Insight on Voice Lessons & Music Education by Emily Nicholas

Recently Emily Nicholas, Emily Danger singer and dear friend, shared some rather heartbreaking memories about her vocal training. It seems these stories are more commonplace than not but fortunately, as Ms. Nicholas is also an accomplished voice teacher herself, offers advice on what to do to be an effective and productive teacher. She also offers insight that will benefit students and parents and allow them to make an informed decision in finding a voice teacher who will bring out the very best in their own talent or their child’s.

How to Forget How To Sing: The beginnings of a memoir By Emily Nicholas

The last time I was at Juilliard, I created quite the scene. I had quickly run down the never ending, idiotic wooden staircase in the lobby (which I’m sure has cost countless deserving students scholarships), tripped, fell, and revealed my tear stained face to roughly 20 onlookers. Stifled laughter ensued, of course, and I dejectedly left the famed institution for what I hope to be, the final time. Tears flowed more freely once I was outside, facing Lincoln Center, the epicenter of all of my dreams for the past six years. As I found myself in between both Juilliard and the Met Opera House, her words reverberated through my brain, “I think you just were not cut out to be an opera singer. You don’t have what it takes.”

These words came from the very individual I had chosen as my mentor for the past four years. Everything that came out of her mouth was truth, gold, light, and she held the key to my success. And now, I had been kicked out of her studio…because I had laryngitis and I had graduated and not booked a young artist program or operatic job. I had, however, started writing music and had just booked my first solo show at The Duplex. I had brought her a ticket and excitedly told her how my love of Kurt Weill and Debussy had influenced my writing and how I believed I had found a way to do both: sing classically and belt healthfully. I will never forget the blows that were to follow. My accompanist was immediately dismissed from my $115, hour long lesson and I was told, in no particular order, the following facts.
I did not have the vocal agility or ability to do both styles of singing.
I cannot have a career in both classical music and pop music
I clearly had nodes from misusing my voice and ignoring my teacher’s instruction
I had not worked hard enough, or at all, throughout the entire time I was at my Master’s program and THIS is why I did not get a role or job after school.
My voice is not cut out for opera.
I have wasted my time, money and (little) effort trying to be something that I am clearly not meant to be.
I am not desirable as a vocal student and am a “waste of time” in the studio.
There were no apologies. No solutions. No discussion of what steps could be taken to rectify the situation and certainly no blame on anyone except myself. And then, after six years under her tutelage, I was dismissed for good. I was not dismissed before being charged half of my lesson. I shakily wrote my final check for my final classical voice lesson, still offered a hug goodbye, and walked out the door.

My story is not at all unique, sadly. ALL of my friends I still remain in contact with after conservatory can not only relate, they can recite verbatim a similar situation with their own voice teacher. If you do not sing, or have not taken voice, let me explain how very devastating the severance of a teacher/student relationship is. To sing, in its very basic sense, is to reveal a part of your heart and soul. Nobody has YOUR voice, it is uniquely crafted and made. To decide to sing in the first place takes courage, to make it your life makes you insane. Therefore, to counter the emotional weight of criticism and critique coupled with the physical demands of the act of singing well, you need guidance. Vocal teachers (should) go above and beyond the calling of teachers in other disciplines because singing is such a personal act. I constantly have students cry through vocal lessons because life is interfering with their ability to sing. As a result, I know A LOT about my student’s personal lives, I am both singing coach and therapist, a listening ear and a sounding board. If you cannot separate your emotions with your singing (as I cannot), this is what your relationship becomes with your voice teacher. Maybe this was my downfall in conservatory, but I’d rather bleed on the floor than be an unfeeling performer. Now add this relationship to many years of your life and it grows and becomes dear and needed. This is why many singers open themselves up for emotional abuse and manipulation from their teachers, but keep returning week after week (not to mention true cases of physical abuse which has been recorded in conservatories from certain teachers); they are dependent on the acceptance of their teacher.

Now, here’s the fun part. Add to a private voice teacher 20 other coaches, teachers, language coaches, conductors, and directors and you’ve got yourself years of fodder for therapy. The idea behind conservatory training is excellent: create an environment where talent can concentrate on one area of study, help make them exceptional, send them out into their field to thrive. What ACTUALLY happens is this: everyone has their own opinion that is not to be deviated from and they often differ from all your other teachers’.

“Who told you to sing like that? Oh….*sly smile*”
“Who do they study with? I can tell….*sly smile*”

Teachers backstabbing other teachers is as frequent as it is with the students, and quite often, you are in the room being judged by….all of them. I once overheard a conversation between judges of a very important, well known, opera competition. Here’s how it went:

Judge A: “Well, so and so is very good.”
Judge B: “Yes, but we need to have 2 coloratura, 1 mezzo, and 1 lyric. She doesn’t fit.”
Judge A: “Oh yes. Well, she doesn’t sound like so and so anyway, and we need to replace her.”
Judge B: “She’s out then.”
Judge A: “Great.”

Poor girl didn’t fit the mold. Neither did I. I was told I looked like a cocktail waitress and sang like a night club act, which would be totally fine with me if some solution or actual constructive criticism were to follow. But…it never did. So many teachers judge competitions on the side now, that I began to wonder if I was really being TAUGHT or simply JUDGED and pushed aside each time I opened my mouth to breathe. I wasn’t doing what teachers wanted me to do, BUT NOBODY OFFERED ANY ADVICE ON WHAT IT WAS THAT THEY WANTED!
Here are some catch phrases I often heard that were never accurately communicated to me in a way that would be beneficial.
“Support”
“Breathe”
“Project more”
“Emote through your voice”
“Support”
“Breathe for the note”
“Support”

If a student is failing, or not growing in the way you want them to, but they are practicing and working each day…it is your fault they are not growing. You are not communicating well. And it is a teacher’s job to try different tactics, think outside the box, and work through the valleys to help the student climb the mountain.

