Cathedral Observation

The student has acquired commendable sight reading and musicianship skills through his work as a choral scholar at the Cathedral. However this work has imposed problems upon the voice such as a relatively straight tone and breathiness. Richard's lesson was fluidly structured to attempt to cover as many aspects of singing as possible. I think having a general lesson plan that is fluid and able to be adjusted for each student means that the student can have a clear goal and not lose concentration, as the activity is changing. The student seemed fully engaged in the lesson and was receptive to Richard's teaching style.
The lesson began with a warm up. The pupil was asked to sing Doh; Richard let the pupil pick a comfortable starting pitch for most of the scales and also chose which vowel to sing on. Giving the student choices means that they feel comfortable and engaged which in turn means they will respond quicker and lessons are more …show more content…
Richard used an arpeggio to Brr in order to engage the support. However when the pupil began singing in a lesson the support was not explained in a way the pupil seemed to grasp. I believe breathing is a fundamental part of singing and should be addressed in the first few lessons before bad habits such as gripping develop or a breathiness enters the voices.
Richard put an emphasis on the importance of understanding your pupils understanding. That is to say that not all pupils will be conservatoire standard, and may not have a simple theoretical understanding of music. I agree with Richards concern for pupils understanding and also think that giving the pupil rest from singing is good for young voices, as an hour/ half an hour lesson can be difficult to keep up stamina. Therefore in my teaching I would aim to give my pupils a clear understanding of notation, scales, keys and rhythm between warming up and singing