Voice Lessons at Pillars

After 11 years of voice lessons, here is what we have seen

1. Children ages 6 - 11 that have had individual voice lessons with us have far and away been the least-successful, inspiring, and have had the least vocal progress of all of our students across all of our instrument types (voice, drum, guitar, and piano).

2. Children ages 6-11 that have had voice lessons coupled with something else (musical theatre, piano, guitar, or rock bands) have had THE MOST successful, inspiring, and have made THE MOST progress of all of our students across all of our instrument types.

3. So we now have a robust grouping of vocal programs that all involve frequent performances for other peers (with their teacher present) and also parents/fans!

4. We DO offer individual 30-minute voice lessons, but because of the dismal-results cited above in our past 11 years for individual-voice only lessons, and the fantastic results for vocalists that had individual lesson AND ALSO participated in another progrtam…we only accept individual-voice students who are dual-enrolled in one of the programs below (exceptions can be made at our discretion if a vocalist is actively participating in other vocal performance activities not listed below)

After much observation of real-world results, and curriculum meetings, we now have two vocal programs;

1.The Rising Stars (ages 6-11), and 2. The Vocal Vanguard (ages 11-17)

The Rising Stars Program

Glee Club

• Group singing and choreography to fun, popular songs

• solo singing for each student required, requires practice/rehearsing outside of class, audition required, some costuming,

• Spotlights and timed stage lights used in the performances 

• singers wear body mics at their performances

• Commitment typically 3-4 months (depending upon the show)

Showchoir

• Performance-based singing and simple choreography

• Solo-singing not required, but encouraged and available for each student

• This class focuses substantially on vocal technique, as well as hearing and singing harmonies

• Singers come to stationary mics for solos

Play and Sing

• Learn music fundamentals using the piano

• Sing and play

• This is the best course for well-rounded development

• We use the Piano Express Curriculum as the core guiding curriculum for this program and students are enrolled in that program, where we sing and play in class, and students are invited to then also sing and play at the performances.

The Vocal Vanguard Program

Musical Theatre Jr. Production

• Full-scale musical-theater jr production with singing, dancing, and acting

• Audition required

• Rehearsals both in class and at home; students learn choreography and stage blocking

• More involved costuming & props provided; performers wear body mics during shows, professionally video-recorded

• Lighting: spotlights + timed stage washes

• Commitment: 10 - 16 weeks, culminating in 2 large public performances. Tickets sold separately to the event.

Audition Masterclass

• Hands-on prep for real auditions: song choice, cold-reading, monologue delivery

• Mock panel auditions with recorded playback and critique

• Prerequisite: basic private lessons or Vocal Masterclass recommended

• Class is Invitational Only

• Emphasis on confidence, presentation, and time management under pressure

• Commitment: ongoing and runs concurrent with 30-min individual vocal sessions; solo performances required approximately every 2-3 months, regular live auditions (either for our studio or another performing arts organization) are expected in addition to class attendance

Rock Bands

• Full band experience: students front a “kid-friendly” rock band (solos & harmonies)

• Audition required separately for the band (vocals)

• Students also invited (but not required) to play piano/guitar basics in addition to being a vocalist for the band

• Focus on collaboration: arrangement, dynamics, on-stage teamwork

• Commitment: Ongoing and runs concurrent with 30-min individual vocal sessions; solo performances required in the Rock Band.

Vocalists who go to one on one lessons and then perform only once every 6 months will struggle to become good performers. Would you ever sign up your son/daughter to learn to play soccer by having them go to practice for 5 months and then play in one single game that lasts only a few minutes? Sounds silly right? But time and time again we see students subjected to this ineffective tradition of performing once or twice a year in a terrifying recital, and never growing and learning to be a better and more confident performer. There is no replacing performance experience!

Students should be up on stage playing 2-4 songs every 6-10 weeks. With the programs we offer, they typically will be up performing in front of other EVERY WEEK! They should learn and be taught to be confident performers, and that will NEVER happen with such little stage time. They need to be on stage more often, and they need to perform several pieces of music so that they are up on stage 3-10 minutes each time. This gives their heart a chance to slow down some, and to begin to relax while up there. This process should be repeated over and over and over again. There is NO SUBSTITUTE or secret sauce for becoming a confident performer. It takes much more time on stage than what is traditionally done. Too many teachers and studios focus on their student playing a piece of music flawlessly on stage. The emphasis should be on the development of the student. The notes are important too, but more important than a perfectly executed piece of music is the maturation of a child to learn that they can be in front of people, and be confident, and even enjoy themselves.