Hey y’all! Ellie here with what’s unique about our studio
My own resume kinda is its own thing (see my profile), but what sets MY associate teachers apart from those at other studios is pretty straight-forward: they’re a step or two up.
Most studios hire people with a pulse and a bachelor’s in vocal performance – or even maybe no bachelor’s. I REQUIRE our teachers to be excellent not only at singing but at teaching, and our minimum requirement for teachers education is not only a bachelors or higher in performance, but they MUST has a Masters or higher in vocal pedagogy (the science of teaching singing). In my mind, this not only improves the skillset, but you’re also then working with people who’ve made a significant investment in others. Meaning they dedicated a significant amount of time and cash outlay in helping other more efficiently. It speaks to quality and character.
I pay them more so we retain the best teachers in NYC. You’ll see people come and go at other studios because the studio doesn’t treat them well. We mainly lose teachers because they accomplish something significant. For instance:
- One of our teachers Taylor we lost because he went on out of state to pursue a doctorate in diversity in education and he wanted to dedicate his time to his 501(c)3 organization CreatingForJustice.org which offers voice lessons and other services relating to the arts in exchange for a donation to a social justice non-profit.
- Dr Felix used to teach here 30 students a week. His hours here have been cut because he’s become a noted researcher in trans/enby voice and started a 501(c)3 Trans/Enby organization which includes the first classical choir of trans/enby singers in the world. He now directs that group, TRANScend. Here at the studio, he stays on as head of our Trans/Enby voice training program, and as a part of our teacher training program for our instructors – he takes students during the hours he isn’t doing teacher training.
- Josaphat is going to be going fully virtual beginning fall of 2024 because he won a Fulbright Scholarship to continue his studies in Mariachi in Mexico City. We hope to have him back in 2025 after he completes the program. I don’t think any studio in NYC can say they have a Fulbright scholar in their faculty.
These are significant accomplishments because I screen teachers so thoroughly and they are each amazing people
Another way we are different is that I have a continuing education program for the teachers that work here. I mentor these teachers and provide them with free piano lessons, further vocal pedagogy training, and sponsor their membership in National Association of the Teachers of Singing (NATS) which has yearly meetings where original research is presented
Usually how teachers are hired elsewhere is they send in a resume and do an interview. And that’s it. This is our process:
1. Resumes are submitted. Those without the vocal pedagogy degree are eliminated. This includes certificates that are lower than a Masters and also people who’ve taken a combined performance/pedagogy degree which doesn’t meet our standards. This eliminates almost all candidates.
2. People are interviewed for about 30 minutes. If they seem like they are someone who would ever use negative reinforcement, guilt, shame, or other abusive tactics, they are eliminated. If they can’t hold a conversation, they are eliminated. This eliminates almost all of the surviving candidates.
3. If they make it this far, we give them 3 students to teach – at least 1 online and at least 1 in-person. I observe the sessions and each of the test students gives an evaluation of the teacher. Last time we did auditions, we had 6 people make it to the audition round of which one was hired.