Finding the Right Voice Teacher or Vocal Coach for You

Amanda Austin is a professional musician who teaches Voice lessons online. Find out more on her Lessonface profile.

Learning to sing teaches you so much about yourself, while building a skill you can use anytime, with just you. Finding the right Voice Teacher or Vocal Coach to help you along your journey is an important first step. 

After 20 years of singing, pedagogy, and working with many top artists and teachers in the industry, I am happy to share with you some helpful distinctions between Voice Teachers, Vocal Coaches, and how to find the teacher for you. 

Let’s start by identifying the key differences between Voice Teachers and Vocal Coaches

Voice Teacher: builds the whole voice and occasionally, the whole artist. 

Voice teachers often emphasize singing technique, vocal tone, and expanding vocal range. A voice teacher’s lesson sequence will typically include a warm-up, vocal exercises working on technique, and coaching you through repertoire (music). 

Vocal Coach: focuses on style, diction, intonation. 

Some vocal coaches will talk about technique, but the primary work a vocal coach provides is in the repertoire. You may want to consider having different vocal coaches for different repertoire, e.g. someone who specializes in Musical Theater, another who specializes in Bel Canto repertoire, Mozart, R&B, Gospel, etc. 

Now that you’ve got the gist, we can take a deeper dive into what you can expect from a Voice Teacher and Vocal Coach… 

VOICE TEACHER 

Voice Teachers work with students to develop vocal technique. 

Singing Technique Fundamentals: 

• Breath Support and Control
• Tone
• Registration (Range, Tessitura)
• Diction
• Musicianship & Style
• Postural Alignment

Every voice teacher is different. In my experience, there are two primary teaching styles…

1. Technical

The Technical Voice Teacher focuses on building technique and tone.

2. Holistic 

The Holistic Voice Teacher builds technique, tone, and addresses many other elements that influence the singer and their ability. This can include musicianship training such as music theory, aural skills, basic piano, sight-reading, guidance on physical health, performance practices, storytelling, audition preparation, etc. 

There are benefits to working with both of these archetypes of voice teachers. Before choosing to study with a teacher, it is important that you ask yourself what you need at this stage in your development. 

Generally, I recommend holistic voice teachers for beginners, and technical voice teachers for professionals. If you aren’t sure what is best for you, I am happy to give you an analysis and recommend teachers on Lessonface for you. Sign up for a Vocal Analysis Lesson

Please also be aware that if your main objective in singing is to sing through songs, not build or work towards building technique, you likely are more interested in working with a vocal coach, not a voice teacher. 

VOCAL COACH 

Vocal Coaches, ideally in tandem with a voice teacher, are critical members of your voice team. Coaches address repertoire, style, diction, intonation, and occasionally some vocal technique. Vocal Coaches are often highly skilled pianists, conductors, and musical collaborators. 

Some vocal coaches know enough about vocal technique to address this topic more than others. It is rare to find vocal coaches who can also offer you répétiteur work (an antiquated and highly effective training method). 

Traditionally, répétiteurs met with the vocalists daily and trained them via singing through exercises and vocal treatises. While this model is not common today, there are many pianists and vocal coaches who are willing to do this work if you ask. 

While all of the literature listed below is for classical singing training, the techniques developed can be universally applied to all styles of singing. Some helpful Vocal Treatises to explore with your vocal coach or répétiteur include:

Classical Soprano: Vaccai, Sieber, Concone, Vocalise Collection
Classical Mezzo-Soprano: Marchesi, Vaccai, Concone, Sieber
Classical Tenor: Vaccai, Sieber, Concone, Vocalise Collection
Classical Baritone: Vaccai, Sieber, Concone, Vocalise Collection
Classical Bass: Vaccai, Sieber, Concone

Classical, general: "The Art of Singing" by Manuel Garcia (great for all voices and sight-reading practice!) 

Classical, general starter song anthologies: 24 Italian Art Songs and Arias, 50 Selected German Lied for high voice, 40 French Songs for High Voice, 50 selected German Lied for Low Voice, 40 French Songs for Medium/Low Voice

Great Books on Vocal Technique 
"The Mechanism and Technique" by William Vernard 
"A Theoretical and Practical Vocal Method" by Mathilde Marchesi
"Treatise on the Art of Singing" by Manuel Garcia Jr. 

Not sure what your voice part is?  Check out this article: Discover your Voice  

I’m happy to help you directly! Send me a message to schedule a Vocal Analysis Session where we will discuss your range and goals, and I will gladly recommend a teacher for you. 

I wish you all well on your vocal journey and joy in music-making! 
 

ABOUT AMANDA Hello, I am Amanda Austin, a Sing! Collective instructor for Lessonface. I am a professional operatic soprano and voice instructor sharing the knowledge that I have acquired in 20 years of collective private training, performance, and vocal pedagogy. The Sing! Collective is a virtual collection of classically trained professional vocalists collaborating to help you meet your goals. Sing!'s instructors, masterclasses, group classes, and subscription packages establish healthy and beautiful singing technique, develop confidence, and share your voice. My students have included opera, musical theatre, jazz, folk, pop, and rock vocalists with ages ranging from 6-75 years old. I am currently based in Asbury Park, NJ where I work with predominantly rock and folk singers at The Lakehouse Music Academy. I have taught at The Manhattan School of Music, Harlem School of the Arts, Chautauqua Voice Institute, Opus Dance and Theatre Inc. etc. in both group and private lessons. I cater all of my lessons to each student's individual needs and build technique that establishes healthy singing across all musical genres.   > Book a lesson with Amanda