or she has a good ear. A REAL singer needs to be able to sing songs that have not first been interpreted by others. Most kids try learn songs by ear and parents don’t understand the need for their children become musically literate. The right thing to do is to find a teacher that will foster musical skills in any aspiring singer.

4) The industry is seeking individuals with professionalism and the attitude that they are there to serve the music project. 
Many people want to become famous in order to get approval for who they naturally are as a person. It is healthy to seek unconditional love from parents, family and relationships, the music business gives very conditional and fleeting approval, if any, after a long period of paying dues, therefore beautiful sensitive souls seeking approval get hurt. Parents often present their child for training to enter a competitive field, but then expect the coach to accept the child as he or she is and work only on things that are not challenging. Most people who study music should do so ONLY for the personal enrichment and enjoyment, but that should never be confused with coaching for success in the industry. That being said, the discipline that aspiring singers learn from the hard work and challenges of of becoming an excellent singer  can serve as an excellent foundation for success in any field. Embracing the challenges is the right thing to do.


Simply stated, the needed training to become a pop star requires years of dedication and instruction akin to what a young athlete training for the Olympics might do. The needed training to become an opera singer, which requires athleticism, refined acting skills, complex musical skills and the ability to function in at least four languages is like training for the olympics while getting a degree in medicine or law.

Surprised? I bet not, I think you probably actually knew that it is not easy and simple to reach the top of the world’s most competitive profession. It takes a lot of work to be the best, but in the music business only the very best work at all.


So. if you think your child who has dreams of becoming a successful singer would prefer to keep yelling Adele* or John Mayer* songs at the top of his/her lungs for fun to impress her friends, by all means encourage their love of current music, but also realize it will not lead to a career or profession.

But, if you think he or she would like to turn those dreams into reality by learning musicianship skills, performance and singing techniques, finding their own unique voice, and being exposed to and learning a diverse repertoire of music beyond popular hit songs to prepare for a career in music or to audition for a university music program, a qualified voice teacher and serious voice training will assist your goals.

*Artists who severely damaged their voices

Lori's Studio( Bergen Bel Canto) website

Is Bigger Singing Better Singing?

These days especially, many singers are concerned about impressing people with the size of their voices. They want to belt and they want to sing big, but the key to being an exciting singer and therefore an impressive singer is not singing bigger, it is about creating "big moments". Any singing without dynamics is both unmusical AND damaging because the elasticity that comes from asserting the voice in the places within the phrase musically and then letting up, keeps the voice from being damaged. Pounding away at the same dynamic is stressful, but it is an element of some rock singing;what comes to mind is some of John/Lennon's rock singing in the Beatles, but that is not how to approach songs that are even slightly more melodic. If everything is loud and a singer is singing at their maximum, nothing seems loud because there is nowhere to go at the climactic points and the performance seems dead.

The second thing is that "big singing" has to be motivated ALWAYS by big emotion, and hopefully emotional release; that the singer is "letting out" emotion. Otherwise it fails both artistically and once again, is stressing the voice.

Thirdly, the particular voice needs to be ready(mature enough) and right (of a particular nature) to do "big singing". When weak and breathy voices try to sing louder by asserting more air pressure they blow the vocal cords apart, lose tone and actually become less present.  A voice has to be "focused" before it can be asserted. The range has to be established. If a high voice is singing heavily in the upper middle it will not be able to ascend to it's top. Voices must be asserted in the correct way and at the correct time.

Fourth, the technique behind the singing must be in balance. Generally beginners are encouraged in my studio to not consider dynamics just use the voice and what ever comes out is ok. Then we start to think of the direction of the phrase and add weight in the important places. Then we strengthen to be able to make a thrilling sound, finally we refine to make beautiful supported soft tones. If a singer is an absolute beginner it takes a few years. If a more advanced singer commences lessons with me, we could be at the refining stage.

