12/06/2022
WHAT DO VOICE LESSONS REALLY DO FOR YOU?
The other day, a student came into her voice lesson and said that she had faced her fears; she had finally gotten up the courage to sing for her parents after years of being afraid that they wouldn’t think her voice was good enough.
This student has an EXQUISITE soprano voice. She has studied music for quite some time, and is an accomplished singer and pianist and a beautiful, loving mother of six kids.
But even as an adult, she has struggled with the feeling that her voice would never gain her parents’ approval.
While they were loving and supportive, they have always maintained unrealistically high expectations, often comparing her to her older siblings who were also musicians.
She had absorbed the notion that, until she could earn their approval, she would not be adequate.
After working diligently on a new aria for quite some time, she finally sang for her parents, throwing caution to the wind and allowing that uncomfortable vulnerability to be OK. She wanted so badly to gain their approval, to hear that they were impressed with her voice.
Their response…
“You were a little flat at the beginning…”
She was noticeably deflated when she came into her lesson and told me this story.
Here’s what I told her:
“The value of your voice is not based on the approval of ANYONE else! As long as you believe that their approval is required, they hold immense power over you and are able to dictate your emotional state. You are giving them the permission to do so when you seek their approval.
Your voice is inherently beautiful, musical, expressive, and valuable just by nature of who you are as a human being.
TAKE UP YOUR SPACE! - vocally, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Your voice deserves to be heard, your thoughts deserve to be voiced, and your emotions deserve to be expressed honestly and authentically.
Sing because you love to sing!
Sing because you have something beautiful and transformative to share with others
Sing because it makes you more whole when you LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!”
For the rest of the lesson, she sang with a fullness and a freedom that she had never been able to find before. Her initial tears of frustration turned into joy, empowerment, and excitement about all of the vocal, mental, and emotional breakthroughs that were occurring.
Shortly after the lesson, I received the following text from her:
“Guess what I did!!! I came right home and called my parents on the phone before I could get any nerves and sang for them….and I didn’t care what they would say.
And guess what? Dad said it was delightful!
And guess what, it was nice to hear, but it didn’t matter what they would say. It was for me.”
In one lesson, she had reclaimed her Voice (both her sound and her self-expression), and empowered herself to make bold new life choices. She recognized her own value and gained a huge amount of self confidence.
She moved out of IMPEDED SINGING (singing for approval, singing for perfection, singing in fear…) and into TRANSFORMATIVE SINGING.
Voice lessons are not just about sounding better, or learning how to sing the notes more accurately.
Voice lessons are life lessons in disguise.
We call our process “Transformative Singing” because when you transform your voice, you transform your whole life.
When you transform your life, you change the way you relate to others, which causes a shift in them as well.
When enough people transform their lives in a positive direction, they can transform the world!
Investing in your voice gives you a path to self-discovery, self-confidence, and empowerment.
It is an investment in a higher quality of life, and a more understanding, peaceful, empathetic, compassionate world.
In this student's case, we know this shift will allow her to feel fulfilled seeking HER OWN approval, rather than needing the approval of her parents or friends to feel adequate.
She will guide her children as a more confident mother, and they will recognize and absorb that confidence in their own lives.
And she will move through her community with a greater sense of conviction that will encourage the people around her to take up their own space, too.
Freeing her voice (her sound) allowed her to free her Voice (her spirit), and the world will be made better by her resolute vulnerability.
We know all this will happen because we have seen the same thing time and time again (and experienced it ourselves) as a direct result of people putting time and energy into developing their voices.
Are you looking for those kinds of voice lessons?
Get ready to...
TRANSFORM YOUR VOICE,
TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE,
and TRANSFORM THE WORLD!
After focusing so much over the past few years on workshops, courses, coaching programs, books, and other ways of helping singers achieve their dreams, we are finally coming back home to
connecting with individuals through private voice lessons.
The SFYL Voice Studio is now officially open!
Comment below if you are ready to take your voice to undiscovered heights, and we'll send you all the info you need to start your own journey of vocal and self-discovery!
