I have to admit, before I began teaching online...I was nervous! I have taught face to face for over 10 years and my biggest concern was that I wanted my lessons to be JUST AS GOOD as 'in real life' lessons (I'm a perfectionist!!) So, if you're anything like me, and you're nervous about your first online singing lesson...please don't be! It's surprisingly similar to face to face sessions. If you've never had a singing lesson before then also don't be nervous! I have worked with many beginners over the years and I love working with people to bring them out of their shells and help them grow in confidence. I know singing is a scary and vulnerable thing for many people and I bear this in mind at all times so I'll always take it at your pace. I think a lot of people think I will demand that they perform a full rendition of 'Halo' by Beyonce in their first lesson and this is definitely not the case (unless you want to...and in that case, please do!)
So... What to expect.
Firstly, we will have a little chat about your experiences (if you have only sung in the shower- that's fine!), your vocal health (any strange things going on? husky? Do you sometimes lose your voice?), your favourite bands/singers/artists and finally we'll discuss any goals you'd like to work towards. The great thing about private, one to one sessions is everything is tailored to the individual voice so it's important to discuss things in the first session so I can plan around you and your voice.
Next, we will move on to talking about breathing. I won't go too far into complex anatomy but I always like to make sure my students understand the basics of how the breath works since it's so important. We'll try a few breathing exercises; I'll explain and demonstrate them, and then you'll repeat them back to me.
See...nothing too scary so far!
Next we will start with some gentle vocal exercises...The way I do this is I will demonstrate and then you will sing the exercise back to me. I'll be listening out for your pitching, breath control and range to begin with so I can start formulating a plan to help strengthen and develop your voice.
After some more gentle warm ups we'll play around with some more weird sounds which will help to work different aspects of your voice (range/tone/flexibility etc)!! I know it may feel silly to make a sound like a cat or a baby (yes-we will do this!) but I've heard a million funny sounds so they don't even seem strange to me now!
That will probably conclude our first lesson. Sometimes, depending on your experience, I might ask you to sing me a little bit of a song but this isn't always necessary.
It's always crazy how quickly the first lesson goes.
After the lesson is finished, I'll send you an email with notes from our lesson so you can practise. Usually I just begin with breathing exercises and then we will build up your repertoire as we go.
So that's it! Hopefully it didn't sound too scary! I can't emphasise enough how the first lesson is super chilled and really a chance for us to get to know each other, and for me to hear your voice and open up your mind to how it works!
As always, please get in touch with me if you have any questions or would like to book a lesson.
Anna x