August 11, 2025 • 28 mins
Thinking about putting your child in singing lessons? Before you dive in, there are a few things that can make a huge difference in their experience—and their success.
Kids don’t need intense vocal drills or serious technique at a young age. What they do need is a safe space to play, explore, and fall in love with music. Learn what to expect when enrolling a young singer, how to support their growth (without micromanaging), and why silliness might be the best vocal warm-up of all.
If your child loves to sing, there’s a way to nurture that joy without pressure—and that’s what really helps them grow.
👉 Want to make practicing easier? Grab our FREE warm up track here: https://lessons.voxtapestudios.com/free-warm-up-track
👉 Want to know exactly what your voice needs to improve? Get a vocal evaluation from our professional coaches here: https://lessons.voxtapestudios.com/vocal-evaluation
👉 Book a 1:1 session with Coach Lara: https://lessons.voxtapestudios.com/trial-lesson
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
what's important for
for kids when they take voice lessons is like
for the parents that the parent trusts the teacher
and doesn't intervene too much
parents we love you
but also please let us do our jobs
yeah and you know
if we if we say that hey like your kid is really great
but we really have to be careful with the belting
(00:21):
like we have to work on our head voice
so that we can keep the instrument healthy'cause we
see this all the time
our job as teachers then is to be like alright cool
they love doing this
but we also need to make sure that we do this
other stuff so that they can sustain
the belt thing so that
you know they're not blowing out their voice right
if we say that and then you're like
(00:41):
but I want my kid to belt or whatever
then it's gonna be really hard for everybody involved
there's a process to get there and us as the teacher
and obviously we do love and care about your child
and we will do our best with them yeah
yes hundred percent
(01:06):
hey Vox Star and welcome to from singer to artist
I'm Lara Chapman award winning singer and songwriter
turned viral vocal coach and the host of this show
at VoxTape Studios
we help singers from all over the world
level up their voices
by teaching them the three fundamental skills
all singers need technique
awareness and artistry whether you're looking to go pro
(01:27):
or just develop your voice for fun
my team and I are here to help
check the link in the description
to book your first session
or grab some of our other resources
Alrighty are you ready
let's get started
we've got an episode for the parents out there
and with me in the studio
we have Coach Kate and Coach Juliana from our team
thank you both for joining me uh
(01:48):
you guys are working with some of the youngest singers
that we have at our studio
we have very few um kids
because a lot of times kids go do in person lessons
and we only do online but every so often
we do get kids wanting to enroll in lessons
and so
we wanted to create this episode for parents out there
(02:08):
who have kids that love singing
and they might want to do some singing lessons
and
just give you a little bit of a better understanding of
like
when is it right to enroll your kid in singing lessons
what do you expect what
can you do to support your kid
best in a singing lesson so that they get out of it
what they need and things like that
okay so for me
(02:29):
I wanted to take voice lessons
way before I was allowed to
in Switzerland the music school that I went to
so we have like public school where you go to school
school like math and stuff haha
and then you have
like regional music schools where you go
take piano lessons and
you know like the after school activities essentially
but they're all like regional
(02:49):
so you go to the music school in your region
you can't go to another one unless it's a private one
and that's something else
but anyways
I was already taking piano lessons at that school
and I really wanted to do singing lessons
cause I really loved singing and I knew I needed help
but they were not allowing anybody
under the age of 13 to take singing lessons
(03:12):
so I guess it's like a puberty thing
I don't know but I had to wait
it was like two months or so before I turned 13
when I could enroll
like you can enroll in the semester you turn 13
so that was for me
that was the winter semester when I was 12 to 13
so I had to wait to take voice lessons
when did you guys start voice lessons
(03:34):
I started at 9 years old wow
I started early
I started I mean I started choir when I was like 5
wow yeah
which like singing yeah
hahaha we sounded like little angels
cause it was like your little voices
it was so freaking cute
and it was like kind of like Catholic and religious
I was like oh yeah
(03:55):
hahaha it sounded really cute like I've seen videos
um but I that's when I started like my music journey
uh huh but it wasn't like a one on one
like embrace your talent why not
yeah but that's technically when I started
but like one on one lessons I was probably like 11
mm hmm OK OK
(04:16):
yeah I I did like you know piano lessons
I did choirs in school
like the extracurricular choirs and
and bands and stuff but one on one voice lessons
I had to be thirteen and I was like
I wanna do it now I wonder cause I had a
a similar situation
where my mom was looking for voice lessons for me too
and some teachers would not take uh
(04:37):
there were two things that you could not have well
you needed to have your period if you were a girl
and you couldn't be a cheerleader what
I'm sorry yeah
because they did not want you like yelling
interesting and I didn't have my period cause I was 9
yeah and uh
I did do cheerleading a fun fact
(04:58):
oh um
I was just like two years I did it and yeah
it was fun it was cute
but um that
I'm wondering if they were waiting
for Grace to get their period
because it's very common
like your voice is going through a lot of changes
so it might have just been like waiting for your period
but they didn't want to
obviously say that to 13 year olds
I would embarrass them so much
yeah I think they just always said like
(05:20):
you know your voice is really delicate
and we don't want to hurt the voice
and I'm like I probably could have been like
I feel like my voice would have been healthier
had I had vocal coaching earlier
because I would not have just
continued to push through all the time
we don't know that I'm just making an Assumption
no yeah
yeah yeah
yeah I agree though
I think not like the earlier the better
I don't like yeah limitations
(05:42):
but I do feel like
the more kids understand their voice
as part of the instrument
and how to take care of it from a younger age
the quicker they can start to control it better
and like be healthy about it
and totally agree I don't know
I feel like uh huh
I would want that for my due to her child
and they wanna be musical too
(06:02):
yeah yeah
well when we're when we're really young
like when we're an infant
our like larynx and our epiglottis are like fused
so that way we can like nurse children
like we can feed children
and they can still breathe through their nose right
and as we grow they unfuse and like
slowly develop more and more until we hit like 20 ish
