Vocal Science: For Greater Learning… “Should You Be Coming To Someone Else’s Church With Your Own Prayer”?

My answer would be: “No, you should not.”

With that said, if you want to learn something valuable from your coach/mentor, or your voice specialist for that matter, YOU are the one who has to be submissive to such learning and NEVER DOMINANT!

For example.. during my session, one of my students/clients had been constantly trying to take over, so to speak. In general, I have always reminded them that one of us has to be submissive… and it ain’t going to be me!

What do I mean by that?

What I mean is that when I try to convey my message, and for many years (along with it), the tested, tried and proved curriculum, the student/client tries to impose his/her own way of running MY session; and therefore, no doubt, interferes with the process of his/her own learning progress.

I have been consulting, teaching and repairing voices for over four decades, but some of my clients, instead of listening and embracing my expertise and extensive experience, trying to prove their own point; and then, not to mention that one of them had the audacity to tell ME that he feels that I am not RESPECTING HIM…?

Go figure!

All of my sessions are always extremely interactive, but my word should have more weight then my attendee.

Nowadays, people do not know how to differentiate the roles between the teacher and themselves (the pupil). They do not pay the required respect and do not keep the required distance; and thus, all of that dramatically infringes on the desirable outcome of such process.

Call me “Old School”, but in my times, the teacher was considered to be a Guru and a Goddess. With such respect and admiration from the student’s side, the greatest mentoring (and thus high level of education) had been reaching the highest point in one’s development. At that time, we had better doctors, better engineers, and yes… better artists!

Here in Canada, spending almost four decades dealing with all kinds of people, I met quite a few so-called musicians and composers who had no idea where the middle C on a keyboard was located.

I met so-called lyricists who made five mistakes in the word “mama” LOL!

I’ve also met University students who were speaking and writing with double-negatives like, for example:

“I don’t know no more and you probably know more better”.

It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad! Yet…it is sad indeed!

What is also so scary is that these above-mentioned people are literally running our lives. They are driving our cars (UBER and Taxi drivers who cannot speak English at an understandable level) They are flying our planes (not always knowing how to read the instruments - The best example of that was the crash of J.F.K. Jr’s plane!)

They are teaching our children, while concurrently being unable to take instructions from anybody else…not to mention also, evidently, being unable to “walk and chew the gum at the same time”! I once, incidentally, had in my studio my friend’s daughter’s elementary school teacher. For over a two hour period of time, I was unable to pull out anything remotely sensible towards the voice repair matter conce
ing that person. How do these people teach when they themselves are not being able to learn? Beats me… It has been my riddle for many years of my teaching and mentoring career.

The good teacher, by the law of averages, should also be able to be a good learner; and also, he/she should be able to keep their ego aside, and thus allow the mentor, in the required field, to deliver the needed message successfully, and nevertheless, with flying colors, their way.

It never ceases to amaze me when the person in need (especially of non-surgical voice repair) comes with the attitude of skepticism and cynicism. Instead of being trusting and grateful that somebody is actually trying to employ their best efforts to help them, they are looking for something in the process to turn the wrong way while projecting (towards the very serious matter such as their voice health), a negative attitude.

So the moral of the above is:

If you want to be taught something valuable to you, let the teacher in…and NEVER interfere with the process! TRUST, BELIEVE and EMBRACE… And then... enjoy the wonders coming your way!

On this note, I wish you the best of health and the best of voice which you are, indeed, in need of!