Standard of singing teaching in professional colleges

Is the standard of singing teaching in our professional drama and dance colleges where it should be?

I have no doubt that there is a lot of good teaching going on, and witnessed this first hand during the time I spent teaching at GSA a few years ago. 

However, I have reason to doubt the teaching in 2 top London colleges, if personal reports are to be believed.

I shall not name the students or the colleges in question, but these are true case studies reported to me in the last month.

Student 1 has been a student of mine on and off for about 5 years.  She also had access to excellent West End standard training at Thomas Telford School.   She obtained a place on a dance oriented West End training course and is now completing her 2nd year.   One of her audition pieces for the college was Mr Snow (Carousel), and the student is a natural soprano.

When I saw her a month ago her confidence was completely shot to pieces, and she had lost all the natural spark and bright quality she always had in her voice.   It transpires that in the 2 years she has been there she has not been encouraged to sing any repertoire in her natural range.   The college does group singing lessons, and this student's teacher seems to have a very rigid idea about technique.  If you do not do things their way you are not singing correctly, apparently.  Also the repertoire has been almost exclusively ultra contemporary.  The upshot has been that the student has been asked to sing entirely repertoire she is unfamiliar with, often in a voice range she feels does not suit her voice best, and has never been able to demonstrate her natural ability.   She is very happy to learn new and modern rep, but wants to be able to balance that with traditional styles and techniques.

We had an hour and a half together a month ago, and got the vocal folds reconnecting, got the focus back onto the physical support networks, and got her smiling again and enjoying singing - that simple prerequisite for good singing - enjoyment.


Student 2 is a new student I met for the first time this week.  She has just returned from her first major contract on a big show in Germany and is looking to push herself forward into more singing roles over here.   In warm up she easily reached a high A, which really surprised her.  It transpires that in her training, again at a top London college, she was quickly labelled as a dancer who could sing and lumped into the chorus / dancers and never given the opportunity to push herself vocals.

Consequently a voice that has a very natural top range has gone completely unnoticed.  It is an excellent voice up to D/E, with a great natural and very safe belt.  But there is a whole register of very natural notes that previous teachers have never uncovered / developed.

Surely these circumstances should not be allowed to go unchallenged.   I advised student 1 to speak to her director of study and request a change of tutor.  This should be her prerogative.  In my time at GSA I had one student request to leave me as he didn't feel he was benefiting from my teaching; at the same time I was given another 3rd year student who had an exceptional technique and wanted more rep coaching that her current teacher, a non-pianist, could not offer.

But it does worry me that students are paying huge fees to attend these prestigious colleges, and then they discover the teaching is not what they expected.

What can be done?  Please feel free to leave any thoughts.

Which Exam Syllabus?

Exams - everyone's favourite word!   But with many options to choose from, the question is which to go for for vocal exams.


As a musical theatre specialist I have, for many years, used the London College of Music Musical Theatre Syllabus very successfully.  Indeed I am very proud of my record of never having a student obtain a pass - all my students have always got merits and distinctions.    And for some students I will continue to use the LCM MT syllabus.

There is now an alternative MT syllabus.  Guildford School of Acting (GSA) has recently set up it's own exam syllabus, fully accredited with the University of Surrey.  The basic syllabus is very similar in structure to the LCM syllabus - no set song lists, but rather songs choices based on time periods to guarantee a spread of songs.   This looks good, and the GSA syllabus guarantees that the examiner will be a vocal/musical theatre specialist.   However it is impractical at the moment for a private teacher as you have to have 12 students to constitute a session.  I would certainly consider using it in the future - although I have no problem with the LCM syllabus - but for the 2 or 3 students I have most terms then it will remain LCM.


However, I now have some students who are not particularly theatrical, and am for the first time looking at alternatives.  Also I've never totally understood why MT students are not asked to learn sight reading / aural.  Are these really skills that MT performers do not need?

The traditional ABRSM syllabus is a little too traditional for my taste.  I'm sure for some purely classical teachers / students it is fine, but I would normally want a contrasting syllabus.  The ABRSM syllabus does not allow for any development into belt technique for older students - As long as he needs me is one the grade 2 list.   Also I would imagine most students of the normal age for grade 2 would not understand the emotion behind this song.  So, for me ABRSM is a no-go.

I am looking to use Trinity Guildhall syllabus.  This allows students in earlier grades to focus on areas they like i.e. 2 songs from the Show / Film / Pop list, while having to do one from the folk song or general song list.  Then the teacher can gradually introduce different styles to each student, so that by grade 5 they are used to singing all different styles. Also I like the Musical Knowledge section, as an alternative to sight reading.  I teach my students sight reading at all levels, but some of them develop later than others.   The Musical Knowledge options allows you to teach them all the details of musical notation and terminology, without them having to stress about actually sight reading in the exam (until grade 5!) .  They can then develop the sight reading gradually, and by the time they are doing grade 5 they should be mature enough and confident enough to cope with the sight reading aspect of the exam.

It looks a good option to me.  I have my first 3 students doing TG next term - along with 9 doing LCM MT syllabus.   Will let you know how it goes!


Next time:    The pros and cons of the Pop / Rock exams.