The value of becoming a singing teacher-artist
I think I knew I wanted to be a singer when I was 8 years old and I got my first lead in a school play “Mrs. Hurry Up and the Runaway Presents”. This play had one solo song for my character, Mrs. Hurry Up. The song, “Wrap and Tie” was set to be sung while she was wrapping presents (the presents try to, you guessed it, run away, later in the play).
At the first rehearsal, the teacher talked about the song and said “we don’t have to do that as a solo, we can all sing the song.” I was horrified and immediately raised my hand saying I could sing it solo.
Ahhh, the bliss of ignorance!
She allowed me to sing the song and I had a great time at rehearsals. But at the performance, I got very nervous and sang VERY quietly, maybe because I could see my mother proudly beaming at me from the first row!
You’d think that experience would have stopped me from performing but it had the opposite effect. I was so sad that I didn’t sing as well as I wanted to, I was determined to get better at singing and performing! I was hooked and I wasn’t letting go.
Despite this rocky start to my performance journey, I quickly found my stage “legs”, learned more about singing and never looked back since.
I’m sure that this experience contributed a lot to who I am as a singing teacher today, and why I have a great deal of impact on other performers.
Because I’ve been there, done that.
Years of working out my technique, building my musicianship, performance skills, interpretation, and the list goes on! This is a little different than becoming a voice teacher without the trial by fire of hustling and performing. And this is what we mean by Singing Teacher-Artist.
So why would a singer want to become a teacher-artist? Especially when you’ve spent years learning your craft, musicianship, songwriting or composing, performing, vocal technique….After all, you set out to be an ARTIST.
Or maybe, you’re just starting out on your artists’ journey? You don’t want to get distracted doing something that isn’t “creative”? ( teaching is one of the most creative activities I know!)
Me, too! I remember one of my fantastic coaches telling me “Linda, if there’s one thing you must do, you must teach!” I was completely shocked. Teaching was the furthest thing from my mind when I was 20 years old. I said I never wanted to be a teacher!.
Almost exactly 2 decades after he told me that, I taught my first singers. And I was hooked.
I thought, “Why didn’t I do this sooner? “
I discovered that teaching helped me grow in ways I hadn’t imagined.
- My own technique improved because now I was demonstrating for someone else (responsibility)
- My confidence grew because when I saw results in the singers. (I had “proof” of what I knew and what I could do)
- I was having more fun than practicing on my own. ( who doesn’t need more fun?)
- I got exposure to a great deal of music! ( and learned to sing many styles!)
- I learned to communicate more effectively (every performer needs that)
- I was earning money doing what I loved and having an impact on someone else’s journey (REWARDING)
- My creativity, critical thinking and “intuition” went into HIGH GEAR. ( humans actually need other humans around to be highly creative!)
That’s why I created the Pro Voice Teacher’s Mentorship program. (PVTM)
I know that artists can grow their own skills, intuition, creativity and career by adding quality teaching, coaching or training to their artistic journey because I have done that with my own journey. I have taken that walk and many teachers who are singing teacher-artists have experienced the same things.
As a singing teacher-artist, you can grow in ways you can’t imagine.
- Become more confident.
- Have a daily dopamine boost from the reward of impacting other singers.
- Build your communication skills.
- Exercise your creativity and intuition.
- Have more fun.
- Practice more phrasing, performing and connecting with listeners.
- Network and establish credibility in your career.
Curious?
Check out the program HERE.
Take a refresher lesson or get some intensive training? Click here.
Consider PVTM? Choose a time on my calendar to chat about so I can show you the back end.
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