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From: Cathy Ardrey
To: vocalist
Subject: my teaching in a nutshell
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Here are the goals I have for each of my students:

1)Each student will learn to produce a pleasant vocal tone.

2)Each student will learn to sing correctly in a manner that does
not damage the voice.

3)Each student will increase his or her range.

4)Each student will learn songs which can be sung at church,
school, and/or auditions.

5)Each student will gain confidence in singing in front of others.

How do we achieve these goals? In the initial lesson, we do a range check,
identify the student's speaking pitch, and I identify any breaks (I don't
know the plural of passagio!), and inconsistencies in the voice. I work
mostly from a placement standpoint, trying to achieve that elusive "ping" in
the voice. I also work to establish consistency in the voice from register
to register, or at least smooth transitions. Lesson time is spent with
50-60% percent of the time going to technique (vocalises) and 40-50% of the
time going to literature study.
I am a nurturing, encouraging teacher, and I find that simply instilling
confidence in my students will often lead to better, relaxed singing. In
early lessons, I will have them sing badly on purpose (too breathy, some
hard onsets) so that they will have permission to sound bad in my studio.
>From there, they are not so afraid to try new things--if they sound bad
initially, who cares? So much of this teaching thing is psychological in
addition to physiological--I wish I had some training in psychology as well
as vocal pedagogy. I've taught instrumental music, and it's a lot
easier---if a student has a bad instrument, he or she can just go buy a new
one, and there's no personal offense taken. With the voice, so much of
yourself and your identiy is wrapped up in singing, so you have to be gentle
at times--remarks can be taken so personally.

Cathy,
who feels like she's not been
able to express what she means
very clearly.