In 2020, at the start of the Pandemic, I was locked down in Cape Town weathering storms and trying to envision where I wanted my future career to lead. Having already done an undergraduate degree and honours year (effectively a BMus), I felt that the next qualification I needed to get was in music education. But not just any old degree; something that was future-focused, socially-engaged, and multi-layered in what and where it would qualify me to teach.
I was lucky enough to receive two offers: the first, from the Guildhall School of Music in London for a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in the Arts; and the second, an e-learning Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning in the Arts with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
I chose the latter because it allowed me to explore my interest in women in music, and their underrepresentation in classical syllabi and onstage. A lack of funding has necessarily put this dream on hold. I nevertheless threw myself into vocal coaching within schools in 2020 to 2022, and I'd like to share with you all my reflections on my first full year as a school vocal coach (and dormant but aspiring opera singer).
Guildhall recognizes the necessity to normalize the reality that professional musicians also teach, coining the phrase "portfolio career". This describes a career trajectory that vacillates in periods between teaching versus (and sometimes simultaneously with) a professional performance career.
Although Covid19 necessitated that I teach more at schools than perform, I had started vocal coaching in a private capacity, from as early as my second year of University. Post-university, I established a private studio in KZN, which is ongoing and travels with me. Technology has had the marvelous ability to ignore geography, and I only recently met and had a lesson with a 9year old student whom I have been teaching for the past year online in Zambia!
I look back on my early teaching practice, and where I'm at now.
As a young student, it was an interesting exercise to be teaching whilst I was still learning. Even then, I was aware that it would be irresponsible of me to teach anyone beyond beginner level whilst I was still mastering the more complex training of vocal (specifically operatic) pedagogy in practice. The voice, unlike other instruments, is in the human body, and vocal damage can be permanent. I focused, therefore, on the basics of Alexander Technique, breathwork, facial posturing for vowels, the legato line, and the emotional through line of songs. My ambition to use music performance as a teaching and social-agency tool can be traced back to as early as A Feather on the Breath of God 2018 when, supported by Douglas Bullis and Elysoun Ross, this edu-concert on 10 female WAM composers was staged for four audiences on the then-Grahamstown National Arts Arena Festival.
As a post-university freelancer, I challenged myself with teaching more advanced students, small groups, and adults who were hobbyists. I didn't always succeed in helping my students to make the connection between the physicality of singing and a supported sound, but I do believe that I succeeded in developing confidence and establishing the basic principles of vocal health with them. Continuing my work on Women In Music, I produced Hear Her Now and Herstory, the latter funded by ConcertsSA and the Norwegian Arts Embassy.


In my performance career, I was undergoing a radical transformation in technique and voice type thanks to the supervision of Margaret Clay Bowen, and her focus on breath-body support. Through something as basic but essential as working with the singing body, I moved from a light coloratura soprano into spinto soprano moving towards dramatic soprano. I was finally able to access and not shy away from a natural vibrato, and I accessed a vocal power that I'd always assumed wasn't a feature of my voice. I stopped compartmentalizing the voice, and worked instead on a consistent technique throughout the vocal range, evening out my middle range.
In 2021, given the ongoing Covid19 situation, I decided to apply for peripatetic vocal coaching positions in schools that supported the arts and would take us online rather than closing us down every time we went into lockdown. I also wanted to start experimenting with incorporating women in music into repertoire lists and educational programmes, to contribute to making music studies more gender-equitable. Nelson Mandela University, Epworth Independent High School for Girls and (recently) St Annes Diocesan School for Girls purchased Herstory, my eConcert-documentary on fifteen WAM female composers; past and present, international and local. I assigned music by women to some of my students at Epworth and Cowan House Co-Ed Preparatory School, and some of them went on to perform these songs publicly, for exams, or selected them for future ABRSM exams. I used Masterclasses to show my seniors what cultural and gender representation looks and sounds like in the classical music realm. In early December, I was honoured to be invited to present on and screen Herstory for the SACM/UCT Bowed Electrons Festival and Symposium on Music and Technology 2021. You can view my presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRUd_Rl4ESY&list=PLLvf3Pt5uC9aQ9LHhtyUebuBKgHdmqCAd&index=9

I felt that this year, I struck the right balance in how and why I was teaching physicality for singing. I was able to develop a rapport with every one of my students, and I derived a tremendous satisfaction from witnessing others grow, and perform. I became attuned to watching for the light of understanding to switch on, and to try different explanations and exercises with my students until we found which one made sense to them and helped them to achieve a vocal concept or improve their technique. I was challenged not to take personal responsibility when students weren't practicing enough on their own; to hold the space for and remind myself of the scary reality of performing in front of a live audience for the first time; to make lessons a musical not just technical learning experience; and to meet my students on a personal level within the professional bounds of a teacher-student relationship.
From my seniour students, I demanded a high-level of work ethic in and outside lessons, whilst my younger students required a gentler, more playful approach with a focus on basic singing technique and enjoyment. One of my seniour students blessed me with saying that she didn't realize how much a voice could change and grow, how much better a sound she had been capable of producing, within just a year; how much work that required, and how she was going to miss singing lessons. I had the interesting experience of teaching a student whose voice is threatening to break. As someone who has predominantly coached female voices, this was a welcome challenge that I will continue to learn a lot from next year. The same can be said for another school position which I will be taking up from January, as I am inheriting a transgender voice - What a privilege, and how exciting a learning curve that will be!
Teaching enhanced rather than inhibited my performance skills, because teaching is a role that changes tac from one day to the next. It kept me on my toes, demanded that I pay attention to non-verbal ques like energy levels, body language, tone of voice. Lessons had to constantly vacillate between technique and musicality to keep engagement, and at the same time, I had to be strict on achieving certain markers, whether or not the student felt like working hard. I observed that Covid19 fatigue had a tremendous effect on the mental health and work ethic of my students. I can only hope that as we get more comfortable living alongside this virus for a time, we will all bounce back somewhat. Teaching very young students at Cowan House helped me in this regard, because they are always more energetic and present than teenagers are.
Vocally, teaching has kept my voice fit and healthy. As someone who teaches voice by demonstrating technical pointers, teaching the basics of solid technique ensured that what I had and continue to learn from my vocal supervisors past and present was establishing permanency in my body, rather than remaining as a concept or mental note. I have always struggled with amblymyopia, a condition of the eyes that affects things like motor-skills and activities that employ crossing-the-midline. This means that I have difficulty playing, and therefore do not rely too heavily on piano, using it largely for the purposes of note-bashing the vocal line. Acknowledging the importance of accompaniment, however, I used backing tracks and attended accompaniment sessions with my students. I am also taking lessons to improve my piano skills.
This has been a less philosophical blog post than perhaps you are used to reading from me, but it is one that I hope you have found useful. It's important to be reflective about one's craft and practice, and this might help other young people who are practicing musicians or vocalists, who have just started their journeys as educators. It will certainly be a useful excerpt to include when I eventually submit a PGCE / Masters paper one day!
Wishing you all a blessed Christmas and reinvigorating New Year ahead, with Covid19 alongside us. Stay sensible, and get jabbed!
Love and Light,
The Forest Weaver
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