5 Reasons I Love Teaching Group Voice Lessons In My Studio

My favorite way to work with young singers in my studio is through voice classes. There are so many benefits to working with students in groups versus individually. Sound like something you might be interested? Let’s dig into it! Here are my top 5 reasons I love teaching group voice lessons.

Why Teach Group Voice Lessons?

When I began my studio, I only offered private, individual voice lessons in 30-minute time slots. I mostly worked with high-school aged students, and my classically trained self was appalled when someone would even inquire about voice lessons for a 6 year old.

I kept getting more calls from parents about their young children loving to sing and wanting to get involved in voice lessons, and it suddenly clicked.

If I could work with younger students, by the time they get older, we would be so much farther ahead! I decided to give it a try.

In group voice lessons I can see more students in less time. That of course makes me more money by maximizing my time, but also helps me to continue to feed my studio’s individual lesson slots.

Students who have taken group voice classes have a better understanding of basic voice technique and my teaching style, and we get a chance to know each other in a less intimidating setting. (Let’s face it- singing with someone staring at your face for a half hour is a little nerve-racking!).

My Top 5 Reasons I Love Teaching Voice Classes

Group voice lessons are one of my favorite parts of each week. We have so much fun and I look forward to teaching them.

Here are my top 5 Reasons I love teaching group voice classes:

Building Relationships

One of the MOST important things I can do in my studio is to work on building a good relationship with my students. If there isn’t trust between a voice teacher and their student, there won’t be progress (at least not like there could be with that relationship in place.)

When I was younger, I don’t think there could have been much that would have felt as intimidating to me as singing in front of a teacher I didn’t know (or even one I did!) with them staring at my face for a half hour!

Group classes give me an opportunity to get to know my students in a less intimidating environment with other singers. There is less focus on the individual and more on collaborating with the group.

Instilling Self-Confidence

So many of my older students (and honestly, my younger ones too…) struggle with self-confidence. I get it. I was always the same way. Imposter syndrome anyone?

One of my jobs as their voice teacher is to arm them with all the knowledge they need to foster healthy self-confidence. I want my students to believe in themselves. I want them to feel safe enough to take risks when performing, and I want them to feel OK about making a mistake.

Group voice classes allow me to begin to help them build self-confidence in themselves as musicians and performers.

You might be thinking- but I can totally do that in an individual lesson though. You’re right. You can- but in a group lesson, students find a safe place to take creative risks, but also be able to hide in the crowd a bit if they are feeling unsure.

I have had so many kids show up to the first few classes and not want to make a sound, or even come in without their parent beside them! By the time we finish the semester, they are coming in on their own, talking, laughing, singing, and moving with the group.

Performances can be so scary for voice students-but having a group you know well and have rehearsed with can help performance anxiety immensely.

Set Studio Expectations

I have high expectations of my students. I have a code of conduct for my studio, and I expect students to follow it in the studio as well as in their interactions outside of my studio.

Group lessons give me the perfect opportunity to begin to set those expectations with my students as they get to know me and my teaching style.

I begin each group lesson with asking each student individually how their day was. If they have highs and lows to share, they each get a turn. We discuss respect for one another and celebrate everyone’s successes.

All of my students learn what I expect from them and what they can expect from me. As they get older and continue to grow as musicians in my studio, things run much more smoothly because all of our expectations are already in place!

Providing A Safe Creative Space

I’m sure you have figured out that my FAVORITE THING is to help students unlock creativity and freedom of imagination. I just love helping my students rediscover this part of them and nurturing it through music.

When I was young, I had an amazing imagination. Somewhere along the way, it seemed to disappear. It was replaced by insecurity, fear of making any mistake, and a complete lack of self-trust. Raise your hand if that sounds familiar….

Through my group classes, I can help students foster and trust that imagination again. We can do activities in a place they feel comfortable in, with people they feel comfortable with, that allow for creative decisions and freedom to try making different artistic choices.

I love watching my students’ confidence in their creative choices bloom as they do more of this. It serves them so well as they continue to grow as performers and musicians!

Build Knowledge

Have you ever started lessons with a student right before their senior year, and they have a list of things they need to prepare for (auditions, leading musical role, all-state choirs, solo contest…) but they seem to have little to no basic knowledge of healthy singing, music theory, sight-singing, character development, and on and on and on?

This seems to happen far too often in my studio. Don’t get me wrong- I love working with these students. But I get so frustrated by what we could be doing in their lessons if they already had been working on all of these things.

Group lessons are the perfect way to throw little bits of basic singing technique, breathing, theory, character development, and all the other things that will be useful to students as they grow.

As the years go by, they have built a really solid base of knowledge to draw from in their more advanced musical studies. (Bonus- these things will help in scholarship auditions, interviews, speech-giving, and so many more things that aren’t even music related!).

Conclusion

Teaching group voice classes can be a great way to build your studio and your student enrollment. You can build yourself a program that will feed itself and give students opportunities to be creatively free in a world that doesn’t often offer that chance.