TL; DR: Maybe, maybe not.
After a promising start in middle school, my performing career was going nowhere. My confidence had been shaken when I, the upstart who stole the show in “Coming Of Age” in Seventh Grade, was totally shut out of “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” in Eighth Grade. I didn’t look or sound like a Lucy or a Sally and that’s all that was available. I was crestfallen. My mom thought, “Let’s get her some voice lessons and see if that helps.” And sure enough, two months after I started studying with Prof. Paul Hickfang of Ohio State University, I was singing “As Long As He Needs Me” in a transposed key at the spring choir concert. Voice lessons work!, I thought. I kept taking them.
Most of the singers who come for a Hello Session with me are frustrated a little bit vocally, and a whole lot professionally. They audition for the same few shows in the same few theaters. They get feedback like “sorry, there were just so many good people for only a few parts.” They love singing with their choir friends but they’re bored to death with the material, and the soloists always get hired from outside, anyway. Their audition experiences are tedious or terrifying and they rarely have the right songs in their audition books. They aren’t sure open mics are for them, either. They don’t look like Jasmin in “Aladdin Jr.” so they get cast as a townsperson, again. They’re singing the wrong music, at the wrong venue, for the wrong reasons, in the wrong key, at the wrong time.
Can a voice teacher solve all of these problems? No. You need a voice teacher AND a vocal coach, career counselor, repertoire specialist, talented pianist, talent agent, director, public relations person. And a drill sergeant. Voice lessons will build your voice, but what you really need is to expand your options. That takes a lot of additional skills and support. I didn’t get that help when I was thirteen and struggling to find my way to the mic, and it’s still a challenge to find it now.
You don’t need a voice teacher. You need an “All-Of-The-Above” teacher who can not only tell you to stop using “Hallelujah” to audition for The Music Man (please stop using “Hallelujah” altogether, okay?) but can also tell you to abstain from local theater auditions altogether, pull out the ukulele, and get working on the EP that’s been swimming around in your brain for a few years. And can then spend the second half of your lesson helping you write a song.
You need a voice teacher who can help you arrange your cover song setlist so you don’t get vocally tired in the middle, and help you find open mic venues that don’t have a six-hour waiting list. Or teach you how to livestream and avoid the lines altogether.
You need a voice teacher who can help you write, arrange, and record your songs in keys and styles that work for your voice, help you release them, and coach you as you take them on the road. Who can help you organize your vocal interests so you really can do it all.
You need a voice teacher who tells you it’s okay to quit choir, and then gives you a chance to sing rock and roll with her studio band. Someone who can also say, “check out this Italian aria from the 18th century, I think it would be a great way for you to work on your falsetto for that Prince song.”
You need a voice teacher who understands not only your voice but YOU. Someone who sees options and possibilities that you can’t see for yourself. Someone who helps you create a musical life that celebrates who you are and points you where you’re heading.
If you can find all of this in a voice teacher . . . .well, it’s nice to meet you! ;) Let’s get going. Book an online Hello Session with me here.