(06:24):
25 um
usually around like 21 18
between 18 and 21 we get like okay we're
we're fully like developed and then we start to ossify
so we start to decay
hahaha decay
we're already decaying right now
you're decaying right now if you're over 21
yeah sorry haha
um and
but sometimes ossification is very good
(06:46):
it helps you actually sing better
um that's why like
opera singers are like always a little bit older
because their ossification is actually like well
and I've even heard Kelly Clarkson say
she's in her 40s now she says
I'm a better singer now than I ever was in my 20s
yeah she sounds so much better now
she sounds so good yeah
she's amazing yeah
and that could be ossification
it could be partially ossification
but also she might just like
(07:08):
we need to do an episode on the opposite
not young singers but more like
I don't want to say old singers
yeah hahaha
starting to sing later in life
hahaha that's a whole other episode
so what's the youngest student you guys have ever had
I think for me it was 6 5 5
(07:29):
I had a four year old piano student
so I don't think they count
but I really I was like
this kid can't even make a two with their fingers
and you want me to teach them piano
oh my gosh but the parents were really pushy on it
yeah so I was like okay
um I think like 7
7 or 8 I'm remembering we had a student a few years ago
I can't remember how old she was
6 or 7 yeah
well and you worked with Ireland
(07:50):
and I think I was working with her when she was 6
and then you you took over
cause I was like I am
I am overwhelmed she must have started yeah
she must have been 8 when we started
oh really
7 or 8 okay yeah
yeah it's tricky
cause like their attention spans are so limited
yes goldfish
very much so it the
(08:10):
the biggest part is like
keeping them interested in what they're doing
so what do you guys think is a good age
for kids to start voice lessons
I feel like I feel like 8
I I mean
it kind of depends cause I mean
like you said Ireland started at 6
but she literally said at 5 years old
mom I wanna sing yeah
I wanna take voice lessons
if your kid is so staunch and knowing what they want
(08:31):
like do it like find somebody who can do it
and they keep asking you know what I mean
and I feel like it depends like on
if the kid is asking for lessons or like
I really wanna learn how to sing or the parent is like
you should learn how to sing
yeah cause then that's gonna determine
how much they actually apply themselves to the craft
because I've had like
(08:52):
I remember this little girl I had once
she was like on her own
she was turning on her zoom call and like
she was like 6 years old from China
like putting up her YouTube links and what not
wow you are amazing
and I've had kids where it's like
the dad is doing this
and then they're holding them and like no
sit down like stay put and yeah
that's so hard it's a lot
so I think it depends on the kid that yeah
(09:13):
cause that feels like you're in like a moral situation
where you're like
I'm actively participating in maybe these
this kid like hating music
even though I'm not you know
like yeah you're there
so it and I had a situation with this four
year old piano student where it was like
the kid did not want to be there
and it's like I don't want to like
create these bad memories surrounding music
(09:34):
that's so hard you know
so yeah I I don't know
I think I think like 8 7 8 is usually good
I started when I was 9 but I had been asking
you know like
I think as long as you have a teacher who isn't gonna
like push you past the limits that you have
like physically as a singer
you know and talking talk to your voice teachers
(09:56):
like ask them questions to see what they know or like
what kind of music they might give to your kid
or something like that you know
like as a parent
you just gotta be vigilant vigilant in your questions
you know yeah
and that can be hard
like if you didn't grow up around music
like as the parent right
if you as the parent didn't grow up around music
(10:17):
or you never took lessons or anything like that
but your child is it is I'm interested in it
you're like I don't even know what questions to ask
right so I think what what's what's important for
what's important for
for kids when they take voice lessons is like
for the parents that the parent trusts the teacher
and doesn't intervene too much
(10:37):
parents we love you
but also please let us do our jobs
yeah and you know
if we if we say that hey like your kid is really great
but we really have to be careful with the belting
like we have to work on our head voice
so that we can keep the instrument healthy
cause we see this all the time
I was that kind of kid too
(10:58):
no belty loud all the time and no head voice right same
and so our job as teachers then is to be like
alright cool
they love doing this but
we also need to make sure that we do this other stuff
so that they can sustain or like
you know
continue do the the belty thing so that you know
they're not blowing out their voice right
and so if we say that and then you're like
(11:21):
but I want my kid to belt or whatever
then it's gonna be really hard for everybody involved
for the kid for you as the parent
and for us as the coach
to really get where we wanna go
so we understand that you want your kid to belt
or your kid wants to belt
but there's a process to get there
(11:42):
and us as the teacher
we would hopefully know the process to get there
so please trust us that we know the process
and that we can get your kid there
and that it takes time and that it takes time does
oh my God like especially with a young voice like
obviously every singer is very specific
but because it's such a little tiny voice box
(12:02):
like it it's gonna take a lot of time to you know
those for those muscles to get that memory
and like for it to lock in mentally
like I need to learn how to use my breathing correctly
and like it's a lot for child yeah
I like to use the metaphor like
would you just like
have your kid go into a gym and start
(12:23):
lifting 300 pounds yes
you know like
belting can be like really strenuous on kids voices
you know and so it's like
we can't just walk in and lift 300 pounds
that would be detrimental to your kids
like development and growth
you know and their confidence honestly
um so it's one of those things where yeah
(12:43):
you have to build it up you have to it's
it's not instantaneous like
you know occasionally
we run into those prodigies that are on
America's Got Talent or something like that
you know um
but I it's good to trust
if you go to a voice teacher and they're like
this is out of my league you know
you know
that that's a good teacher because it'll be like
(13:05):
I don't think that I can help you
but I can
let's send you somewhere where we can help you
if you are in a situation where you have a prodigy yes
um but yeah
kids kids are interesting
it's it's tricky
you know it is
cause you you wanna keep it fun for them
like so
you wanna do the things with them that they want to do
but we also have to
because we have their best interest at heart too
(13:27):
we have to balance
like what they want and what they need
absolutely right and so we we
we just do our best to try and figure that out
how we can get there
and also feel like building a foundation Musically
