Singing For Dummies
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When choosing a voice teacher, be sure to ask candidates where they studied or received their singing education. You want a voice teacher who’s had years of performance experience or years of lessons or training in a degree program that focuses on the voice.

The teacher doesn’t have to have a degree from an Ivy League school to be a good teacher. She just needs to know a great deal about singing and know how to pass on the knowledge of singing to her students.

If you’re interested in singing classical music or choral music in other languages, find out during your conversation whether this teacher has knowledge of foreign languages. You can discover this answer by asking what kind of songs the students sing.

Choir directors and piano teachers commonly also teach voice. As long as this person knows quite a bit about how the voice works and how to help when something goes wrong, it’s worth a try. If you do take lessons from the choir director, find out how much of her training was about individual singing.

Many degree programs allow choral directors to graduate without any knowledge of how the voice actually works. They spend many hours coaching choirs to make lovely sounds, but how to make those sounds is important for voice lessons.

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Pamelia S. Phillips is a professional singer with over 35 years of teaching experience. She has designed curriculum for high school students, college BFA programs, and professional training programs, helping thousands of singers refine their singing technique.

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