I accept and work with kids who are developmentally ready for private lessons. Although I have worked with kids as young as 5, typically kids age 11 and over are most ready for private lessons. It doesn’t have anything to do with talent so much, but just where the kids are in their development – they reach a point suddenly where they can concentrate long enough to do the private lesson and before that time, it is more difficult and they ought to perhaps be enrolled in an early music education program with someone in a group or with a focus on making it more age-appropriate than I can offer here. Children need a more conservative approach than adults because their voices are not fully developed yet and can be easily damaged by too aggressive an approach.
Kids are very fun to work with, though, and I really like the chance to get to help a child or young adult develop their voice by building a solid foundation. The years of childhood and early adulthood are very important because the skills learned in these years has a tendency to become integrated more wholly.
Kids learn much faster than do adults and need to be kept up with and not bored in order for them to maximize on their learning. Over the years, my youth students have been among my favourites and I have a 96% record of admission to the college of their choice for my students who have taken with me for one year at least. In fact, the brain stays able to absorb things quickly until as late as 26 years old. After that, you can still learn but just not quite as fast!
My younger students have been admitted to many prestigious schools as well as other audition-only activities including music theatre parts, community theatre, school choirs, exclusive performing arts schools and even international pop and jazz charting and international jazz festivals (as a headliner). I am proud of my young students’ accomplishments and always eager to work with young singers.
To find out if a child is ready for private lessons, sign them up for a first lesson and see how they do. If they are not ready, we will know at the first lesson and – if they are not – we can have them come back in 6-12 months to see if they are ready. Some suggestions will be made to the parents or guardian for their development in the meantime if they need some time to be ready for private lessons.
To set up a trial lesson: Go to Lessons Reservations