not just like with their voices
but like ear training and like
whatever type of exercises we're having them do
it's gonna develop their musicality as a whole
(13:50):
and then when they're 12 13
they have a better pitch and they're you know
they're quicker and yeah
they can hear those like arpeggios and stuff like that
that's a that's a struggle a lot of people have
they're like do me so me do you know yeah yeah yeah um
or like pointing out things on sheet music
or like on a chart I'll be like
oh see how it does that that's what that means
(14:11):
or so that's what this means
like mezzo di voce or or not mezzo di voce
mezzo piano yeah
you know things like that just so it's kind of like
okay we can put the pieces together slowly
you know I when I was teaching Ireland and you
you took over then
and I was very thankful for that because I'm just
I just don't have the bone to teach children
(14:32):
I just cannot and uh and so I
before you took over
and I was teaching the six year old girl
and she was great right
but it's like
oh my gosh what do I do to keep her interested
I called my mom and my mom is a kindergarten teacher
and has been for 40 years
she knows how to deal with kids
she's not a voice teacher
she's a kindergarten teacher
(14:52):
but I'm like I have the voice expertise
I need the handling children expertise
mom help me and so she was like
yeah you know
it's
you have to do a lot of musical education with them
not just singing
but also the whole musical education behind it
so she was like take a
like a toilet paper roll like an empty
like a you know
the cart like the yeah yeah yeah
whatever you know what I'm talking about
(15:12):
um and then staple it on one side together
put some dry like popcorn
not on like like not popped popcorn
but the kernels popcorn kernels in it
and then take a like
staple it together on the other side then too
and then it becomes like a little homemade shaker
oh that's so cute right
so I was making shakers with Ireland so that she could
(15:35):
like sing and shake at the same time for some like
rhythms yes
perfect right
so that's credit to my mom
thank you Mommy
she's the best I never would have had that like
what's your mom's name it's Ursula
Ursula shout out to Ursula
yes that's a great idea
we we call her Mommy Mobi
momi momi momi
(15:56):
shout out to momi momi momi haha
um so yeah
and uh
cause you you
you don't really wanna be singing for like
30 minutes straight they don't wanna either
yeah and also lyrics are a thing like I remember
cause I at first I wasn't really
and still I'm not honestly like
at what age kids are fluent in reading
(16:18):
and like I was like
do you know how to read lyrics
like oh yeah
that's
how do you learn them if you don't know how to read
you know like
so like working in sections
instead of like a three minute song
we just do the verse yeah
and then I repeat repeat
repeat until you can like close your eyes and sing it
like yeah
there's like little things and every kid is different
I was like I had to ask the dad like
can she read and she's like a little
(16:39):
I was like oh OK
that's helpful yes
I wouldn't know yeah
yeah I was like
ask my mom at what age did I learn how to read
yeah I don't know that
I don't know first grade kindergarten
I don't know I have no idea
just 6 7
I don't remember I don't know
you have to do like sight words in kindergarten
so you have to like do like 40 to 100
like sight words like cat mouse mom
things like that mom
(16:59):
dad OK
things like that so I don't know
yeah but like fully reading
yeah lines
fully reading a book I don't know
third grade second grade
see I was
I'm very late with reading
um it's just my brain
I fell on my head one too many times as a baby
so I I'm just not a good reader hahaha
still to this day I'm not
but that's okay anyways
(17:21):
you're doing great and yeah
thank you I turned out just fine
uh
so that's like for the little itty bitty kids right now
when we reach teenage years um
the voice also changes for
for boys it's a very apparent change
they start cracking all over the place
and then they like drop down there
and then they speak down there
(17:42):
but girls also go through vocal changes too
so how do you guys navigate that in your
in your singing lessons and you know
help setting expectations with the kid and the parent
and all the above yeah
well the thing about voice changes
in puberty is that everybody
experiences a voice change uh
it doesn't matter what your uh sex
(18:04):
your sex is you do experience a voice change
they just kind of happen a little differently
like you said the
the like testosterone dominant like male larynx yeah
we really hear that shit and when we're there
when we're in that land there's usually only like
one or two to three notes that they can sing
which is um and there's a lot of different
there's a lot of different like uh
(18:25):
theories on whether or not
it's good to just sing through it
and just kind of sit with it and just accept it
and know that it's gonna end soon right
and there's also the
let's just not sing it all because it
it's gonna kill their confidence yes
you know so it kind of depends on like the situation
so it's not necessarily a physical harm
but more like the confidence
(18:46):
the mental side of it the mental yeah
yeah the mental beating of okay
I could sing this and now I can't sing anything at all
you know what I mean which is so sad um
I struggled with
I had a student like my first year teaching voice
and he just had this massive break
could sing like falsetto
could sing really low and then nothing in the middle
and it's like okay
(19:07):
I had to just we just have to keep sitting with this
and it was actually making
him so much more stressed out
than if we had just maybe taken like
a couple months off
let him just sing in choir and then go back to it
but it's really hard with boys'cause it's already
like a risk when they're a boy to be in a choir
you know I feel like yeah
socially it can be you know
(19:28):
beat up and we love you and you're safe here yes
yes you are yeah
um but so yeah
and then struggling with like having like some issues
yeah right
can make it so much harder
so that's the thing with girl or with
excuse me that's the thing with boys with girls
they just get like this like
we call it a glottal gap that happens in their voice
(19:49):
it's when they're like
inner oritnoid doesn't close all the way
so it's when they're your vocal folds go like this
and it's when they don't fully close on the bottom
so you get like this little hole
and so you get this like
it up that kind of comes through um
and so you kind of have to work to close that gap
and usually it doesn't like
close by itself until you're about like 16 or 17
(20:13):
maybe even like 18
and sometimes people never close their gap
but if they're not singers it doesn't matter as much
you know what I mean
but like I had a student back my first year teaching
and I didn't know that we
you could get a glottal gap
so I had like this seventh grade girl who like
couldn't sing clear and I was like
oh my God she must have no
(20:33):
it's like I had no idea yeah
and I sent her to a a laryngologist
I sent her to get scoped I was like
I can't get a clear tone on this girl
no matter what I do well
turns out that's just normal
