Ineffective teaching methods

[btherl]

Imo I think it makes better worth of our time sharing the "wrong teachings" of vocal teachers and their techniques and why they don't work for you, rather than promoting what works best for that individual.

Speaking of which, has anyone come across vocal teachers that do nothing but just play the piano and give you songs to sing after the the first two lessons or something?

Well, since you asked I think this is better off in a new thread.

While I did learn quite a bit from my first vocal teacher, there were some things he did which irritated me no end.

1. He spent 80% of the time demonstrating, and 20% of the time listening to me. Daniel is the opposite, spending most of his time listening to my voice.

2. When my voice was in bad shape, my old teacher would say that I hadn't worked on my fundamentals (breathing, relaxed throat, etc etc). Blame was always on me for not having done something. In contrast, Daniel fixes problems I have on the spot and then continues with the lesson. If he can't fix it then he has failed to teach me, it's not me who has failed.

3. My old teacher often talked about what I should be doing, but not how to achieve it. SLS is the opposite, consisting entirely of methods which achieve results. My old teacher would say "keep your vocal cords connected". Daniel says "Sing 'nay' this scale", and my vocal cords connect as a result of the sound I'm singing. It's the difference between saying what I should achieve, and giving me a method that actually achieves it.

 

[sage]

:/ Your old teacher sucks. I don't think I'd want a teacher like that either, but to be honest when I was in NAFA, my vocal teacher was like that too. I can't blame her tho, you know how opera singers are like, the whole diva and crap.. and she was a reknowned soprano too, so I suppose she's used to more.. serious students She was more disappointed at me with the fact that she felt I had potential but didn't work as hard as she expected me to.

I think the worst vocal teacher experience I had was this yamaha vocal teacher some time back who did nothing but play the piano and hear me sing. She didn't teach me anything! urgh..

 

[jianrong]

I felt that is u want to take up vocal lesson, best is go for individual so u will have more attention on your vocal progress.

Group lesson take longer time and each student would only have average of one hour in one month which consist of four lessons, 1 and half hour per lesson and class size of 6 to 8 peoples. Group lesson mostly go by the book strictly, while individual you are able to rectify your errors quickly...

Yes it is way more expensive but if u round up to the average duration u get, it is consider worthwhile.

 

[btherl]

I think the worst vocal teacher experience I had was this yamaha vocal teacher some time back who did nothing but play the piano and hear me sing. She didn't teach me anything! urgh..

Wow that sounds pretty bad. I would expect Yamaha to have some kind of standards for their teachers. Though vocal teaching is quite controversial, so it's difficult to make set standards for it.

I'm reminded now of how good my piano teacher was. He always had a full booking and I had to wait a year just to get a slot. I was always amazed that he had a trick to fix any problem I got stuck with when learning a piece.

@jianrong, yep I think individual lessons are the only way to go. Group lessons are nice for the community feeling and cheaper, but individual lessons are far more value for money. I took group vocal lessons at the start and enjoyed them but I learnt very little.

 

[momentum]

of course individual is the best lol. wish i could take vocal lessons.. sigh lol. but i also dun wan to go like, oh mum dad could i go and take singing lessons? they'll look at me like i've gone mad

 

[illuminationexcursion]

of course individual is the best lol. wish i could take vocal lessons.. sigh lol. but i also dun wan to go like, oh mum dad could i go and take singing lessons? they'll look at me like i've gone mad

perhaps they will think you're mad the first time you say it.

the second time, they will think your pursuing a temporary fad and being impulsive.

the third time they will say things like studies and work are priorities as compared to singing.

after a while, when you show them you're serious, i'm sure they will fund your pursuits. provided you give them their side of the bargain which is academic performance on your part (i assume you're a student because you're taking money from them to learn)

 

[momentum]

yep im a student. im going back to guitar lessons after os, so maybe no time for other lessons. think i can sing well enough without a tcher though...

 

[noinimod]

lol really. Is that pride or what -_-
I don't play guitar as my main instrument but it feels like shit when i'm playing a song on the guitar and i can't sing well. Not that i'm saying you don't sing well but if you're talking about overall performance, i'm pretty sure singing would contribute more to that rating than guitar chops lol

 

[momentum]

lol of course, but i'm not good enough to sing and play on the guitar at the same time. i'm not even good enough to play a song properly on the guitar yet lol.. i'm good enough to sing tho, its not pride

 

[jeremyspk]

@ TS

You're old teacher is really cui (imo)
Sometimes you just can't locally control that portion of your muscle, but employing some vocalization exercise appropriately should do the trick (and that's what your good teacher is doing).

After my exams, I'm gonna get the Chris & Carole Beatty vocalization cd...
I got listen to a mp3 clip (part of the cd) from my sch teacher, on the discussion of head voice, and I did the siren (or sliding) exercise while understanding that I need to relax, I manage to access my head voice. Man...not after 5 years of harmful and chestful wrong belting technique..

Sometimes we just need to do vocalization with proper understanding (mental image) to do it right =D and a good teacher will help and not saying some funny stuffs...

 

[tpiledriver]

jeremyspk, you have a really good voice man.
somehow to me, it seems vocally powerful,
full of energy type of vocal.
keep it up man..
viewed your myspace.

 

[cloudwind]

Hi there, I'm goin to attend the lessons soon. Any feedback u've there?