Why Are You Taking Voice Lessons?

This is one of the questions that I always ask potential voice students when they come to my studio.

Why are you taking voice lessons?

What do you want to get out of studying voice?

Sometimes this question stumps a student at first, but most will realize that they do have specific goals in mind. (If they can’t figure out an answer, this makes a great take-home assignment.)

Judy Rodman’s All Things Vocal Blog featured a great post earlier this month about “How to Make it in Music Business.” In it, she explained the varying types of “success” for someone who studies voice (or any instrument, for that matter). I found her ideas interesting, and could see how my students fit into the different categories.

With Judy’s permission, I made her list into a printable take-home for students. Click HERE for the PDF format.

Maybe your student wants to feel more confident during choir or musical auditions, or perhaps they want to major in music at a conservatory and need help preparing an Italian aria. Others might want to start singing with a local band, or maybe they just want to avoid offending their dog or neighbors while they’re singing around the house.

Whatever the reason, it’s important for a voice teacher to know their students’ intentions. It probably won’t change how we present the foundations of singing, but it will help us keep goals in mind, and it will encourage both teacher and student to keep track of progress towards those goals.

What other reasons have your students given you?

Why are THEY taking voice lessons?

Discuss in the comment section below.

P.S. If you don’t know the answer to that question, maybe it’s time to have that discussion with your students! It’s not too late to have them fill out a 2014 Student and Teacher Goals worksheet!