Bigger is not necessarily better, but that does not mean that if a singer is not singing out enough it  should not be addressed. There is also the fact to be considered that every voice has a minimum amount of energy that has to be given to activate the vocal mechanism. Singers who don't give that minimum energy, will not function properly in any way. On the other hand, no voice produces it's most beautiful tone when it is at it's loudest!  Also, voices do not sing at their loudest when the singer is  trying to be loud!

Sing motivated. Sing musically, Sing beautifully. That is where the teacher should lead
the student who wants to sing big,

Facing Ageism in the Music Scene

Starting a music career in mid-life is a mixed bag. I  have known quite a few people including students of mine who have tried this over the years.

Singers wonder "am I too old to become an excellent singer? and "am I too old to make it?"

A voice, especially a male voice, (females have more complicated issues due to hormones) in their mid fifties, without years of wear and tear from a professional career is a "younger" voice physically than a voice of the same chronological age that has been used for decades, and therefore capable of some things that mature artists are not at that age. 

There should be no problem casting lower voices such as baritones and basses who often portray older characters anyway in often supporting a capacities, there should be no logical reason to not take a chance and cast a well trained older singer in such a role. An inexperienced fifty year old lyric coloratura in a a leading  ingenue role when scores of perfectly trained experienced twenty-five year olds are available, not so much, but older mezzos in character roles, and unusual dramatic voices, perhaps.

That being said, the biggest obstacles are, not only the prejudices of those who hire, but also the difficulties that older individuals have taking the direction and constructive criticism that developing artists need at an age when it is normal to receive respect for past accomplishments.

There is also the issue that people who have lived their extensive professional lives in the "normal" world have problems with *the realities of the music world*. Generally, in the "ouside"world you invest money and effort and you pretty much have an expectation of a reasonable return on that effort.

In music  and show biz, people usually pay a lot of dues and receive what seems like almost no return(if you are comparing to other pursuits) and civilians just don't understand.

Mature adults pursuing music in "all their spare time" don't realize that there are an army of people spending every waking hour on accomplishing their dreams and have been doing so for years. They see that they themselves have spent thousands on lessons and coachings and see this as a huge investment, but young people in conservatories, higher ed, etc are spending maybe ten times as much!

My advice to my mature students and mature emerging singers is, if you were born to sing, do it now, you will never be younger than today. If you don't enjoy your lessons, practicing, performing on whatever level you are on, don't do it because it is not an investment you will probably get back in terms of money, or glory. In fact if you are doing this to feed your ego and ambition you, will certainly be miserable.  That is true of singers and performers of any age! 

You will, however, get the HUGE payback of being able to do what you love and do it at the highest level you can, if you continue, and you will never regret that, if you truly love to sing!

Enjoy the journey!

• Delete 

Why Music Literacy/Musicianship Skills are Important for Singers

Occasionally a singing student asks me why they should bother to learn to read music. Certainly, if they are preparing to study music in college, they will be entirely lost if they do not know the fundamentals before they begin their courses.  Outside of the realm of academia, these skills are also very important, not only to function in the profession, but to engage in high level amateur musical pursuits.

Music literacy assists:

1) The ability to learn music accurately and independently

2) The ability to learn music efficiently and independently

3) The ability to communicate musical content to other musicians without an intermediary.

4) The ability to perform (and rehearse) music confidently as well as the ability to make changes on the fly.

5) Your aural skill. Yes, reading music makes your ear better. MUCH better. Interestingly better your ear, the easier it is to learn sight singing AND the more you sight sing, the better your ear gets. It really works both ways. Some say that musicians that read do not have as developed a musical memory as those who learn by ear.  I believe that the rote learning  (learning by repetition) that illiterate musicians must do, itself, aids in memorization.  When reading musicians repeat an equal number of  times, memorization occurs as well but so does musical accuracy.

 Learning by rote can hurt your voice and it can also interfere with developing a good technique. Learning by rote  (or singing in amateur choirs or ensembles that teach and rehearse by rote including some bands) requires repetition that wears your voice out, ingrains tensions, bad habits and the mannerisms of the singers you are mimicking.

If you have memorized music from a recording and are singing based on your memory, your focus is divided between your memory of someone else’s performance and your attention in the present to the task at hand.

