What do I need for my lesson?
Whether a seasoned regular or coming for your very first lesson, here are a few things you might want to bring or think about to attend your lesson, and to get the most out of the experience.
Music
What have you been studying/learning? Bring that, and bring a second copy to share with your teacher/pianist.
Any music you are performing with your choir, church solos, stage shows. Even if you don’t plan to sing it, it may become relevant for technical or performance reasons.
A pencil
Whether working digitally or with paper music, bring a pencil to make notes and mark your music.
A notebook, or recorder to record the lesson if agreed with your teacher
Either are fine with me, but it makes sense to be able to write down broader technical and performance ideas for your practise later.
An open mind
This is your time to work on your goals - so to help you do this fully come ready to play, work, experiment, and learn. Put aside the everyday distractions for now and enjoy this time to concentrate on your voice and performance.
“You do get better at even the things you’re terrible at, if you practice.”
Before the lesson
What you wear
Think about wearing something you are comfortable in, that allows you to move and work physically. We will be doing stretches, and sometimes use weights/pilates bands and other equipment as part of our work together.
Food and drink
Make sure you have eaten and drunk enough before the lesson to feel comfortable standing and working physically. If you wish to drink water during the lesson, lay it out to bring with you. By personal preference, I prefer not to drink while singing, but I don’t mind if you do.
Warm-up
You may wish to have a short vocalise or warm-up before you arrive, check in with your voice and see how it feels today, if you are experiencing anything different you can bring this up at the start of the lesson. This might also include feeling if you have any tension.
Lastly, a little reassurance. I am human, I have made many mistakes, I have sometimes found practise hard to fit into life or had other things going on that make work/life tricky. Please feel free to let me know of anything that might affect our session together that you think I should know about. I fit around you and your needs.
I do not expect that every pupil arrives a perfect and finished product - that simply isn’t real life! Sometimes the best lessons are the ones that happen responding to the voice and singer as they turn up that day. So please don’t worry that you feel you should have done x, y, or z. Hopefully all teachers feel this way and should be understanding!