Studio contract: how to work with a voice teacher.

Becoming a singer is not solely about the voice, repertoire, languages and musical basics. There must also be a strong will to be onstage, to act and, most of all, to communicate. This is difficult, because it takes considerable self-assurance and self-esteem to deal with the business of singing. Some teachers seem to like breaking this will for whatever reason, whether it be jealousy or disappointment with the way their own careers panned our. Perhaps they have to teach in order to make a living and therefore feel they failed by not having a significant career.

Many voice teachers suffer great angst in the process of selecting students to enter their studio. There are endless questions: "Will this student be a good listener? Will he take my advice? Will she get along with her peers? Call I help this person's technique and prepare him for a career in music? Can I help this student attain the highest lyrical quality and beauty, enabling her to achieve an independent career?"

There are many things a student needs to guard against. At the Peabody Conservatory, where I teach, I have had several students who made pronouncements in the first few weeks of their lessons: "I don't sing French!"; "I already have my technique in place and don't want to mess it up!"; "Exercises never did anything for me!"; "I only want to learn opera repertoire, because my voice doesn't do songs very well." In reply, I simply smile and say, "We'll see."

Inevitably, there will be students who simply cannot abide any form of criticism. I always ask them to read the article "To Admire or to Teach?", written by Richard Miller of Oberlin Conservatory and published in On the Art of Singing (1996). Students who cannot accept their part of the responsibility within the studio often find a long and arduous road in trying to gain a career. On many occasions during my performing career, I was asked to fill in for someone who a) hadn't learned the music, b) had not done the homework with the piece or c) displayed a diva attitude with the conductor, the director or another singer, virtually sabotaging the rehearsals--and ultimately the performance.

Determining the student's true Fach helps set the student at ease--vocally, mentally and physically--but the process often takes time. Some students are so clear as to what they feel deep down that they will do best if given roles they can "honestly" portray, by completely understanding the character and the character's situation. If they are knowledgeable, I often ask them what they had always hoped to sing, and many of them are right on target for their proper Fach.

In the best of circumstances, the student and teacher agree that repertoire must fit the student's age and voice type at that moment. Often, schools with flourishing opera departments will cast students in roles that would not be practical in the real world. Wise students and teachers continually remind themselves of this fact. To quote Susan Webb, a former assistant conductor and prompter at the Met, "There are no twenty-four-year-old opera singers!" We have seen twenty-three-year-olds, finishing their master's degrees at Peabody, who wonder how they can get their career started at such a young age. This is the hardest phase of all, when one has to tell them to wait, lest the instrument wear out before its time. During this period they could seek employment in music-related fields while continuing private study, listening, refining their art and perhaps ...