I have noticed a problem which I think has been around a while, but has possibly got worse recently. That is finding ways to get singers to practise at home. I have to say that I think it is easier for instrumentalists to practise at home than it is for singers, but nevertheless, I'm finding that increasing amounts of lesson times are being spent on very basic things like note-learning, marking up scores etc. This means than in a 30 minute lesson, there never seems to be much time left for actual 'teaching.'

I need to find ways of trying to encourage them to get on with some of these basic things at home, otherwise I fear that progress will be increasingly slow. Realistically, I wonder how many of them actually do anything at home?

David

Could this be a case where exams are a useful tool? I'm not sure how long it takes a singer to prepare for a grade exam/recital exam and certainly with the piano I couldn't enter pupils unless everything was fairly well in hand by the entry date (post Grade 1, anyway). But couldn't you have a chat with pupils and state your case that you're going to be using exams as a means of getting them to focus on the requirements at home rather than just progress more slowly in lessons? When an exam date is looming, it does wonders for focus, and therefore progress - and it's not just focus on passing the exam; real learning takes place.

The bulk of my pupils are between 10 and 15....although have other ages. I agree with you. For me it's the same ones....the other day I told a parent that they were ,in effect, wasting their money....because I was going over the same things each lesson....correcting pronounciation and notes and remindind dynnamics. iT WAS WRITTEN IN HIS NOTEBOOK TOO. Next week all the problems had vanished....don't know how long it will last. I would say that perhaps 60% practise regularly...and maybe half of those daily. It is a problem. At times I get really frustrated. I did stop teaching one pupil because of it once because I felt there was no point. At the moment tho...am still trying to crack the theory being done.

For my students it used to be the lack of deadlines throughout the year. Now I have organised my year into chunks - we work for two festivals per year - March and November, two exam special visits, April and October, and two concerts, June and December. Concerts also involve working with others in groups, with harmony, and "backing" other solo singers with, say, a harmony chorus. Festivals also include harmony duets. I have been doing it like this now for the last three years, and I've noticed that the progress and confidence has improved exponentially. The drop out rate has gone down, too, unless for unavoidable circumstances.
Because the concerts give parents/grandparents/spouses/partners etc. a chance to get involved, their support and encouragement of the student throughout the year is also noticeably higher. Of course, all this means a huge amount of organising behind the scenes, but then, that's why we charge what we do .

They are better with deadlines...I do Festivals..a pupil concert and a coulpe of other links...and exams...they usually get it together for these...but it is really frustrating...the one I mentioned has no exam this term or festival and never,never,never does theory. Relies on his talent which is beginning to not be enough...I am working on more than enough exam and fun songs but may not enter him next term.

It is really hard to pracitse at home and even though i sing loads every day, it's not necessarily practising... although i do think of all the things my teacher has told me to do, whenever im singing, so i guess it is But i mean i don't go through each of my grade pieces every day (just the one im in love with which i sing literally like 10 times a day :| !!), and i don't do exercises or anything... i would if i was given specific ones to practise though.
I practise sooo much more when i can find an accompaniment to it to sing along to or something.

Also, it's hard to practise cause i NEVER wanna practise when there's anyone else in my house. I don't want my parents to hear me sing or whatever xD

I teach children between 9 - 13 who also need strong encouragement to practice rather than keep singing the same songs with the same mistakes. We tape their lessons sometimes and put on specific exercises and bits of the song that need work. That helps sometimes but then alot of kids these days do not have tape machines.

Oh dear, I think I lack practice too...

In the morning, I only dare to sing after 8.30 am. After 15 mins of humming exercise while preparing for work, I leave home.

At night, I find it unnatural to practice with my family bustling around. I may close the door, but I have to sing very loudly (no point singing softly, right?), and hence feel like I am killing everyone in the same block.

I don't know why, but I seem to be less embarrassed to play the piano at normal volume till 12 am, than singing aloud after 8 pm (when everyone is back home). I sometimes practise mouthing the words and soft singing under the pillow, just before falling asleep. I have the feeling that it is a crime to sing off-tune, but acceptable to play a wrong note. Yes, I am biased and not confident of my voice at all.

Does every student face the same problem? How do people overcome their shyness to practice out loud, without a care?

Not quite 'killing them softly with your song', then?

I think it's much harder to practise singing effectively at home, especially in a non-musical household. I speak as the non-musical parent of a daughter who has singing lessons as well as assorted instrumental lessons. Of course she often sings without even thinking about it, and she does practise between lessons, but the practice is quite different from her instrumental practice. With the latter it's much easier to spot mistakes and then focus on the bar or two that need special attention. With the singing, her teacher records the piano part for her and usually her practice just consists of singing through her pieces two or three times for me while I grumble that I can't hear the words! Occasionally if she's not sure of the notes she'll get out her tenor recorder and we'll try and suss things out, but frankly I don't think either of us really knows just how she should be practising.

This is a tricky one. I record all my lessons to MP3 for my students to take away on the understanding that they will repeat the technique parts of the lesson at least once a day.

Implementing this recorded structure helped loads and made many more singers practise, but there are still those who don't do any work in between classes!

I don't have many problems getting them to sing and work between lessons. We have student concerts and festivals to work towards as well as the Forum event of course and these help. Once a singer reads reasonably well it gets so much easier.

Recording lessons seems a good idea. We have lots of things to work towards - workshops, performances, concerts, exams etc. so I don't think it's that. Part of me wonders whether it is simply indicative of the area...

Give the recordings a go, then David. I use Audacity on my Mac to record them (with a good microphone) and then I make an MP3 and give it directly to them on a USB key.

You've probably got Audacity already, but if you haven't it's a free download.

Good luck !

Allan

I find threats of violence help greatly - particularly with the smaller weaker ones

This is where books that contain CD accompaniments are really useful, the pupil has something to practise along to.

I've even recorded CDs of technical exercises for them to sing to.

This may be sailing rather close to Karaoke, but I'd rather have practice by Karaoke than no practice.

my singing teacher runs a youth choir, which is made up of all of her students, so we all have a lesson plus the choir rehearsal each week...every single one of us! we do concerts where the choir, groups, duets and soloists perform, and we enter festivals like lichfield and oxford, tours, and competitions (we recently came 6th at the llangollen international eisteddfod in the senior childrens class). our accompanist and teacher always make sure we have the accompaniment to all of our solo stuff plus most choir stuff on CD to practice at home, which makes things much easier. Most of us are working towards exams, and there are two of us (including me) auditioning to music colleges in a few weeks. The system works really well with all of the members (ranging from age 9-22 ish) and we all love it!

hi hi,
you might wish to check out this website: http://www.your-personal-singing-guide.com for more resources on how to train your voice, as well as get some great resources for vocal exercises, pitching exercises and so on.
Cheers!

Thanks for the link Aaron, though I don't necessarily have problems with the teaching, just the getting them to practise.

Belonging to any kind of choir is good, though I think for that to work in a private practice, I would have to have a lot more students to draw on.

yep, but my teacher teaches privately also, and began by having only a very small group who practised as a choir/vocal group, perhaps 5 or so, and eventually it began to grow, and now after more than 11 years it is now a youth choir of 32 members

Music Minus One recordings are good and there are new ones out now called enhanced CDs or something similar that Hal Leonard produce that can be played on a computer and altered to suit. Pitch, tempo and dynamics may be changed. Very handy for practice and study.

I think that's great and I have tried, but the problem is with such a small number, if a few people are away then it's not worth running it. If I had say, 10 regulars, then that would be more realistic, because if one or two are away then you can still run it; but, at present, mine just haven't time to commit to anything else (and I'm not sure I have either).