Pretty much everybody loves music and most people can't go without it. It's a part of our everyday lives and while genres may differ, music is fairly universal.
Most people are pretty content with singing in the shower, doing the occasional karaoke, or singing at parties, but for those that want to take their voice to the next level, working with a vocal coach or private singing tutor is a great decision.
There are plenty of different ways to learn to sing and by hiring a private singing tutor, you can learn in whatever way's best for you.
Here's the Superprof guide on what to consider before looking for a private singing teacher.
Consider Your Voice Type and Vocal Register
One of the first things to think about when you start looking for private singing teachers is your voice type or vocal register. If you don't, it'll likely be what your vocal coach will want to establish in your first session.
Make sure that you carefully consider what kind of private vocal coaching each potential tutor offers before you hire them.
Different private vocal coaches will deal with vocal registers or adapt their lessons to their student's vocal range and timbre. Everybody has two main "voices" when they sing, plus an intermediate stage between the two. These are:
- Chest voice: Your chest voice is your deeper range and your natural speaking voice.
- Passagio: The passagio voice is the intermediate stage between your lower and upper registers and is where most singers struggle to hit notes. Without any training, this is where you'll likely find your voice breaks as you naturally attempt to shift to your head voice, which has a higher range the passagio.
- Head voice: Your head voice is your upper range and most of the notes are produced in your head and vocal apparatus rather than from your chest and lungs like with your chest voice.
Private singing teachers will look to work on all of your voices (including others once you reach a high enough level) as not only can working on these increase your vocal range, but they can also improve the quality of notes that you produce in each of these voices.
Different musical genres use these voices differently, but it's important that you're comfortable in each voice and can accurately produce notes, especially in the passagio voice as this is where most singers will find gaps in their range as their chest voice doesn't go all the way up to the lowest notes that they can produce using their head voice.
In any case, your vocal coach will help you to master each of these voices by:
- Working on advanced breathing techniques
- Helping you to maintain a proper posture
- Showing you appropriate techniques for warming up
- Improving your diction
- Strengthening your diaphragm and learning to control your vibrato
One of the most important aspects of private singing lessons is improving the student's self-confidence because, without self-confidence, singing is pretty much impossible.
Private vocal coaches and singing tutors will also adapt every aspect of each session to the student, their goals, and how they like to learn to make sure they get the most out of every minute they spend together working on their voice.
Private tutors aren't miracle workers, though, and students also have a responsibility to participate fully in each session and also practice between each private singing tutorial.
Finding Vocal Coaches According to Your Budget
More often than not, the cost of private vocal coaches tends to scale with level. The higher the level, the more sessions will cost you. However, there are sometimes tutors that charge a bit more for absolute beginners because they need extra tuition in the very basics of singing and music theory.
Where you live will also affect the cost of private singing tutorials. In places with a higher cost of living, tutors will usually charge more as they have to cover their costs.
The specialism can also affect the rates and more niche musical genres can cost more just because there are fewer private vocal coaches specialising in them.
Don't forget that the price of private vocal coaching can also be used as a gauge of the quality of the service being offered. Tutors that offer very cheap vocal coaching may be either very inexperienced or underqualified. Always check a tutor's experience and qualifications before you hire them and if someone's rates seem too good to be true, they probably are.
If you want to become a professional singer, work in musical theatre, or study in a university or conservatory, you'll likely have to pay a premium for some of the better private vocal tutors out there.
Search for Private Vocal Coaches According to Professional Experience
One-on-one private vocal coaching is arguably the best way to improve your voice. Generally, the more professional experience they have, the better.
Vocal coaches with a lot of professional experience will likely focus on more advanced classes, but some might want to start their tutoring or coaching career with beginners to gain teaching experience.
As we'll see in a moment, professional singing experience isn't the only experience to consider, but it is an important part of their profile.
Professional experience can be useful when it comes to learning about performing as a singer. After all, if they've done it all, they'll understand how to get over stage fright, how to get the most out of a performance (it involves more than just singing), and even the best ways to find work as a singer.
You can make a lot of progress with an experienced singer, but remember that there's another really important kind of experience that you'll need to look for in a private vocal coach.
Look for Vocal Coaches According to Teaching Experience
While experience is generally a good thing, lots of experience singing doesn't always automatically mean that they're good at teaching.
Teaching experience can be just as valuable as singing experience and more often than not, you'll want to look for a good balance between subject knowledge and experience and teaching experience.
Look carefully at every potential private vocal coach's profile and see what experience they have as a singer, as a teacher, as a tutor, and any other kind of relevant experience.
This doesn't mean that you have to completely ignore new vocal coaches with years of singing experience as their approach might be exactly what you're looking for. This is why you should always look to conduct interviews with potential private singing tutors first.
A good rapport can be very useful and if you get on well with your private singing coach, you'll likely learn more from them than you would from a tutor that you don't particularly like.
On our website, for example, you can find out a lot about potential singing tutors from their profiles. You can find out more about their experience, their qualifications, their preferred teaching methods, their reputation, and their rates before you even get in touch with them.
Do Singing Teachers Need Qualifications?
While qualifications can help gauge a potential tutor's skills, they're not technically necessary. This might be worrying for some, but reputation is worth its weight in gold in this industry so find out what other students think of the tutor first.
Tutors can use qualifications as an indication of their skills, but since every tutor should be adapting their sessions to the student, these won't always be necessary.
However, if you're looking for tutors with specific skills, then you'll likely want to look at their qualifications. For example, for those wanting to become opera singers, then you'll likely want to look for professional opera singers, those who've graduated from conservatories or top music schools.
If you're doubtful about whether or not you should hire a private vocal coach, check out these fifteen excellent reasons to take singing lessons!
How to Choose Your Private Vocal Coach on Superprof
It's really easy to find private singing tutors and vocal coaches on Superprof.
Simply search for "singing" and put in your location (or where you'd like the sessions to take place).
Even if there aren't many private singing tutors where you are, don't forget that you can always learn with online private tutors from all over the world.
Make sure you have a list of your goals, teaching preferences, and ambitions to hand. Once you've shortlisted a few tutors, you can start getting in touch with them!
Consider interviewing or at least having a chat with every potential tutor before choosing the one that's right for you. Many tutors offer the first session for free or be open to interviewing or discussing their tutoring with you.
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