For the Love of Singing

Benvenuto, everyone!

Today I had another first voice session. Since it’s Valentine’s Day, I thought it only appropriate to spend some time with my significant other. So, I gave my Valentine a lesson in the basics of classical voice.

While it wasn’t exactly time spent cuddling or exchanging love notes, it was still time that we enjoyed spending together. Teaching your significant other proper vocal technique is surprisingly intimate in a strange way.

I’ve mentioned Wiley in this blog before, so you may know that they are trans non-binary and want to train their voice to be a bit deeper. When I started this voice training project, I didn’t intend for it to grow as rapidly as it did. When Wiley expressed interest in working with me, I was delighted to jump at that chance.

Working with someone you love and live with makes things much easier. It allowed me to be more hands-on than with an acquaintance or even a friend. Instead of pointing out the functions in singing purely visually, I could help Wiley understand by pointing things out on them.

When Wiley was not aware of their knees locking, for instance, I could stand behind them and put my hands on the back of their legs to help them become more aware of that part of their body.

What I tried to do with Wiley today was mostly help build their kinesthetic awareness in singing posture. Kinesthetic awareness is the “ability to be aware of one’s own body parts, position, and movements,” according to Council of Ontario Drama and Dance Educators.

Building their kinesthetic awareness will help them learn vocal technique much faster, and eliminating bad habits now will keep them from struggling to break them in the future. The first time in a lesson it is essential to check for those habits lest the singer could form a destructive and unhealthy habit that could actually damage the voice.

All in all, Wiley made some amazing progress. They were easy to teach and responsive to my instruction. Of course, staging the voice lesson as a Valentine’s Day mini-date certainly helps singer-teacher communication.

It was a wonderful first session, and I’m thrilled to work with my best friend and significant other. As much as I enjoy working with the other people I’ve begun training, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as working with the one you love.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone.

Cantare!