John buys a pen.
John doesn't like his new pen.
John asks around and gets opinions on the best pen available.
John buys the most recommended pen.
John doesn't like that pen either, but John will try using his new pen some
longer as our hero, John, does not believe such a well-recommended pen can let
him down.
John gives up.
John buys another pen.
John likes that pen.
John will use that pen whenever John can, because John loves his pen.
Joehn will refill his pen when its line is fading because that pen is the one
John has always wanted to have.
Can anyone tell me why it seems to be so difficult for some people to apply that
simple reasoning to the teacher-student relationship? We don't have to be
experts in Adam Smith, van Mises or Hayek to understand that.
OK, it's completely reasonable to suppose your singing won't progress, or will
even regress for a period before it starts developing. It's also possible that
you have expectations that won't be fullfilled for no other reason that they
CAN'T be ( let's say, you're a contralto and wants to sing "The Queen of the
Night" ). But it's also true that bad teachers won't help your singing, or will
even make it worse without achieving any progress in the end. If the teacher is
recommended by someone you trust or you have found other reasons to trust your
teacher, you may decide to give your teacher a chance, but we also know that
some teachers have good skills for helping a certain kind of students, but are
too limited and can't offer any help to other students. We've discussed that a
lot here ( imagery, fach, etc ). No matter how enthusiastically that teacher's
successful students will recommend him/her, it may mean nothing to your singing.
I've heard of many opera singers whose teachers said they should start swim
classes to expand their rib cages so as to expand their tessitura or the quality
of the chest voices. From all I've read in books and here, that's pure crap.
Singers may be benefited by better breath management after swim classes and
mistakenly attribute their better singing to their expanded rib cages.
Given that, here goes my advice on that topic: get to know everything you can
about singing first ( and being a Vocalist member is a great step ) and, based
on that, talk to your present or future teachers and make up your mind. There's
absolutely no other way you can say your teacher is doing something right or
wrong if you don't understand his/her justifications. And make YOUR choices, as
its YOUR voice, YOUR responsability, YOUR career.
Best wishes,
Caio
> In a message dated 01/12/2002 9:11:29 AM Central Standard Time,
> LeaAnn@k... writes:
>
> << Those of you who have ended your lessons with a teacher what did you say?
> I have been wondering what I will say to my current teacher. Shall I tell
> her why I am quitting lessons with her? Shall I make something up? I feel
> terribly awkward about this. >>
>
> As Little Miss Hates Confrontation (seriously), I have always moved in order
> to break up with someone, voice teachers, friends, husband (again,
> seriously). Do you HAVE to say anything to her? Can you just say you've
> decided to take a break (unspoken text: "from her") and you plan to start up
> lessons again soon (unspoken text: "not with her")? I'm just thinking about
> what someone else said - she may be better connected, at least locally, than
> you know, and you don't want to tick her off. Or you could say that you'd
> like a longer lesson time, and with her busy schedule, you knew she didn't
> have time....
>
> I know, I'm a wimp. I just hate hurting people's feelings, even if I don't
> like them, and more so, I hate having people be angry with me....
>
> Christine Thomas
> Wauwatosa, WI
> <A HREF="http://hometown.aol.com/mezzoid/myhomepage/profile.html">
> http://hometown.aol.com/mezzoid/myhomepage/profile.html</A>
>
> "I love to sing-a, about the moon-a and the June-a and the spring-a"
>
>
>
>
>
>
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