If you have memorized music from a recording and are singing based on your memory, your focus is divided between your memory of someone else’s performance and your attention in the present. to the task at hand.

Learning to sight-sing or learning music fundamentals including music literacy, should not be a daunting experience. As a teacher, all I expect from a student is to learn little by little, getting a bit more proficient each time.

The frequently asked questions (or occasionally asked ones):

1) What is music literacy? 

The ability to read music notation

2) What is contained in music notation?

Music notation contains the basic information of pitch and duration, with some direction, although most notated music contains phrase markings, dynamic markings and other interpretive direction, it does not contain information  concerning  the finer points of style. A feeling for musical style is developed by analyzing the performances of fine examples of each particular musical style.

3) If  __XXX_ (insert name of famous singer/musician) does not read music why do I have to?

Some things to consider:
 a) Did XXX have the resources of an entire movie studio or record company and unlimited funds to compensate for their lack of musicianship skills? If you do not have unlimited funds and need to approach quantity of music literature at a level at a high level of quality in order to generate an income,  you should develop professional level musicianship skills.

b) Is it true that famous musician/ singer XXX really does not read music or are you  simply believing an urban legend? The frequently repeated statement that Pavarotti could not read music was the result of a something said by a former manager and then misstated and misunderstood by others.

Pavarotti’s manager said he could not read orchestral scores  (which requires reading specific clefs for cello’s, string bass,  etc. and transpositions for brass instruments, a HIGHLY complex thing). Pavarotti could read and learn music from piano vocal scores just like all opera singers , that is what his co-stars/ accompanists and conductors have told me.  That is right ,and guess what?: with almost no exceptions ALL OPERA SINGERS read music.  All professional opera singers I have ever met and heard of are musically literate!!!! ALL OF THEM!!! YEP. 100%.  They might not be excellent sight singers, but they can take their piano vocal scores home and learn all the basic notes in advance of their coaching sessions where polishing and minor corrections occur.  Many of the top and most respected rock musicians also read music.  Yes they do, even the ones who wear funny hats and glasses like Elton John. Even weirdo’s like Frank Zappa who, I believe had a doctorate in music, even Barry Manilow, who went to Julliard, even hot chicks like Pat Benetar, Even all of those famous bad boy British rockers who claim they don’t read music but were British choir boys for many years in their youth  READING music in their choirs. Maybe they are claiming they don’t read music to keep the competition out of the way or to feed the PR of their magical, amazing, unexplainable music abilities alive in their fans, the same reason why many well-known vocalists make singing teachers sign confidentiality agreements before studying with them. I make it a policy to never disclose who has studied with me without permission but charge triple scale for lessons if I am asked to sign one, believe me the issue comes up all the time.

Because I have spent my life endeavoring in music, most of the people I personally know are musicians. I would say over 90% of the musicians I personally know who derive all or a significant portion of their income from music  (including, for example a bass player with a top Van Halen Tribute band amongst others, so I am not talking about “classical musicians”) are musically literate or have an extraordinarily strong understanding of jazz harmony and theory (the complex system of chords, modes and scales). If you aspire to be a professional musician, and nobody you know personally reads music or knows a significant amount of theory on top of the basic fundamentals, you are definitely hanging with the wrong crowd.

So the next time a person with a day job that he/she hates  tell you, an aspiring pro, that you don’t need to read  and/or understand music don’t take advice from them.  If you hear a superstar entertainer say that they don’t read music or need to read it, make sure that your financial resources and you musical perception resources is on the level of that super star. They might not have to read music  (or have a good working understanding of music fundamentals and theory) but it might possibly be the case that YOU just might have to, in order to function in the profession.

c. The few musicians who operate on a high level who are not literate are musical geniuses (or near-geniuses) and have incredible ears. Don’t confuse having an ear good enough to be a musician (and not a “civilian”) with being a genius.

