Experienced Private Teacher of
Experienced Private Teacher of
Styles of Music | Languages | How Long Does it Take?
Style of Teaching | Vocal Health | Techniques Taught
All Singers: The Singer's Formant
What Kinds of Students do I Teach? | How Did I Learn All This? | Student Pages
Optional Opportunities: Student Performances, Open Rehearsals, Video Nights, Exams
Since 1981 I've been teaching piano and theory to a very wide range of students. The singing side of my work, which began in 1988, now dominates my teaching load, with voice students making up slightly more than half of my appointments.
Most lessons are one-to-one, but I often teach two people at a time.
So if YOU are looking for a teacher, please read below. You can contact me by phone on 08 9381 2308, or email: hmpperth@it.net.au
Any style of music, beginners to advanced. Technique and voice care for any style or level.
I mainly teach pop, musical theatre and classical singing. Most of the non-classical students learn speech quality singing & Broadway belt. My students sing anything from Elton John to Nirvana, Blues, Jazz, Soul & Scarlatti.
So far this has always worked well for the first month or two of lessons. Find a friend!
Do you have trouble with your voice at choir rehearsals? Pitch problems? Strain? Hoarseness? Range is difficult? Let's fix it so that you can once again gain pleasure from your choir! (Includes voice production, voice care & health.)
As a university student, I sang with many choirs. For five years (1989-93) I was a choir conductor of an adult beginner choir, and also taught every member of the choir for a few weeks before they were allowed to join. So, I'm sure I can help YOU if you are a chorister in need of assistance.
Though my main background is classical, I have taught a large number of rock, pop and music theatre singers. And a few jazz singers. But make no mistake: my rock singers sound like ROCK singers, NOT classical singers. My computer database, which only goes back maybe ten years, shows that I have taught about 500 singers in that time (in addition to the people before that). Most of these were doing non-classical music. They did originals, or covers like Leonard Cohen, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Aerosmith, Shania Twain, AC/DC, etc etc. All kinds of things, including rap and grunge!
My classical (and musical theatre) singers do learn some of the same voice control and development techniques as the band singers, but the emphasis is completely different. And the songs and sound qualities are different, of course. Classical students learn vocalises, which are used to develop many different technical skills. These include vocalises for long notes, leaps, smoothness (legato), eveness throughout the range, and development of tone and agility.
Many of my classical and music theatre students have done very well in AMEB exams, and won prizes in local eisteddfodau. They sing lieder and art song, arias from operas, cantatas and oratorios, and other songs.
I teach songs in English, Italian, Latin and German. And I particularly enjoy French melodie / chanson, but I only do this repertoire if the student has already learnt a fair bit of French themselves. I have also taught singers with Chinese and Indonesian songs.
Each language has its own beauties and its own challenges. It must be remembered that, with any language, the way it is sung will occasionally differ from the way it is spoken (but try telling that to a language teacher, especially Italian!)
For more info about my language background, see How Did I Learn All This?
I often get asked this question, which is pretty difficult to answer. If you want to be another Dame Joan Sutherland or Luciano Pavarotti, you're looking at six years just to get past thebeginner stage, they say. And you wouldn't do that with just the one teacher.
If you want to improve your Hall and Oats covers, well, you may find a big improvement after a couple of lessons. I have had new students tell me that the other members of their band thought they were singing much better after just the first introductory lesson (which beats me). Usually, all students can expect very quick and very tangible results. In this day and age it shouldn't take months to fix obvious vocal problems.
The main feature of my style is the development of the student's awareness. I work on the awareness of types of sounds, the feeling of the sounds, and the feeling of the various muscles of the vocal instrument. This is a very powerful way to teach, and probably explains why students often improve heaps after just a few lessons.
With all my singers I spend at least a little time, sometimes a lot of time, working on pure vocal health. When you get that right it can make a tremendous difference to a singer, regardless of the musical style. See my Disclaimer for Voice Students.
The emphasis varies from student to student, of course. Some other factors I work on with singing students include:
Other points to consider are articulation, intonation (fine pitch control), fluency and tempo, rhythmic control, nasality, stance, and head / neck relationship.
Also, I usually spend time talking with students about the many other issues that might be having an effect (good or bad) on their voice, quite apart from how they are using their vocal mechanism. Some students need to look at these issues in depth.
If you gather from all this that I'm really more interested in teaching than in performing, you're quite correct. But I don't have any problem performing, either as a pianist or as a singer. I don't get nervous or anything like that, and I quite enjoy the experience. But what really gives me a buzz is TEACHING, and COMPOSING.
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Mx Margaret Jones |
Phone 08 9381 2308 or 0427 853 083 |
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MusB(UWA), DipEd, LTCL, ATCL, AMusTCL, AMusA. |
MIMT: Nationally Accredited Teacher of both Piano and Theory since ca. 1991. |