An accredited education in vocal anatomy. An effort to create an individualized curriculum. An ability to make everything you study relevant to you. A schedule that works with yours.
One of the best ways to find a vocal coach is to ask other singers or public speakers you know for recommendations. Choir teachers in your high schools can be of great value in finding a vocal coach. Your friends and neighbors may be able to recommend you. I can't stress this enough.
You should never leave a class feeling slighted. Too often, voice teachers will use a first lesson to tell you everything that is wrong with your voice and in your previous training. The need to do this is due to the fact that they want to make you feel like a customer that they have something to offer you. If your voice was already good, what would you need it for, after all? But this is one of the worst things a voice teacher can do.
People almost always sing better when they are relaxed and safe. Being in an environment where you feel like you're defensive will only hinder your progress. Developing a good singing voice doesn't stop when you finally hit those high notes, and voice coaches can teach you a lot more than just singing. But please don't buy it when your teacher says you have to study classical voice during the best years of your life to be able to sing pop music with “good technique”.
A lot of voice teachers have taught me one or two things that I still use today and I forgot or left behind all the rest. Understanding a good singing technique is the basis from which you can build the voice you want, be it the strength, range, grain, pitch or any other color of the voice. When you entrust yourself to a voice teacher, make sure you're comfortable asking each and every question. But remember that no voice teacher can empower you, but rather they can help you learn to empower you.
And fortunately, some singing teachers have a teaching methodology that allows them to help any singer find vocal balance. Make sure the lessons include vocal warm-up exercises, even if you are training with a voice teacher for public speaking and media. If you are looking for someone who will allow you to choose the music, make sure you find a singing teacher who is capable and willing to learn new music regularly and who doesn't just have a song group to retire to for each student. Look for a teacher who can make your students focus on their own goals and highlight their own unique voice.
You'll find lists of teachers in the classifieds section of newspapers, brochures and the Internet, all of whom promise to help you with your singing voice. Working with a vocal coach or voice teacher can be a worthwhile decision for anyone who wants to improve their singing and vocal technique. With offline voice classes, if your singing teacher or vocal coach lives on the other side of town, then there is a greater risk that your singing lesson plan will be disrupted.