For six years, I couldn’t hit a high B or above without a clicking sound in my throat. After a year off of voice lessons, I visited Don Lawrence (Lady Gaga, Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler, Christina Aguliera, to name a few) for a half hour lesson. In 15 minutes, he fixed it. I can now hit Mariah Carey notes with ease and can sustain an operatic high D better than I ever could in conservatory. And then I sing like Janis Joplin within seconds. All of this came down to communication and understanding not only the human voice, but the human itself.

What is the solution? I’ve spent years identifying and bemoaning the problems of vocal training. Only this year, while teaching full time, have I come to understand the solutions. These apply not just to classical training, but to musical theater and pop as well, and obviously, are not a comprehensive list but something to be shared and added on to.

Teach accurately and sensitively
I’m glad I went through difficult years as a vocal student, it ensures I will not inflict harm (physical in regard to the voice and emotional in regard to the spirit) on one of my own students. I have not stopped reading articles and books about the science of the human voice and I minored in vocal pedagogy in undergrad. Teachers can’t stop learning. If they do, they are doomed to think their way is the only way for everyone

Encourage students to never emulate current idols
Every “trial lesson” I have with a student aged 17 or younger starts the same way:

Me: “Who do you listen to?”
Student: “Adele.”
Me: “Please sing something for me.”
Student: Immediately breaks into a song mimicking Adele’s vibrato and voice
Me: “Stop please. Will you sing ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’?”
Student: Immediately reveals a unique voice that has potential (or…sometimes not) to grow into something the world has not heard yet.

When students begin with me they are instructed to do this: stop singing along to recorded music for a month. After a month of lessons with me, singing most likely a song they are unfamiliar with, their true voice begins to blossom. What’s incredible is when they begin to like it more than the voice they started emulating.

Teach the parents as well as the kids
Here’s another familiar conversation I have frequently:

Parent: “My child is quite gifted. They sing opera.”
Me: “Really? Which one?”
Parent: “Phantom of the Opera”
Me: “That is not an opera.”

Stage parents are a frequent downfall of the young student. They can often be the encouragers of emulation (thank you, American Idol) and cause the student either gross egotism or complete stage fright. The parent also needs to respect you and know what you are teaching their child so it can be encouraged at home for practice. If nothing else, the parent needs to know correct musical terms and habits so they can not look totally foolish when they bring the child to auditions.

Be honest with your failures
Imagine my shock when I found out my teacher, who admonished me for singing pop, had a career in….pop music. Maybe there is a story there I should have heard, a background as to why she honestly believed you could not do both. Recently, several of my students did not get into the top performing arts high schools they so desired. I was disappointed, not because they didn’t get in, but because I know the hurt that accompanies such rejection, and I don’t wish that on my “babies”. When you sit and cry with your students, you reach them on their own level, and they learn that all failures are necessary along a great life path.

Show students the unique voices of the world
Tom Waits. Bob Dylan. Janis Joplin. Judy Garland. Mandy Patinkin. Patti LuPone. Regina Spektor. Stevie Nicks. Maria Callas. Joanna Newsom. You hear these people sing and you know exactly who is singing. Tom Waits would be on a rejection episode of “American Idol” had he come up in this decade. You’d be shocked how many students I have who have not heard one Elvis song. I take it upon myself to write lists of important, influential singers and hand it to my students after each lesson. If they don’t hear individuality, how will they know to attempt it?

Encourage karaoke frequently
Anyone who knows me knows I credit my renewed joy of singing to Planet Rose Karaoke (Ave. A and 14th St, best happy hour in town). When I was in conservatory, after particularly hard days, I would teach myself to sing pop and musical theater at the Rose. In addition to good practice, I began to get my confidence back. Nobody critiques karaoke, and if you do, please stop immediately. You can witness, also, what joy singing brings to people at karaoke no matter how they sound. It also helps conquer stage fright and gets you used to the sound of your own voice amplified on a microphone. The benefits are endless, really. *Note: I do not encourage excessive drinking and screaming into a microphone as this could be counter productive to vocal development*

Vocalize, vocalize, vocalize
When I began taking voice with Don, we did not sing one song in our lessons. We only vocalized. People have set ideas in their brains regarding how songs should sound. If the student is doing exercises, they are only concentrating on doing them correctly and taking your advice if they’re not. The difference from a lesson when a student “warms up” and then sings a song to coming in cold and singing a song is like night and day. Exercises also get students “out of their head” and more focused on posture, breathing, intonation, and all that other singer shit.

Don’t give up on anyone
Your students are paying you to help them, not so you can sit there and drink coffee and mentally check off your “to do” list. I can count a handful of lessons where I thought to myself it was actually more beneficial for the student to stop lessons than it would be to continue. The student wants to sing! And they want to get better at it! So freaking teach them! I don’t care if someone is totally tone deaf, you can teach pitch. Let me re-iterate that. You can teach pitch. You know what it takes? Patience. Understanding. Patience. I truly believe the worst thing you can tell someone is that they cannot sing. Don’t take that away from someone. I helped teach a kid who was absolutely tone deaf when he first came in. He just got into Laguardia High School (the Fame high school). I have yet to meet a teenage boy who loves to sing as much as he does. You are being entrusted with someone’s voice. Don’t screw it up.