how much are lessons?
Please see the Prices section
What is my first lesson like?
See the ‘What Happens In A Singing Lesson’ section above
Do you work with beginners?
Yes, very definitely. Even people who think they are tone-deaf. In fact, ther term ‘tone-deaf’ is a complete misnomer. It’s almost certainly not your ears that are the problem, it’s your voice. Your vocal muscles just need coordinating properly! That’s where we can help.
HOW MUCH DO I NEED TO PRACTISE?
How good do you want to be, or how quickly do you want to get there? There may be someone else ahead of you practising more than you!
Like learning anything - languages, sports, dancing, etc - you will improve more by immersing yourself in your new habits as much as possible, and as soon as possible. Then you will be able to decrease their regularity but still remember the new habit. Crash courses are great, but are useless if you don't practise. Practise is the most important aspect in learning anything...aside from a good teacher! :-)
how many lesson will i need?
The million dollar question. How long is a piece of string? (Google that if you’re not familiar with UK phrases!)
The answer varies a lot.
6 lessons would give you a good introduction to your voice, help you identify your current habits, give you some exercises to start to fix them, and what to look for with your own practise.
The more lessons you have, the better your technique becomes and the more ingrained your new technique becomes, so you don’t forget your imopressive new voice. This is the same as learning any other skill - sports, languages, dancing, etc.
Factors affecting Number of Lessons:
Your starting point - beginner, intermediate or professional; any lessons before?
Your envisioned ‘end goal’. What is ‘good enough’ - Beyonce / Michael Jackson, or punk singer?
How OFTEN you practise - quantity
How WELL you practise - quality
What else you done have before - good and bad. Are you a musician, bilingual, a focused sports-person? Are you eager to learn?
What else you do to improve your voice - e.g. healthy lifestyle, good sleep/hydration, further reading? What do you do to negatively affect your voice - bad sleep, shouting, dehydration, smoking, etc.
Some students practice every day and come back each week with questions, comments and observations from other things that they’ve learnt. Other students don’t have the time or space to practise, or they just forget or de-prioritise it.
It’s also VERY IMPORTANT too add: no one needs to be a perfect singer (not that perfection exists anyway)! You only need have a sustainable voice that is good enough for your genre. Plus, different genres have different thresholds of perfection. Opera = nearly perfect. Punk = very imperfect. Most contemporary popular music is somewhere in between.
Do you teach style too?
Yes, of course - it's one of the most important and best bits of singing - the emotion, the dynamics (loud/soft, happy/sad). However, it's usually better to work on style after the general technique has been improved, then you can stylise more or more easily. Importantly, we aren't suggesting anyone should 'over-train' their voice though, otherwise they might sound really boring and lose all style or individuality!
Do you work with rappers?
Yes, we can. The half-sung/half-rapped (‘Drake-style’) is more obviously workable - but we can also help with ‘regular’ rapping on things like your projection, pitching options and on maintaining an easy, healthy voice.
Should i bring sheet music?
Not essential. You can do if you have some. Check with your teacher, particularly if it's complicated to play. You can definitely bring lyrics or a chord chart, especially if your song is unusual or hard to find. Otherwise, we can print off lyrics or chords or music, as necessary.
We also have Spotify, either for reference or if you would prefer to use a backing track.
DO I need to read music?
No. The scales we use for the vocal exercises are simple and can be learnt by ear.
The same is true for singing your song, which can also be learnt by ear and with lyrics. (You can use sheet music if you wish, of course.) Most students sing along with the original artist to start with, then progress to your teacher playing the piano or guitar, whilst the student sings along. This is where we apply the technique learnt from the exercises into the song.
Can I bring my own backing-track?
Yes, especially if it is an original track.
CAN I RECORD MY LESSON?
Absolutely, yes - we recommend that you do. Most smart phones have a record or voice-memo function, or you can buy a portable digital recorder quite cheaply. The quality on smartphones is usually good enough to act as a reminder and for you to hear the progression in your voice.
What technique do we teach?
All of our teachers were trained in Speech Level Singing (SLS), one of the most highly-regarded vocal techniques in the world, used by singers such as Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, Prince, Liza Minelli and over 135 Grammy Award winners.
SHOULD I PREPARE A SONG?
You can do but it's not essential. Certainly don't try and perfect your song, as that's what we can especially help you with. You can also use lyrics as a guide.
Do we offer discounts?
Yes, a 10% discount is available for 6 lesson paid for in advance. Lesson times and dates can vary and don't necessarily need to be booked in advance, only paid for.
Do you offer group lessons?
Not at the moment, sorry.
WHat about the guy online talking about SLS?
Maybe he doesn’t think Stevie Wonder or Michael Jackson or Barbra Streisand or Prince or Chester Bennington are very good singers! Here’s a list of SLS singers. Or maybe he’s confused Speech Level Singing with speech therapy. Or maybe just saw a rubbish SLS teacher or someone claiming to teach SLS. He seems confused about it anyway.
SLS is a singing technique that was precisely designed (by singers) to help singers sing more easily and more strongly, without any strain or cracking. That's why so many top singers still study and use it, and why so many modern vocal techniques are based on it.
Admittedly it has a somewhat misleading name, but it is only meant to suggest that singing is much closer to speech than it is to shouting or falsetto. The larynx should stay more or less neutral and stable - not tight, not raised all the way up, and not all the way down.
Singing and speaking use exactly the same parts of the body, in very similar ways. A large part of what SLS does is to help singers stop shouting whilst they sing. Once they've done this, they can increase the volume, support, intensity, rasp, etc, but not before or too soon, otherwise they go back to shouting!
1. We definitely do teach support.
2. We do teach the bright tone necesary for singing and projecting. 'Bratty NAY', for example.
3. We teach better bridging not 'early bridging'. This may be earlier than if someone is bridging late, which is often the cause of vocal strain. We do not teach vocal strain. We helps singers find and improve the 'middle voice' by coordinating the vocal muscles better. Once you've reduced the strain sufficiently you can increase the strength, otherwise you will increase the strain.
4. SLS does teach the 'bright ping'. (See also #2 above.) This 'ping' and clear resonance is a key constituent of good singing. However, we do often use some temporary 'dopey' or 'dumb' sounds to help singers relax the vocal strain caused by a tight larynx. Maybe this guy heard only part of a lesson...or a singer mid-lesson...or just a bad singer? Any exaggerated sounds are only used temporarily, just to help singers feel themselves using the correct vocal muscles and breath support.
5. We do not use loads of confusing exercises. We use real words as our exercises - e.g. MUM, NAY, WEE - as they all have slightly different properties that help coordinate the voice in different ways.
We commonly use about 10-15 exercises/words, often less in each lesson. (Most adults know 20,000-30,000 words!) Sometimes we exaggerate these sounds - for example: singing ‘bratty’ like a witch, to thin the voice out; or dopey like a yawn, to help lower the larynx. We try to keep lessons simple and use a small amount of exercises per student.
The likelihood is that this guy and us are all heading towards the same thing - less strain, no cracks, more control, better range, more ease, more power - but his experience of SLS might have been limited.
“Technique facilitates style.”