 Some signs that you may be a musical genius Signs include but are not limited to:

I You sing perfectly in tune, almost all the time II You play a large number of musical instruments proficiently III You can hear a song once and then sing  (and probably play it, not just the melody but all of the parts on all of the many instruments you, as a possible musical genius, probably play) it with great accuracy after one single hearing, and doing so is so easy that you can do it under pressure. (No  BS excuses such as, I can do it when no one is watching me).

* If you think you are a musical genius you can test this idea through a variety of tests including the most famous one, The Seashore test which tests : discrimination of pitches, dissonance, rhythmical figures, and intensity; as well as an ability to remember melodies and The Karma Music Test

is designed to measure auditory structuring in a way that it should minimize the effects of training and/or culture.

Just as an IQ test determines whether someone has extraordinary intelligence, there are objective tests that determine whether someone has extraordinary musical perception abilities.

Don’t be discouraged if you are not a musical genius. You don’t have to be one to be a highly skilled professional musician. Most professional musicians are people who started out with some natural ability and then developed those skills to a point where they are marketable skills. Most professional musicians are talented mortals.

 While it takes savant-like abilities to memorize an entire book (that someone else reads to you), almost anyone can learn to read a book.  If you only have to deal with one or two (or ten) pages of a book, most people who can’t read, can learn to memorize those pages, just as people who have a developed music hobby can learn a dozen songs by ear and or’ with the help of a coach. People involved in music for their own enjoyment can get away without music literacy skills.  But if you need to “learn the whole book”, or need to constantly learn new music, as professional singers do, you need literacy skills.

4) Will learning musicianship skills interfere with my creativity?

No, most literate musicians who write music,  create or  “hear” music in their musical imaginations, and after use their musicianship skills to accurately communicate what they hear in their heads to other musicians. It serves self-expression, because you are not dependent upon others to read your mind or arrange their own parts in YOUR creations. You create more of the content of your own music, when you have the needed skills.

5) Am I too young/ too old to learn?

Too young? Probably not, many of my musician friends report to me that they read music before they read English.

Too old? Not in my view, as I have witnessed many people acquire professional-level musicianship skills / music literacy well into middle age.  Acquiring these skills is a process.  Once you do the basic work, every hour your practice on your instrument (voice) not only helps you learn the piece at hand but increases and re-enforces your music skills

6) Can I just learn an instrument and will that suffice?

Probably not. Learning an instrument will help, but all instrumentalists must learn to sight sing, because that is how you connect what you see on the page with the sound you hear in your mind.  All musicians are required to train in sight singing classes  (sight SINGING) because it is possible to learn to push buttons on an instrument without hearing it in your ear. The only way to determine what a musician is actually hearing in their brain is to hear them singing it, because the brain is generating the pitch and the voice is communicating that information.

7)I don’t want to learn how to read and understand music will you still work with me?

I do work as a coach/ repetiteur and technical teacher on many different bases with singers, actors, dancers and performers of many kinds according to their needs.

When I was teaching in university music departments most singers that had access to my instruction had some basic skills and were also required to e developing them.   Although a vey strongly feel that music literacy is vital, in my private practice I am willing to assist singers any way that they think will help them best, but with the understanding that they are following their own advice and not mine.

Consider the adage: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. As a teacher if I spoon-feed the notes, I am teaching a student to sing particular song. When I teach a student music literacy, I am teaching them how to learn any song, accurately on their own.

Just as an IQ test determines whether someone has extraordinary intelligence, there are objective tests that determine whether someone has extraordinary musical perception abilities.

Don’t be discouraged if you are not a musical genius. You don’t have to be one to be a highly skilled professional musician. Most professional musicians are people who started out with some natural ability and then developed those skills to a point where they are marketable skills. Most professional musicians are talented mortals.

 While it takes savant-link abilities to memorize an entire book (that someone else reads to you), almost anyone can learn to read a book.  If you only have to deal with one or two (or ten) pages of a book, most people who can’t read, can learn to memorize those pages, just as people who have a developed music hobby can learn a dozen songs by ear and or’ with the help of a coach. People involved in music for their own enjoyment can get away without music literacy skills.  But if you need to “learn the whole book”, or need to constantly learn new music, as professional singers do, you need literacy skills.