How to find a Voice Teacher who never stops learning!

How to find a Voice Teacher who never stops learning! 

What have you done for me lately?  How your voice teacher’s education works for YOU

That’s Janet…Miss Jackson if you're nasty. (Why yes, I am listening to the ICONIC Control album while writing this.) Janet knew what she wanted for her musical life and how to get it, and now you too will know what to look for in a vocal coach and how to find it.

In this week's post, we’ll focus on why finding a vocal coach who is working on their own learning is a vocal coach who is working for YOU. 

Ever had a teacher tell you to sing from your diaphragm??  Fun fact! I had the DEPARTMENT chair from a MAJOR OPERA CONSERVATORY tell me to “attach to the diaphragm” while singing. 

In 2014.

There is NO anatomical action that can be defined as “attach to the diaphragm.” Their prompt was not grounded in what we in the voice teacher world call “science based singing” or “evidence based singing.”.  This isn’t new information yet singing teachers for actual literal centuries have been spouting myths like “sing from the diaphragm,” “release your stomach muscles,” or my personal favorite “open throat technique” ( **Snickers in bel canto**). 

So how can voice teachers set the record straight?

Medical professionals, therapists, and teachers all have to take continuing education to retain their credentials. Yet without a governing body of voice teachers, a vocal coach could graduate in 1990 and still teach voice without ever updating their knowledge. That’s where professional development comes in.

I graduated with my masters in Vocal Performance in 2011. In 2011, I was taught that belting was “dangerous” and no upstanding “smart” or “career minded” singer such as myself would EVER consider it. (Fun fact - you can belt healthily and cross-training between classical and contemporary singing is considered the gold standard to complete vocal training.) 

If I never attended the New CCM training institute in 2023 and learned about cross-training, my students would be paying for 2011 Ashley’s knowledge in 2026. Which is just NASTY! 

A teacher who takes agency in their learning is a teacher who is working for YOU. Why? Because when you walk into your lesson, you know you’re getting the most up to date, knowledge-based vocal information and practice. My studio shelves are dripping in vocal pedagogy books and my piano is covered in articles from The Journal of Singing. Not *just* because I’m a total vocal geek, but because I want to be the best singing teacher I can be. I want to be informed. I want to keep up to date not only on the science of singing but also the most innovative teaching methods. I’m a sucker for vocal exercises, pedagogy podcasts, and OH MY GAWD I just love me a good webinar.  (Seriously, I have to talk myself out of signing up for a new webinar at least once a week. There are JUST so many good ones.)

And I’m also relentless for RESULTS. For myself. For my students. For my colleagues. FOR THE ART ITSELF. I passionately love singing and I want our artform and each student I work with to reach their own personal pinnacle of accomplishment. That takes dedication to the craft itself, how it's evolving, and what we’re learning. 

That takes change. Change to update our knowledge. Our styles. Our teaching. Because we know the one thing - Ms. Jackson cannot stand is a nasty boy who don’t ever change.