“ Technique is a means to an end and not an end in itself.
“ Once a voice is trained and the new material is ‘sung in’ the next stage is performing and communicating character and text!
“ The technique will be an automatic response if you have trained and prepared well.
“ When teaching, my aim is to encourage singers to find their natural voice and develop it via rigorous technical drilling using many exercises taught to me and discovered by me over my career as a singer and teacher.
“ As singers, we are dealing with muscles which need to be trained similarly to those of sports people—repetition, variety and continually trying to increase one’s ‘personal best’.
“ At the same time, we need to be patient and not force the issue—young voices must be nurtured.
“ While scales and arpeggios form an important part of my teaching method, so does the approach to music. Ailesson with me involves about 20 minutes of warm-up, drilling and new exercises, followed by work on repertoire—where we endeavour to put into action the increasing vocal dexterity achieved in the technical work. Of course, this is all dependant on the student’s work ethic and ability to self-motivate away from lessons.
“ I assist singers to be musicians: singers who are highly motivated and self-reliant, can prepare material alone and choose repertoire with confidence; singers who have a professional approach to their potential career.
“ Language enunciation, text interpretation and character development also play a vital part in my teaching philosophy. The use of consonants to energise the voice is of primary importance, no matter what language is sung. Whether forté or pianissimo, I expect to hear clear text as well as flowing line.
“ I also teach by example and act as mentor to all of my students, knowing that they will in turn become the next generation upon whom we can rely—continuing to care for healthy vocal development and the precious art-form of acoustic classical singing.
“ My teaching is not one sided, though. I, myself, do learn many things from my students about singing and life. ”