it's just something that happens that's just science
you know
and it's like one of those things where it's like dang
I never would have known that you know what I mean
like yeah um
but that's just something to think about
(20:53):
so if you're teaching or your kid has like a slight
like breathiness to their tone
it's gonna go away it's it's gonna go away but yeah
no alarm bells you don't need to freak out like I did
I was like oh my God did I do something
you know like did I did I do that
you know did I do that
so yeah I feel like also teaching them patience yes
I've had I had this girl
(21:16):
I had her like a couple of years
and I got her when I was I got her
she was given to me when she was like 13
and I stopped eating her when she went to college no
um when she was like 17 18 so I saw the whole yeah
the whole wide range like
she came singing like super high up and like super
kind of like bright and Kitty
(21:37):
but like strong
and then with that change around like 14:15
I was like oh
suddenly the head voice is a little bit weaker
like the belty mixed notes are a little bit breathier
she can't have that much power and I was just like
patience baby child like it's gonna be fine yeah
I like teaching her how to breathe properly
how to use her body like get different textures
(21:58):
different tones in other places of her voice
and then the darker tones came and I'm like okay
like her voice settled a little bit more yeah
it's just like patience and like
treating the instrument with care and love and tension
without being like ah
cause it's yeah
that's how they feel and that's how I felt
it feels like the worst thing in the world
when it's happening to you
(22:18):
and yeah because you don't
you don't have our experience
like the experiences we've had at this point
so it's hard cause you wanna honor it
yeah and you're also like
I promise it's gonna be OK
yeah I remember being like fourteen
playing Demi Lovato's Skyscraper
literally that song dude
I I cannot
(22:39):
I like would sing that part
that part like over and over
my brothers were like shut the hell up
like I was because I couldn't get that clear mixed up
I couldn't yeah
because of the of the gap right yup
so at that time I I don't know
I was just like it's not coming
it's not coming and I'm like
you know eventually it came out
but I probably traumatized my family
(23:01):
haha they can never hear that song again
no oh my God
I remember when that song came out
and broke the internet uh
just sing it still sing it to the end
yeah without a gap with that again
I love that I don't remember like the breathy
like ever having that ever stop
I didn't really have it either okay
I didn't but we were both like belty chest voicey girly
(23:22):
so okay yeah
I never experienced that yeah
it depends on the maybe I did
but I don't remember I don't know
what advice do you have for the parents of
children that are enrolled in voice lessons
whether they are taking lessons with us
or anywhere else
or they want to start enrolling in voice lessons
I mean like ask them how they feel
(23:44):
like how that your lesson was like
I feel like a lot of parents
and I would feel this way with my parents
like I would be like hey
I worked on this song like here
and they're like oh
that's nice I'm like no
like it was so much work yeah
like you go through you know
whatever how many weeks with a coach on this song
or like
on these couple of songs that were like a challenge
(24:05):
and then you show someone
especially your parent or your caregiver
and they're like oh yeah
that's nice honey like
like you feeling defeated
yeah when your coach is like
yes you did so good
yeah so I feel like being kind and gentle and like
asking how they're feeling
showing interest so vulnerable
especially if they want to sing for you like
oh my God like I'd be like
(24:25):
yes thank to me
yeah hahaha
I would put on I mean
I'm sure we all did this oh
I did put on full performances for our parents
and like sometimes my dad mean
poor man
would wake up at 4:00am to go to the gym and work
and then would come home at eight and then die
and I was like dad
here's me singing for half an hour
making me like knocked out
yeah literally
he was like gone
(24:45):
I remember I wrote this song and I showed it to him
and he fell asleep and I was so mad
oh no
I was like he doesn't like me
my mom was like he's just really tired honey
I wrote this song yeah
obviously you know
everyone and everything is hard sometimes
but you know
just check in uh huh
yeah I love that
(25:06):
I feel like mine is let your kid talk
uh cause sometimes when you're in a lesson
the parents want to make sure that
you know and understand like what's going on
like how they're feeling um
and so I guess for me I'm always like okay
and how about how about child
child how do you feel about that
and then they like look at parent and I'm like no
(25:29):
no you
you tell me you tell me
you know what I mean um
because I understand that they're trying to get across
like what the kid wants
and the kid might be really shy
it's it's just one of those things where
you know it's like
it's okay to let them float and have to figure out
how do I respond to this person I've never met before
how do I
how do I sing in front of this person who I don't know
(25:51):
you know what I mean so
I think that would be my biggest advice is
let your kid like lead the conversation
yeah express how they're feeling
um and yeah
and listen you know
I love that um yeah
oh that's both great advice
and like I said earlier
just get out of the way and trust the teacher
(26:11):
yeah to do the job
yeah yeah
for sure
and I promise we do love and care about your child
and we will do our best with them
yeah yes
hundred percent and it's
it's okay if you tell us like what
you know like
what you would like
and what your kid would like to be able to do
and whatever but then
trust us that we know how to get your kid there
even if that doesn't happen today or next week
(26:34):
or next month three years
and it might take some time
it might not be the way that you maybe Learned when you
if you sang it all when you were younger
it might be different we've
we've you know
there's been a lot of growth
and research and learning that's happened
so it might look a little different
but we promise we're doing our best
I love it
just have fun have fun
(26:55):
absolutely it's gotta be fun
it's gotta be fun like
the moment they start stressing or
like being unhappy in a lesson
I'm like no
uh huh yeah
this is not supposed to be stressful for you no
it should be a release and like yeah
if they love it amazing and if they don't
it's it's okay to step away yeah
maybe they'll come back yeah
I love that well
(27:16):
thank you guys and thank you for for teaching the kids
I again like I said
not every person is is made for that and I am not
and I have recognized that and accepted that
and that's okay that's okay for now at least
and we like you lovely kids and lovely parents
I have the best coaches for you hahaha
it's not me hahaha but it is Kate and Juliana hahaha
(27:41):
thank you both for joining me
and for taking care of our beautiful little kids and um
teaching them to sing whatever it is they wanna sing
with time what time
not today but with time patience
