How I Teach

Lessons are normally arranged with me personally and, depending on availability, regular students can expect to be timetabled up to twelve months in advance. Duration of lessons is flexible, notwithstanding other teaching commitments, but would not normally be less than 60 minutes or more than 90 minutes.

Every lesson is different, obviously, and is tailored to the individual's needs at the time. However the general format would be to spend about one half of the session on a thorough technical warm up of the voice. This typically consists of a series of exercises to help support the voice with the application of good breath control and placing. I also work on expanding the range and projecting the voice safely, particularly with the use of belt register where appropriate. The ultimate goal is to create and sustain a 'seamless passagio'. It is vital that every singer understands the different laryngeal positions required in transition of registers. The remainder of the time is devoted to working through a student's repertoire which may be dependent on upcoming audition demands. If the material is new, the song is recorded onto whatever device the student chooses to use (e.g. audio cassette, minidisk, floppy disk, MP3 player etc) to allow him or her to prepare for the next session. If the student is already familiar with the piece we will work through the song in detail with attention given to technical complexities, followed by a thorough exposition of interpretation and characterisation with particular emphasis on nuance, inflection, and cadence - in other words, how to put the song over. Finally, we discuss the learning outcomes, focusing on the rehearsal process of the student between lessons.