How I Started
“How come you don’t teach voice lessons?” My friend Jim posed this question after an Easter church service in 2011. It’s the question that launched me on a career path I’d never considered before. At the time I was studying at seminary and working as a janitor. It took only a moment to recognize how much more profitable a voice studio would be. I don’t remember exactly what I said in response, but I like to tell my new students I said “Jim, I have an idea. Why don’t I teach voice lessons?” In any event, it was a profitable decision, and not only in financial benefit. It’s a job that has brought me a lot of joy, introduced me to hundreds of wonderful people, and given me much-needed financial independence, flexibility, and security.
How I’ve Grown
I didn’t start immediately after Jim suggested it. I finished up the school year and got some advice from a voice teacher friend as to how I should get started. I asked my friend John, a voice teacher and choir director, how to teach voice lessons. He was very generous with his time and pointed me to some resources to get started learning how to teach voice. I still use those same resources as they taught me the very basics that all singers need to take care of, no matter their level of experience.
More recently, I joined the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Through NATS I have access to an incredible repository of research as well as a subscription to the *Journal of Singing*. I have colleagues who generously allow me to observe their lessons. And I get to attend seminars that teach me new areas of technique—my students in the last couple of years have particularly benefitted from my attendance at a workshop for classical teachers crossing over to training singers in pop, rock, and musical theatre styles.
How It’s Provided
My first lessons went to three friends of mine, whom I charged half my standard rate Today, I like to tell people I now charge three times my original rate. For most of the time I’ve been teaching, it’s been my side hustle. I’ve taught lessons on the side while attending seminary, and while working as a janitor, retail worker, or chaplain. It was always great to have a different and fresh challenge when I stepped into the studio. Teaching used a completely different part of my brain compared to the other things I did.
There have also been times in my career when teaching voice has been my primary source of income. In 2014, I (deservedly) got fired from my day job almost as soon as I graduated seminary. Teaching was my only source of income until I moved back to Corvallis and got another job as a janitor.
In 2019, I was managing a toy store for people who lived out of state and were pretty awful to work for. They offered to sell me the store. I declined, but thinking about it made me realize I had a business of my own that I could grow. When the work situation got even worse, knowing I had a decent income in teaching gave me the confidence to quit the store (which immediately went out of business) and recover my sanity.
Finally, in early 2021 I was (undeservedly) fired from a full-time ministry job. But that came at a time when I was getting several contacts a month for new voice lessons. Within two months of returning to full-time teaching, I had more students than ever before—even though we had to have lessons outdoors or indoors with masks on and an air purifier running full blast. I’ve been doing this full-time ever since and I’ve never been more satisfied.
Covid-19
I never imagined I’d have to teach during a pandemic. When the first lockdown started, I was working as a chaplain for a house of Christian university students. Since I was working full-time, I had only five students at that time and we had to switch to Zoom and FaceTime. In a lot of ways, it was the pits. I got headaches from all that time spent staring at the screen. Lag meant I couldn’t play or sing with my students anymore. Even figuring out how to set up the lighting so my face was neither brilliant white nor shrouded in shadow was a pain.
Even so, online lessons taught me a lot about how to teach more effective in-person lessons. It’s easier to work through exercises than songs when teaching online, and I found that students grew faster as we devoted more time to exercises. I had to listen in a more focused way to hear details transmitted over the Internet, and that made me a better listener in-person as well.
Starting in the summer I moved into outdoor lessons, which proved to be an enjoyable way to spend a summer evening. When the fall came, I found that it’s not bad to bundle up for an outdoor voice lesson, but my hands get too cold to play the keyboard. Thankfully by then, there was solid research demonstrating that indoor voice lessons were reasonably safe when wearing masks and using a HEPA air purifier. For the past year I’ve been teaching with a mix of indoor, outdoor, and online lessons and the variety is a lot of fun.
The People I’ve Met
Finally, the people I’ve met have all been really amazing. One of my first students was an actor who wanted to add singing to his résumé. I taught a kind Jewish lady who loved to sing Christmas carols. I’ve had a student with a professional album that you can find on all the important streaming services. One guy wanted to sing a romantic ballad for his wife at their 40th wedding anniversary party. Several students have come in because it was good for their mental health—and some of them have found it as important as seeing an actual mental health professional. And many more simply came in because it’s fun to sing and they wanted to get better at it. I’m thankful for all these people who have afforded me the privilege to make a living doing something I love so deeply and find so profoundly important.
I am still searching for a full-time job in pastoral ministry, but if that doesn’t pan out, I’m quite content teaching singing. It’s important work, I love meeting people, I love being my own boss, and I love growing in it. I couldn’t have done it without the hundreds of students I’ve met over the years, and for that I’m very thankful.