I know it's hard I'm the most impatient person ever
so I can totally relate
it's very hard but we can get there
love it thank you so much
thank you for tuning in
(28:02):
if you are interested in rolling your kids in a session
or at least just trying it out
seeing what it's like
you can always book a session through the link below
and we'll be able to kind of come up with a plan
of like how we can help your kids the best
but yeah I can't wait to hear from you
other than that we'll catch you in the next episode bye
what's important for
for kids when they take voice lessons is like
for the parents that the parent trusts the teacher
and doesn't intervene too much
parents we love you
but also please let us do our jobs
yeah and you know
if we if we say that hey like your kid is really great
but we really have to be careful with the belting
(00:21):
like we have to work on our head voice
so that we can keep the instrument healthy'cause we
see this all the time
our job as teachers then is to be like alright cool
they love doing this
but we also need to make sure that we do this
other stuff so that they can sustain
the belt thing so that
you know they're not blowing out their voice right
if we say that and then you're like
(00:41):
but I want my kid to belt or whatever
then it's gonna be really hard for everybody involved
there's a process to get there and us as the teacher
and obviously we do love and care about your child
and we will do our best with them yeah
yes hundred percent
(01:06):
hey Vox Star and welcome to from singer to artist
I'm Lara Chapman award winning singer and songwriter
turned viral vocal coach and the host of this show
at VoxTape Studios
we help singers from all over the world
level up their voices
by teaching them the three fundamental skills
all singers need technique
awareness and artistry whether you're looking to go pro
(01:27):
or just develop your voice for fun
my team and I are here to help
check the link in the description
to book your first session
or grab some of our other resources
Alrighty are you ready
let's get started
we've got an episode for the parents out there
and with me in the studio
we have Coach Kate and Coach Juliana from our team
thank you both for joining me uh
(01:48):
you guys are working with some of the youngest singers
that we have at our studio
we have very few um kids
because a lot of times kids go do in person lessons
and we only do online but every so often
we do get kids wanting to enroll in lessons
and so
we wanted to create this episode for parents out there
(02:08):
who have kids that love singing
and they might want to do some singing lessons
and
just give you a little bit of a better understanding of
like
when is it right to enroll your kid in singing lessons
what do you expect what
can you do to support your kid
best in a singing lesson so that they get out of it
what they need and things like that
okay so for me
(02:29):
I wanted to take voice lessons
way before I was allowed to
in Switzerland the music school that I went to
so we have like public school where you go to school
school like math and stuff haha
and then you have
like regional music schools where you go
take piano lessons and
you know like the after school activities essentially
but they're all like regional
(02:49):
so you go to the music school in your region
you can't go to another one unless it's a private one
and that's something else
but anyways
I was already taking piano lessons at that school
and I really wanted to do singing lessons
cause I really loved singing and I knew I needed help
but they were not allowing anybody
under the age of 13 to take singing lessons
(03:12):
so I guess it's like a puberty thing
I don't know but I had to wait
it was like two months or so before I turned 13
when I could enroll
like you can enroll in the semester you turn 13
so that was for me
that was the winter semester when I was 12 to 13
so I had to wait to take voice lessons
when did you guys start voice lessons
(03:34):
I started at 9 years old wow
I started early
I started I mean I started choir when I was like 5
wow yeah
which like singing yeah
hahaha we sounded like little angels
cause it was like your little voices
it was so freaking cute
and it was like kind of like Catholic and religious
I was like oh yeah
(03:55):
hahaha it sounded really cute like I've seen videos
um but I that's when I started like my music journey
uh huh but it wasn't like a one on one
like embrace your talent why not
yeah but that's technically when I started
but like one on one lessons I was probably like 11
mm hmm OK OK
(04:16):
yeah I I did like you know piano lessons
I did choirs in school
like the extracurricular choirs and
and bands and stuff but one on one voice lessons
I had to be thirteen and I was like
I wanna do it now I wonder cause I had a
a similar situation
where my mom was looking for voice lessons for me too
and some teachers would not take uh
(04:37):
there were two things that you could not have well
you needed to have your period if you were a girl
and you couldn't be a cheerleader what
I'm sorry yeah
because they did not want you like yelling
interesting and I didn't have my period cause I was 9
yeah and uh
I did do cheerleading a fun fact
(04:58):
oh um
I was just like two years I did it and yeah
it was fun it was cute
but um that
I'm wondering if they were waiting
for Grace to get their period
because it's very common
like your voice is going through a lot of changes
so it might have just been like waiting for your period
but they didn't want to
obviously say that to 13 year olds
I would embarrass them so much
yeah I think they just always said like
(05:20):
you know your voice is really delicate
and we don't want to hurt the voice
and I'm like I probably could have been like
I feel like my voice would have been healthier
had I had vocal coaching earlier
because I would not have just
continued to push through all the time
we don't know that I'm just making an Assumption
no yeah
yeah yeah
yeah I agree though
I think not like the earlier the better
I don't like yeah limitations
(05:42):
but I do feel like
the more kids understand their voice
as part of the instrument
and how to take care of it from a younger age
the quicker they can start to control it better
and like be healthy about it
and totally agree I don't know
I feel like uh huh
I would want that for my due to her child
and they wanna be musical too
(06:02):
yeah yeah
well when we're when we're really young
like when we're an infant
our like larynx and our epiglottis are like fused
so that way we can like nurse children
like we can feed children
and they can still breathe through their nose right
and as we grow they unfuse and like
slowly develop more and more until we hit like 20 ish
(06:24):
25 um
usually around like 21 18
between 18 and 21 we get like okay we're
we're fully like developed and then we start to ossify
so we start to decay
hahaha decay
we're already decaying right now
you're decaying right now if you're over 21
yeah sorry haha
um and
but sometimes ossification is very good
(06:46):
it helps you actually sing better
um that's why like
opera singers are like always a little bit older
because their ossification is actually like well
and I've even heard Kelly Clarkson say
she's in her 40s now she says
