So you finally passed the point of realisation and you want to move to the action, on your path of becoming a singer.

Probably this though has been with you for quite some time already, but: “I have too many responsibilities at work, with my family, I’m short on money etc.”.

Additionally, there is this though: “Am I even talented enough?” and “what kind of lessons to choose?”.

If you had a flash of at least one of those doubts, do not panic and DO NOT LEAVE THIS DECISION FOR LATER AGAIN!

I wrote this article to give you an insight on what you need to know about singing lessons and which choice could be suitable for you.

Reasons and goals

Before you sign up to any singing classes, it is worth to think about why you want to come to singing class and what kind of goal stays behind it. Based on your answers you can decide what kind of lessons you want to take and how often you are going to need them.

Do you want to sing on stage in the future? do you want to learn how to use your voice correctly and so singing will be even more of a joy for you? Are you aiming for a karaoke winner? Are you aiming for a local vocal competitions? do you want to prepare yourself for auditions to some tv show programmes?

Probably some of you smiled gently for the last one 😉 well, remember: we’re not talking about how far you are from your goal. Maybe you’re on a totally beginner level and you don’t know if you’re even talented enough to perform on stage EVER,. But if you decide that this is your goal and you put enough work to it- you are going to be a performer!

Kinds of singing lessons and frequency

Let’s get back on Earth and get to the technical perspective.

Here is the basic choice you’re going to have and most of singing schools:

• individual singing lessons
• duo lessons (with another singer)
• group lessons / band lessons/ vocal ensembles
• choir

The length of each session differs at schools. Usually there are choices like: 30 minutes, 40 minutes, 60 minutes per lesson.

If a school gives your the choice, take for consideration the aspects like: travelling to the studio (if you come from far, maybe it’s more encouraging to come for at least 40 minutes sessions).

Depending on a school, you might have a choice of every-week meetings or every-other-week meetings. The price per lesson will probably differ in both cases. More lessons and more often, the cheapest per session will be.

As it’s the beginning of your road, you might want to use the period of your excitement and buy bigger package, with weekly lessons to train your body and brain in certain behaviours while singing. The more practise you put to it, the faster you make progress.

Duo and group lessons

Both kinds of lessons are very similar. This group differs from individual sessions with focus that your teacher would put on your individual singing problems. Obviously, more people in the group, more general lessons will become. But there is a huge advantage in duo/group lessons over the individual ones: diversity. WIth other singers, you are able to learn in harmonies and expose your musicality in front of other students.

Choir

Definitely the cheapest option, but in my opinion not dedicated to beginners.

As a singer in a choir you’re not going to receive any individual attention of a teacher. With a group of 15-30 people, it is not possible and not required in order to create a decent choir.

There are different goals standing behind choir than individual lessons. The choir master’s assignment is to bring all the voice into one, good quality sound, so it sounds as one. The vocal technique in this case is not so important and many times choir singers develop the habit of a breathy sound. Besides technical point of view, singing with a big group of people gives you totally different experience than when you take the responsibility for your voice and keep possibly the highest quality, character and intonation in a song.

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Taking for consideration all presented options, there is one conclusion that comes to my head:

The more of a beginner you are, the more individual attention you’re going to need. Singing in a choir or in a group has many pros that you can benefit from, as social aspect, sometimes travels and it is definitely a very interesting alternative for someone who has already gained vocal basics and a good technique.

So, if you are a beginner, and you are about to choose between a choir, group lessons and individual lessons, you have to make a choice based on what you aim for: development of a strong and healthy voice, building your own repertoire and your individual sound, or social meetings, getting to know new people with some additional musical aspect to it.

What kind of experience do you have with your singing lessons?- share it with us in the comments below!

Do you want to know more about what vocal stage you’re at? send me a message: [email protected]