¿Cómo te conviertes en tutor de música?

The biggest progress I've made as a vocal coach was by signing up to the mastermind, packed with knowledge about voice pedagogy, troubleshooting sessions, and lots of instruction videos. The platform is called BAST. As a beginning vocal coach, you shouldn't go hard on yourself. Once I started teaching I was learning everyday about voice, and that is how I gained confidence and knowledge. Many teachers are great with children, and that is where you can start as well: by forming a singing group for children, where you help them build a strong music foundation with basics of vocal technique.

When teaching music online, my approach is very much like face-to-face teaching, being student-led. I encourage beginners and those who lack confidence, taking a gentle, patient approach, tailoring vocal exercises and selecting repertoire that individual students like, while meeting their needs. It's important to remember that we must constantly learn and improve our skills. I work continually on my own singing, and engage in regular training, particularly in the areas of supporting young and beginner singers, as well as singing for health, an area of particular interest for me. To find students, I’ve discovered that the best approach is just to let people know what I do, talk about it, write about it, and share on social media.

This is so important. Choose the genre of music that you love and of course which ages you want to teach. For me, I have two favourites: Musical Theatre vocals to young learners and kids music classes. Both of these make me happy, especially to see how the students progress and gain confidence in their singing capabilities. For me music came as a second nature since I grew up in a musical family and practised music all my life. I went to study Musical Theatre after school and having the qualification with 15 years of performing myself, I knew what I wanted to do next. Dream big!

It is important to know what ages and advancement levels you would ultimately like to teach. I prefer to teach teenagers and adults, with a bit of an advanced level. Technique wise, it is also important to know what is the reach of your competence: if you're a contemporary singer, and that is what you're educated at, don't try to teach classical singers. Narrowing the niche even more, will allow you to help singers with stylistic aspects. That also helps with building your personal brand as a specialist in certain area/ genre.

Just being an artist or a vocal coach is not enough to build an independent career path. I've learnt that, at some point, I needed to step away from being an artist, and start to think as a business person. Online presence as an artist, credibility as a knowledgeable vocal coach, and referrals from current students are the first thing to take for consideration with setting up a music studio.

First, be a good teacher… get qualified. Someone who doesn't understand what they are talking about can't teach others. Then, keep on learning. The music business changes regularly. Keeping up to date is important. Lastly, do everything else listed above. If you are an inspiring teacher you will teach your students everything you know.