As voice teachers, we may dream of working with major stars like Taylor Swift or helping young performers prepare for a career on Broadway.

Yet voice students have many needs — and sometimes the best thing you can do as an educator is adapt your lessons to the individual goals of each client and focus on their personal development. While this might sound simple, many voice coaches find it challenging early in their careers to set aside their egos and listen to their students. 

Those who do achieve this mindset, however, gain a reputation for being truly helpful — and enjoy long-lasting careers.

Our guest this week knows the rewards of developing such a reputation. One of the original founders of the Institute for Vocal Advancement, Linda Tomkinson has been teaching professional and non-professional singers for 27 years. While some of her students have enjoyed major success singing with Rihanna’s world concert tours or performing on The Voice, Linda is just as happy helping church singers develop their voice or helping a beginner sing on-key.

Listen in as Linda shares how being willing to constantly re-evaluate and change your beliefs about teaching can help improve your craft. Learn how to place your lesson’s focus on the student and balance their needs with your teaching goals. And discover what to do when students come with you with ambitious — and possibly unrealistic — expectations for their future in singing.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. (9:53) How Linda built a career on word-of-mouth recommendations and not social media. 
2. (15:33) How listening to students helps you find the balance between what they want to learn and what you feel they need to know.
3. (20:50) The dangers of only wanting to work with highly talented performers or established artists.
4. (23:26) How working with an organization like the Institute for Vocal Advancement changes your perceptions of your self-worth and reasons for teaching.
5. (29:03) The importance of taking your ego out of the equation when choosing to teach. 
6. (33:17) The questions you should be asking your students in your first meeting — and all subsequent lessons — to learn about their changing needs. 
7. (39:17) Why it’s so important to meet students where they are and not box them in pre-determined roles.
8. (42:44) What to do when a student comes to you with unrealistic expectations about their singing ability and career goals.

Find Linda at her website and contact her at singwithlinda@msn.com. 

The book Linda describes is Leadership and Self-Deception, published by the Arbinger Institute.

We’ve got many more talented teachers and singers waiting in the wings to share their insights and knowledge for season three of the Vocal Advancement Podcast. Make sure you hear from them all by following us and subscribing to our YouTube channel! 

Is there a teacher, performer, or researcher you think would make a great guest on our show? Email us at hello@vocaladvancement.com and let us know!

About the Institute for Vocal Advancement

The Institute of Vocal Advancement (IVA) was created to provide voice teachers with a support network to provide you with the best teaching tools and strategies to advance your career. Our trainers teach from the empathic mindset, showing you how to improve your own teaching style.

Check out our webinars in our list of upcoming events and learning how our Teacher Training Programs can help advance your career. Use the code “iva20percent” to get 20% off your first year’s course membership fee!