There is a movement in voice training these days called Student-Centered Vocal Pedagogy and it reinforces our commitment to what we’ve always believed: your vocal teacher should be focused on you, your experience, and your needs.
This might seem like a no-brainer, but I remember when I first started to teach, this was really revolutionary and you’d get pushback from teachers about it.
The traditional approach is one where the teacher leads the student through things that might not even relate to the student. It birthed the Star Vocal Coach thing long ago where students didn’t get a say in their training, and the sessions were focused on the teacher (and oftentimes their ego and need for admiration). While I strongly believe that you should have a very knowledgeable teacher and that education can make a teacher much more effective, I also believe that as teachers we should be working toward the student’s goals and with the student’s wants and needs.
Student Centered Vocal Pedagogy is a collaborative process which significantly differs from the traditional school of thought.
Teacher-focused vocal pedagogy can have a devastating effect on the student. Some teachers use their star status to abuse students psychologically, and although not all traditionally-minded teachers do so, the more well-known the teacher is the greater the opportunity to take advantage of students — and many students will accept it, thinking that if they’re not being abused, they aren’t learning.
These My Way or the Highway approaches are how music training has historically been. Along with this approach, there are often reports of teachers verbally, psychologically, or physically taking advantage of the student. Some teachers need this type of structure because their motivation for teaching is to draw attention to themselves and build up their reputation and ego. However, this approach is the opposite of what I feel is good practice.
Voice teachers should have to take the Hippocratic Oath to first do no harm because some approaches end careers early by shaming the student or just discouraging their love of music. Vocal injuries can also occur with this approach. I have a close friend who is a dramatic contralto which is quite rare. She went to someone like this who pushed her to study to be a Wagnerian singer. She was studying German diction and heavy opera. The only problem was that, although my friend certainly had the voice and physical presence to do this extremely high-paid work, my friend just wasn’t into it. She stopped with that teacher after being unhappy for some time. Instead of quitting as many would after that, she’s doing what she wants now and is a signed EDM singer. You have to work with student goals in mind, and not just to serve the ego of the teacher.
If you’re interested in nerding out on this topic, there’s a great book which is coming out in autumn 2025 co-edited by Dr Jeanne Goffi-Fynn who’s the head of the Columbia University Teacher’s College’s amazing vocal pedagogy program. The other co-editor is Matthew Hoch who is an amazing editor of many vocal pedagogy titles including a series published by NATS (National Association of the Teachers of Singing) with whole books devoted to different styles of singing.
Get a copy of
Student Centered Vocal Pedagogy
featuring our own Dr Felix who wrote 2 chapters
Goodbye and thank you for coming to my TedTalk. <3
Eleonor England