What I learned as a teacher preparing my students for the CS Music competition

I’ll be honest, I started teaching voice the way a lot of people start teaching voice: I found myself with a MM and at a year-long YAP, I didn’t have a ton of time or work experience except singing and knew that I could make a little extra cash teaching voice. Through the years, I’ve really learned to love it and continue to learn and grow as a teacher. Even with years of experience, I was not prepared for the splash of cold water to the face that was getting this current crop of students competition ready! 

I’ve been teaching voice for almost as long as I’ve been singing, out of my home studio, where my students are motivated by their own external goals (I have an upcoming performance, I want to get into this choir, etc.) This was my first experience assigning the external motivation of a competition to my students. 

I’m currently a voice teacher at Center Grove High School, a position which I love, which is nationally known for their award winning Show Choir. The students are motivated by the absolutely incredible, award winning Choral Music Department headed by two amazing directors, Jennifer Dice and Jared Norman. As part of their program, they regularly prepare for auditions with short cuts of their music, either solo or ensemble. 

I cannot emphasize enough how seriously these kids take their auditions and performances for their ensembles, however, for this competition they needed to prepare an entire solo song and perform it “off book.” 

I often tell my students that I think of myself as a plumber or car mechanic, but for the voice. I love identifying an issue and going through my years of experience to think of what will help this singer grow the most in this moment.

One of the things I think is so special about this age group is just how malleable they are most of these young voices are at the chrysalis of their development, and if I can help something click into place to help that singer make the most of their gifts, I find it incredibly rewarding. It feels like watching a butterfly spread their wings for the first time, magical. This approach has served me well for a long time. Especially when you’re working in only 30 minute chunks, I’ve always preferred to focus on long term growth over pounding out repertoire. I thought, surely at a school so focused on performance, the singing of a solo song for a video prescreening won’t be a challenge. 

Boy was I wrong! Remember, these kids regularly put on high quality choir shows, memorized and with choreography. Each have had their song since August (it’s May) and out of 15 students only three were confident enough to perform their song off book for a prescreening recording. Three?!?

Now I know my sample size is really small but I expected more from these kids and myself. A wise teacher once told me “take neither credit nor blame,” but I feel responsible, they are just kids after all… and my error was assuming a greater aptitude for memorization then they have at this time. 

I wonder if part of the challenge was that these students have an inflated sense of security because they’ve had such success in the group. I think for a lot of these kids it was their first time singing a full song alone, experiencing making a mistake, and not having someone singing next to them to save the day. It gave me a deeper sense for just how special memorized solo singing is and something that I will have to make sure they have a chance to practice more regularly in the future. 

I learned that even after 20 years of teaching, I still have more to learn, especially in a world where so much can be assisted by technology and it should be! My students are of a completely different generation and life experience than me. They grew up with the internet helping them along the way but there is no computer that can help you stand on stage and deliver a song. It’s a transferable life skill that can only be taught through experience. I’m glad I can still learn something about singing and teaching and hope to continue to do so to help my students spread their wings to be the fully developed people they will become.