Finding My Own Voice: A Singing Teacher’s Personal Story

What I was trained to sing

I still remember my first singing lesson. I had just turned 16. I was so excited. I’d begged my mum for at least a year before she finally said yes.

The teacher came to our house. I remember standing in our sitting room, and she asked me to sing anything I wanted.

At the time, I was obsessed with Mariah Carey. Music Box was one of the first cassette tapes I’d bought with my own money a few years back.

I sang my little heart out, and when I finished she said I was pushing. If I wanted to learn healthy, correct technique, we had to start with Vaccai exercises.

So that’s what we did.

Over the next year or so, we explored a lot of repertoire.

We worked through most of the 24 Italian Songs and Arias book, then progressed to Lieder and eventually French song, which was considered more advanced.

We occasionally sprinkled in some legit musical theatre, always “safe” repertoire, with no belting, which I was told could damage the voice.

I remember feeling incredibly proud when I was finally “allowed” to sing my first Mozart aria. I think it was Cherubino’s Non so più.

It was beautiful music. I loved my lessons, and I adored my teacher.

But this was not the music that made me want to sing in the first place.

What I was told

I was told that if I could sing classical music, I could sing anything.

Thirty years later, I know that isn’t true.

And it doesn’t mean I don’t value my classical training. I do. It gave me a great musical foundation: discipline, musicianship, attention to detail, and technical awareness.

But I remember that part of me always felt a disconnect between the music I was singing in lessons and the music I actually connected to emotionally. It was very quiet, and I couldn’t understand what that feeling of unease was, and it stayed with me for many years.

When I started asking what I wanted to sing

I only began asking myself what I wanted to sing in my mid-thirties.

It was painful and disorienting because I genuinely didn’t know how to connect with my voice in that way.

It felt like the rug had been pulled from under my feet, and I realised I needed to do something about it.

It was really scary, but I’m glad I finally listened to my instincts.

That experience has stayed with me, and it shapes how I work with singers now.

How I work now

If a student comes to me wanting to sing classical repertoire, we can explore that. If they love musical theatre, pop, indie folk, or other contemporary styles, then that is where we begin.

My focus is helping singers find more ease, freedom, and coordination in their voice, so they can sing the music that speaks to them.

What I ask now

So the first thing I ask is this:

What do you want to sing?

How do you want to express it?

And that is where we begin.