I'm a better singer now than I ever was in my 20s
yeah she sounds so much better now
she sounds so good yeah
she's amazing yeah
and that could be ossification
it could be partially ossification
but also she might just like
(07:08):
we need to do an episode on the opposite
not young singers but more like
I don't want to say old singers
yeah hahaha
starting to sing later in life
hahaha that's a whole other episode
so what's the youngest student you guys have ever had
I think for me it was 6 5 5
(07:29):
I had a four year old piano student
so I don't think they count
but I really I was like
this kid can't even make a two with their fingers
and you want me to teach them piano
oh my gosh but the parents were really pushy on it
yeah so I was like okay
um I think like 7
7 or 8 I'm remembering we had a student a few years ago
I can't remember how old she was
6 or 7 yeah
well and you worked with Ireland
(07:50):
and I think I was working with her when she was 6
and then you you took over
cause I was like I am
I am overwhelmed she must have started yeah
she must have been 8 when we started
oh really
7 or 8 okay yeah
yeah it's tricky
cause like their attention spans are so limited
yes goldfish
very much so it the
(08:10):
the biggest part is like
keeping them interested in what they're doing
so what do you guys think is a good age
for kids to start voice lessons
I feel like I feel like 8
I I mean
it kind of depends cause I mean
like you said Ireland started at 6
but she literally said at 5 years old
mom I wanna sing yeah
I wanna take voice lessons
if your kid is so staunch and knowing what they want
(08:31):
like do it like find somebody who can do it
and they keep asking you know what I mean
and I feel like it depends like on
if the kid is asking for lessons or like
I really wanna learn how to sing or the parent is like
you should learn how to sing
yeah cause then that's gonna determine
how much they actually apply themselves to the craft
because I've had like
(08:52):
I remember this little girl I had once
she was like on her own
she was turning on her zoom call and like
she was like 6 years old from China
like putting up her YouTube links and what not
wow you are amazing
and I've had kids where it's like
the dad is doing this
and then they're holding them and like no
sit down like stay put and yeah
that's so hard it's a lot
so I think it depends on the kid that yeah
(09:13):
cause that feels like you're in like a moral situation
where you're like
I'm actively participating in maybe these
this kid like hating music
even though I'm not you know
like yeah you're there
so it and I had a situation with this four
year old piano student where it was like
the kid did not want to be there
and it's like I don't want to like
create these bad memories surrounding music
(09:34):
that's so hard you know
so yeah I I don't know
I think I think like 8 7 8 is usually good
I started when I was 9 but I had been asking
you know like
I think as long as you have a teacher who isn't gonna
like push you past the limits that you have
like physically as a singer
you know and talking talk to your voice teachers
(09:56):
like ask them questions to see what they know or like
what kind of music they might give to your kid
or something like that you know
like as a parent
you just gotta be vigilant vigilant in your questions
you know yeah
and that can be hard
like if you didn't grow up around music
like as the parent right
if you as the parent didn't grow up around music
(10:17):
or you never took lessons or anything like that
but your child is it is I'm interested in it
you're like I don't even know what questions to ask
right so I think what what's what's important for
what's important for
for kids when they take voice lessons is like
for the parents that the parent trusts the teacher
and doesn't intervene too much
(10:37):
parents we love you
but also please let us do our jobs
yeah and you know
if we if we say that hey like your kid is really great
but we really have to be careful with the belting
like we have to work on our head voice
so that we can keep the instrument healthy
cause we see this all the time
I was that kind of kid too
(10:58):
no belty loud all the time and no head voice right same
and so our job as teachers then is to be like
alright cool
they love doing this but
we also need to make sure that we do this other stuff
so that they can sustain or like
you know
continue do the the belty thing so that you know
they're not blowing out their voice right
and so if we say that and then you're like
(11:21):
but I want my kid to belt or whatever
then it's gonna be really hard for everybody involved
for the kid for you as the parent
and for us as the coach
to really get where we wanna go
so we understand that you want your kid to belt
or your kid wants to belt
but there's a process to get there
(11:42):
and us as the teacher
we would hopefully know the process to get there
so please trust us that we know the process
and that we can get your kid there
and that it takes time and that it takes time does
oh my God like especially with a young voice like
obviously every singer is very specific
but because it's such a little tiny voice box
(12:02):
like it it's gonna take a lot of time to you know
those for those muscles to get that memory
and like for it to lock in mentally
like I need to learn how to use my breathing correctly
and like it's a lot for child yeah
I like to use the metaphor like
would you just like
have your kid go into a gym and start
(12:23):
lifting 300 pounds yes
you know like
belting can be like really strenuous on kids voices
you know and so it's like
we can't just walk in and lift 300 pounds
that would be detrimental to your kids
like development and growth
you know and their confidence honestly
um so it's one of those things where yeah
(12:43):
you have to build it up you have to it's
it's not instantaneous like
you know occasionally
we run into those prodigies that are on
America's Got Talent or something like that
you know um
but I it's good to trust
if you go to a voice teacher and they're like
this is out of my league you know
you know
that that's a good teacher because it'll be like
(13:05):
I don't think that I can help you
but I can
let's send you somewhere where we can help you
if you are in a situation where you have a prodigy yes
um but yeah
kids kids are interesting
it's it's tricky
you know it is
cause you you wanna keep it fun for them
like so
you wanna do the things with them that they want to do
but we also have to
because we have their best interest at heart too
(13:27):
we have to balance
like what they want and what they need
absolutely right and so we we
we just do our best to try and figure that out
how we can get there
and also feel like building a foundation Musically
not just like with their voices
but like ear training and like
whatever type of exercises we're having them do
it's gonna develop their musicality as a whole
(13:50):
and then when they're 12 13
they have a better pitch and they're you know
they're quicker and yeah
they can hear those like arpeggios and stuff like that
that's a that's a struggle a lot of people have
they're like do me so me do you know yeah yeah yeah um
or like pointing out things on sheet music
or like on a chart I'll be like
oh see how it does that that's what that means
