In my last column, I complained of the possessiveness and controlling behavior that plagues many voice studios. It's the teacher's responsibility to set and maintain clear boundaries and to respect and support each student's autonomy.
However, it's a good idea for the student to maintain transparency about their extra-studio affairs.
(I hope it's obvious that my use of such terminology is tongue-in-cheek! I can't resist, because I so frequently hear singers describe drama with their teacher in the language of romantic relationships.)
It's best for everyone to know what's going on, and the reason is simple: Say you're working with someone else and you don't tell me. Then you come to your lesson and I see that you've had a marvelous breakthrough. I'm going to mistakenly assume it's the result of our work together and take my share of the credit. The same holds true if you come to your lesson and you're suddenly sounding wretched - I'm going to ponder what my responsibility is for this setback. More commonly, you come to your lesson and you're doing something weird that conflicts with my pedagogy. I try to get you to change it, and rather than just taking my advice you start looking conflicted and guilty.
Aha! And all this time, you thought you were getting away with it!
Sometimes it can be quite useful to work with more than one teacher, especially if they know and respect one another. If you're hard at work on your technique and your teacher becomes unavailable for a while, it's great if you can find support elsewhere. If you're building momentum and your teacher doesn't have time to see you as frequently as would be optimal, having someone else to turn to can speed things along. But only if both teachers are on the same page. The only way to be sure of that is to communicate to each the progress you feel you've made with the other.
Often, one benefit of attending a summer Young Artist Program is the opportunity to work with a superb new teacher for a couple of months. Once you've reached a certain level of skill and comprehension, it's possible to get feedback and direction from different teachers and decide for yourself what will complement the work you're doing with your main squeeze home teacher. Ideally, they'll want to hear all about it when you return.
But it's just a hot mess if you're seeing someone behind your teacher's back because while you know it's already over, you haven't figured out how to tell them yet. Everyone's going to find out eventually anyway. It will create tension between the two teachers, who may have to continue working together long after you've left the scene.
Remember what a small world this is, too – one day you may find your former teacher adjudicating a competition, and they will look more kindly on you for having been honest than if you're not. Even if the teacher you're "breaking up with" is like the ones described in my previous post, there's nothing you can do to foster long-term good will with them anyway, so you may as well be up front.
Where vocal pedagogy is concerned, I generally frown on playing the field excessive studio hopping. You'll fare best by seeking to master one comprehensive method.
But if you find someone else's input useful, by all means, share it with me. I will be most useful to you when I know what you're working on and how your own concept of technique is taking shape.
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