<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I am interested in a school, and I will be in the area. So, I was wondering if it would make sense for me to meet with one of their teachers, talk about the school, have them listen to my voice and tell me what I should work on before the audition. Can I do this? Should I contact the school or the individual teacher?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>If there is a particular teacher to whom you have been referred, you can certainly contact him/her, saying so and so gave you the name, you would like to meet, etc. However, do not go cold into meeting just whichever teacher is around. You might happen upon a teacher who is a survivor and not much of a teacher. YOu can call the music admissions folks, ask if someone is around, meet the choral or opera person (depending on the size of the school), the chair of voice area, etc. Once you make contact with a particular teacher, things can get more complicated, unless you make it VERY clear you had heard good things about the school, and you would like to ask questions about the program. Have your questions planned, do your homework, look at the web site, read the catalogue, etc. Do not expect them to give you a lecture/sales pitch on what kind of school it is, but rather you need to explore how they would meet your needs based on what you understand about them already. Once you solicit their vocal judgement, you are auditioning them as teachers, and you should tread carefully, and NOT make any commitments precipitously. Good luck.</p>
<p>what do you mean by this: " You might happen upon a teacher who is a survivor and not much of a teacher."</p>
<p>and this: "Once you solicit their vocal judgement, you are auditioning them as teachers, and you should tread carefully, and NOT make any commitments precipitously."</p>
<p>Elaborate please. So, I should just call them up and let them know I am visiting, and would like to audit a teacher?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Not every teacher is a good voice teacher, and furthermore some teachers are going to teach a method quite inappropriate for you and your background and goals. ("Survivor" is a code word for someone who got tenure at a time when standards were different and/or the teacher had a higher level of energy and enthusiasm.) At some schools teachers are quite possessive of their students and somewhat adversarial with each other, and students do get caught in the middle. Music students are graded by juries, i.e. performances in front of all the applied faculty, at the end of the term, usually in some balance with the studio grade. If a student switches teachers, there can be great awkwardness in subsequent juries. At some schools if a student leaves the studio, the teacher will never be allowed to grade the student. However, suppose you go to a school where the opera director also teaches voice.....now then, who do you suppose the director is going to want to cast in the roles, and if a student leaves that studio, will he or she get roles again....in a perfect, professional world, none of this matters, but of course it does. If you approach a teacher for a trial lesson and then you request a different teacher, there may be a reaction, a feeling of rejection, and hard feelings. So, just be careful, make no commitments, be analytical, kind, gracious, etc., talk about the variables in your decision making, whether you want to study with a male or a female, who your present teacher will want to recommend, etc., keep it objective. </p>
<p>Of course, you can call and ask if there will be any voice teachers around. If you are sent to someone by an administrator, for a conversation, it should be fine, as long as you are mainly trying to find out about the school. If you chose to sing for the teacher, ask something about whether the teacher thinks you are a good candidate for admission to the school, based on your talent and technique, whether your planned repertory is appropriate, those kinds of questions. Do not ask for a lesson, unless you know from reputation that this is a good person. </p>
<p>These things are less of an issue where there is only one teacher, for oboe or trumpet, etc., and somehow singers and singing teachers are often more personally affected...and it makes sense, how much more personal can it get that the instrument of human expression and connection? </p>
<p>If you want to send me a private message about where you are going, I can tell you what else I might suggest for that particular place. Good luck.</p>
<p>Lorelei---thanks ---those are the two best posts on college voice studios
ever posted on this board.</p>