(14:11):
or so that's what this means
like mezzo di voce or or not mezzo di voce
mezzo piano yeah
you know things like that just so it's kind of like
okay we can put the pieces together slowly
you know I when I was teaching Ireland and you
you took over then
and I was very thankful for that because I'm just
I just don't have the bone to teach children
(14:32):
I just cannot and uh and so I
before you took over
and I was teaching the six year old girl
and she was great right
but it's like
oh my gosh what do I do to keep her interested
I called my mom and my mom is a kindergarten teacher
and has been for 40 years
she knows how to deal with kids
she's not a voice teacher
she's a kindergarten teacher
(14:52):
but I'm like I have the voice expertise
I need the handling children expertise
mom help me and so she was like
yeah you know
it's
you have to do a lot of musical education with them
not just singing
but also the whole musical education behind it
so she was like take a
like a toilet paper roll like an empty
like a you know
the cart like the yeah yeah yeah
whatever you know what I'm talking about
(15:12):
um and then staple it on one side together
put some dry like popcorn
not on like like not popped popcorn
but the kernels popcorn kernels in it
and then take a like
staple it together on the other side then too
and then it becomes like a little homemade shaker
oh that's so cute right
so I was making shakers with Ireland so that she could
(15:35):
like sing and shake at the same time for some like
rhythms yes
perfect right
so that's credit to my mom
thank you Mommy
she's the best I never would have had that like
what's your mom's name it's Ursula
Ursula shout out to Ursula
yes that's a great idea
we we call her Mommy Mobi
momi momi momi
(15:56):
shout out to momi momi momi haha
um so yeah
and uh
cause you you
you don't really wanna be singing for like
30 minutes straight they don't wanna either
yeah and also lyrics are a thing like I remember
cause I at first I wasn't really
and still I'm not honestly like
at what age kids are fluent in reading
(16:18):
and like I was like
do you know how to read lyrics
like oh yeah
that's
how do you learn them if you don't know how to read
you know like
so like working in sections
instead of like a three minute song
we just do the verse yeah
and then I repeat repeat
repeat until you can like close your eyes and sing it
like yeah
there's like little things and every kid is different
I was like I had to ask the dad like
can she read and she's like a little
(16:39):
I was like oh OK
that's helpful yes
I wouldn't know yeah
yeah I was like
ask my mom at what age did I learn how to read
yeah I don't know that
I don't know first grade kindergarten
I don't know I have no idea
just 6 7
I don't remember I don't know
you have to do like sight words in kindergarten
so you have to like do like 40 to 100
like sight words like cat mouse mom
things like that mom
(16:59):
dad OK
things like that so I don't know
yeah but like fully reading
yeah lines
fully reading a book I don't know
third grade second grade
see I was
I'm very late with reading
um it's just my brain
I fell on my head one too many times as a baby
so I I'm just not a good reader hahaha
still to this day I'm not
but that's okay anyways
(17:21):
you're doing great and yeah
thank you I turned out just fine
uh
so that's like for the little itty bitty kids right now
when we reach teenage years um
the voice also changes for
for boys it's a very apparent change
they start cracking all over the place
and then they like drop down there
and then they speak down there
(17:42):
but girls also go through vocal changes too
so how do you guys navigate that in your
in your singing lessons and you know
help setting expectations with the kid and the parent
and all the above yeah
well the thing about voice changes
in puberty is that everybody
experiences a voice change uh
it doesn't matter what your uh sex
(18:04):
your sex is you do experience a voice change
they just kind of happen a little differently
like you said the
the like testosterone dominant like male larynx yeah
we really hear that shit and when we're there
when we're in that land there's usually only like
one or two to three notes that they can sing
which is um and there's a lot of different
there's a lot of different like uh
(18:25):
theories on whether or not
it's good to just sing through it
and just kind of sit with it and just accept it
and know that it's gonna end soon right
and there's also the
let's just not sing it all because it
it's gonna kill their confidence yes
you know so it kind of depends on like the situation
so it's not necessarily a physical harm
but more like the confidence
(18:46):
the mental side of it the mental yeah
yeah the mental beating of okay
I could sing this and now I can't sing anything at all
you know what I mean which is so sad um
I struggled with
I had a student like my first year teaching voice
and he just had this massive break
could sing like falsetto
could sing really low and then nothing in the middle
and it's like okay
(19:07):
I had to just we just have to keep sitting with this
and it was actually making
him so much more stressed out
than if we had just maybe taken like
a couple months off
let him just sing in choir and then go back to it
but it's really hard with boys'cause it's already
like a risk when they're a boy to be in a choir
you know I feel like yeah
socially it can be you know
(19:28):
beat up and we love you and you're safe here yes
yes you are yeah
um but so yeah
and then struggling with like having like some issues
yeah right
can make it so much harder
so that's the thing with girl or with
excuse me that's the thing with boys with girls
they just get like this like
we call it a glottal gap that happens in their voice
(19:49):
it's when they're like
inner oritnoid doesn't close all the way
so it's when they're your vocal folds go like this
and it's when they don't fully close on the bottom
so you get like this little hole
and so you get this like
it up that kind of comes through um
and so you kind of have to work to close that gap
and usually it doesn't like
close by itself until you're about like 16 or 17
(20:13):
maybe even like 18
and sometimes people never close their gap
but if they're not singers it doesn't matter as much
you know what I mean
but like I had a student back my first year teaching
and I didn't know that we
you could get a glottal gap
so I had like this seventh grade girl who like
couldn't sing clear and I was like
oh my God she must have no
(20:33):
it's like I had no idea yeah
and I sent her to a a laryngologist
I sent her to get scoped I was like
I can't get a clear tone on this girl
no matter what I do well
turns out that's just normal
it's just something that happens that's just science
you know
and it's like one of those things where it's like dang
I never would have known that you know what I mean
like yeah um
but that's just something to think about
(20:53):
so if you're teaching or your kid has like a slight
like breathiness to their tone
it's gonna go away it's it's gonna go away but yeah
no alarm bells you don't need to freak out like I did
I was like oh my God did I do something
you know like did I did I do that
you know did I do that
so yeah I feel like also teaching them patience yes
