Beyond learning how to read music, what a singing teacher primarily imparts is technique. While an English professor teaches you about what you have read – and how to interpret it– singing teachers teach you how to use what you have learned. The same could be said of other teachers of the fine arts: creative writing, painting, sculpting and so forth.



Accordingly, your ability to interact comfortably with your singing teacher is critical. It is not unreasonable when interviewing singing teachers to request a “consultation lesson,” so that each of you may become acquainted with the other. It's important that a successful selection of a singing teacher is going to lead to a long term relationship and that personal interaction is at the core of the educational process.

You'll want to explore your teacher's background a bit; in fact, by the time you interview a potential teacher you will probably have learned much of this over the phone or through a biographical sketch that many professional music teachers develop for this purpose. If you think that your candidate has sufficient appropriate professional background to match your interests, then you need to move into questions about the areas that are important to you.

Ask about the curriculum and discuss expectations.

General musicianship: you probably have been singing all your life, and may feel that it's time to learn how songs and other musical structures are put together.

Reading and sight reading music: presumably you will have some acquaintance with reading music. Sight reading is a skill that can be important to performing musicians and may be something you want to work on. This is something that many musicians practice every week.

Singing in ensembles: ask your teacher if this is something that he or she encourages, discourages, insists on, or leaves to you. It's great exercise for the voice and for reading skills but your comfort level with it is important.

Music theory: this is part of any collegiate music major, and probably ought to be a part of your experience with your singing teacher.

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Commitment: be candid about your aspirations and the time you have to devote to practice. It's important that your goals and ability to study are acceptable to your singing teacher and that his or her expectations aren't beyond your reach. If every week someone is disappointed over the lesson, the relationship won't last long.