I've had I had this girl
(21:16):
I had her like a couple of years
and I got her when I was I got her
she was given to me when she was like 13
and I stopped eating her when she went to college no
um when she was like 17 18 so I saw the whole yeah
the whole wide range like
she came singing like super high up and like super
kind of like bright and Kitty
(21:37):
but like strong
and then with that change around like 14:15
I was like oh
suddenly the head voice is a little bit weaker
like the belty mixed notes are a little bit breathier
she can't have that much power and I was just like
patience baby child like it's gonna be fine yeah
I like teaching her how to breathe properly
how to use her body like get different textures
(21:58):
different tones in other places of her voice
and then the darker tones came and I'm like okay
like her voice settled a little bit more yeah
it's just like patience and like
treating the instrument with care and love and tension
without being like ah
cause it's yeah
that's how they feel and that's how I felt
it feels like the worst thing in the world
when it's happening to you
(22:18):
and yeah because you don't
you don't have our experience
like the experiences we've had at this point
so it's hard cause you wanna honor it
yeah and you're also like
I promise it's gonna be OK
yeah I remember being like fourteen
playing Demi Lovato's Skyscraper
literally that song dude
I I cannot
(22:39):
I like would sing that part
that part like over and over
my brothers were like shut the hell up
like I was because I couldn't get that clear mixed up
I couldn't yeah
because of the of the gap right yup
so at that time I I don't know
I was just like it's not coming
it's not coming and I'm like
you know eventually it came out
but I probably traumatized my family
(23:01):
haha they can never hear that song again
no oh my God
I remember when that song came out
and broke the internet uh
just sing it still sing it to the end
yeah without a gap with that again
I love that I don't remember like the breathy
like ever having that ever stop
I didn't really have it either okay
I didn't but we were both like belty chest voicey girly
(23:22):
so okay yeah
I never experienced that yeah
it depends on the maybe I did
but I don't remember I don't know
what advice do you have for the parents of
children that are enrolled in voice lessons
whether they are taking lessons with us
or anywhere else
or they want to start enrolling in voice lessons
I mean like ask them how they feel
(23:44):
like how that your lesson was like
I feel like a lot of parents
and I would feel this way with my parents
like I would be like hey
I worked on this song like here
and they're like oh
that's nice I'm like no
like it was so much work yeah
like you go through you know
whatever how many weeks with a coach on this song
or like
on these couple of songs that were like a challenge
(24:05):
and then you show someone
especially your parent or your caregiver
and they're like oh yeah
that's nice honey like
like you feeling defeated
yeah when your coach is like
yes you did so good
yeah so I feel like being kind and gentle and like
asking how they're feeling
showing interest so vulnerable
especially if they want to sing for you like
oh my God like I'd be like
(24:25):
yes thank to me
yeah hahaha
I would put on I mean
I'm sure we all did this oh
I did put on full performances for our parents
and like sometimes my dad mean
poor man
would wake up at 4:00am to go to the gym and work
and then would come home at eight and then die
and I was like dad
here's me singing for half an hour
making me like knocked out
yeah literally
he was like gone
(24:45):
I remember I wrote this song and I showed it to him
and he fell asleep and I was so mad
oh no
I was like he doesn't like me
my mom was like he's just really tired honey
I wrote this song yeah
obviously you know
everyone and everything is hard sometimes
but you know
just check in uh huh
yeah I love that
(25:06):
I feel like mine is let your kid talk
uh cause sometimes when you're in a lesson
the parents want to make sure that
you know and understand like what's going on
like how they're feeling um
and so I guess for me I'm always like okay
and how about how about child
child how do you feel about that
and then they like look at parent and I'm like no
(25:29):
no you
you tell me you tell me
you know what I mean um
because I understand that they're trying to get across
like what the kid wants
and the kid might be really shy
it's it's just one of those things where
you know it's like
it's okay to let them float and have to figure out
how do I respond to this person I've never met before
how do I
how do I sing in front of this person who I don't know
(25:51):
you know what I mean so
I think that would be my biggest advice is
let your kid like lead the conversation
yeah express how they're feeling
um and yeah
and listen you know
I love that um yeah
oh that's both great advice
and like I said earlier
just get out of the way and trust the teacher
(26:11):
yeah to do the job
yeah yeah
for sure
and I promise we do love and care about your child
and we will do our best with them
yeah yes
hundred percent and it's
it's okay if you tell us like what
you know like
what you would like
and what your kid would like to be able to do
and whatever but then
trust us that we know how to get your kid there
even if that doesn't happen today or next week
(26:34):
or next month three years
and it might take some time
it might not be the way that you maybe Learned when you
if you sang it all when you were younger
it might be different we've
we've you know
there's been a lot of growth
and research and learning that's happened
so it might look a little different
but we promise we're doing our best
I love it
just have fun have fun
(26:55):
absolutely it's gotta be fun
it's gotta be fun like
the moment they start stressing or
like being unhappy in a lesson
I'm like no
uh huh yeah
this is not supposed to be stressful for you no
it should be a release and like yeah
if they love it amazing and if they don't
it's it's okay to step away yeah
maybe they'll come back yeah
I love that well
(27:16):
thank you guys and thank you for for teaching the kids
I again like I said
not every person is is made for that and I am not
and I have recognized that and accepted that
and that's okay that's okay for now at least
and we like you lovely kids and lovely parents
I have the best coaches for you hahaha
it's not me hahaha but it is Kate and Juliana hahaha
(27:41):
thank you both for joining me
and for taking care of our beautiful little kids and um
teaching them to sing whatever it is they wanna sing
with time what time
not today but with time patience
I know it's hard I'm the most impatient person ever
so I can totally relate
it's very hard but we can get there
love it thank you so much
thank you for tuning in
(28:02):
if you are interested in rolling your kids in a session
or at least just trying it out
seeing what it's like
you can always book a session through the link below
and we'll be able to kind of come up with a plan
of like how we can help your kids the best
but yeah I can't wait to hear from you
other than that we'll catch you in the next episode bye
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