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Good Teachers Are Seekers

I've studied music in a college setting. I tried to study voice, but I didn't connect because the teacher followed a traditional methodology. It didn't make sense to me. She gave me music that I couldn't easily sing, and it was frustrating. We didn't work on finding my voice. We did touch on support and relaxation. And, I find I need to know why I am doing something. The Western art music world tends to be very dogmatic and locked into its pedagogy (it's way of teaching). It's kind of like how modern physics has designed a better Bassoon that is easier to play and intonate, yet tradition wants to stick with an unwieldy musical bazooka. Tradition can hold you back.

I live in a town with three colleges with voice degree programs, a half hour from a university with a voice degree and two hours from Simpson College which has an opera program. So I am surrounded by vocal instructors. Even at the music stores and from private instructors, I've had a hard time finding someone that could help me connect the mental, physical and emotional parts of singing.

So I turned to books and the internet. I was gifted a book by a guy who could shatter a glass with his voice. He had some good things to say, but he wasn't helping me connect the basics so I could get to his higher techniques (plus he doesn't have many YouTube videos or videos on his site, and everything is an upsell into another product to tell you how to do the thing he talks about but doesn't really teach in the book). I took a detour into Screamland thinking that if you had the support to scream, you'd have the technique to sing too. I did pick up a good exercise to improve my speaking diction and avoid mush mouth, but again I wasn't connecting.

When I was searching YouTube for another vocal instructor's video, it suggested a video by Ken. I was impressed with Ken's singing and how he presented it. I watched more of his videos and found that he was consistent and honest about his approach. He offered enough information in his hours of YouTube videos to give me some basics that I was missing. I decided to purchase How to Sing Better Than Anyone Else Pro Pack.

What is evident in the material is he cares that we learn a foundation and build upon. This foundation doesn't come from him just passing on the tradition and lore of whoever taught him. No, he teaches information based on the answers to questions he sought to answer. His is teaching us rigorously tested ideas born out a need to find a better approach. I can relate to this because the person that taught me tried to teach me classical guitar (I wasn't the best student), also had to create a new approach that overcame the physically detrimental techniques of tradition. He too knew why he was teaching me a technique and could fully support it. He wasn't just passing on a tradition that has worked for everybody else. Both teachers are seekers. You need a seeker to teach you. Not only because they have refined their knowledge but you need to be a seeker too. Having a seeker for a teacher encourages you to be a seeker and a better artist.

Now, I'll admit I did some research before investing in How to Sing.... Almost everything I found was positive. Unfortunately, YouTube also wanted to promote a few spoiled brats going on their little power trips (taking the piss out of things is easy to do but not very impressive). Strangely, one YouTube primadonna drove my purchase of Ken's method. He went off on a technique which Ken had explained in his own videos and offered persuasive supporting evidence. Even the haters prove Ken right that "The Proof is in the singing."

Ken has been gifted with the talent of teaching. He is a seeker who builds his instruction on a foundation of tested and vetted technique. And, you can watch the videos over and over again; try doing that with a half-hour voice lesson. I'm glad that I chose his method.

Comments

  • highmtnhighmtn Administrator, Moderator, Enrolled, Pro, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 15,354
    Excellent post, @nonsectarianblues!

    You are here for all the right reasons! You've seen through some B.S. and sought out some truth. You are a seeker.

    Seek and ye shall find... or get sidetracked by all of the scam artists and posers!

    You've done your initial homework and found a good path.

    Talk about a seeker! Ken sacrificed every penney he had, in very impoverished conditions as a young man, so he could afford to study with about 30 different vocal coaches, many of them world-renowned, and a great percentage of what he learned was that none of them agreed on much at all, and many had completely opposing views on how to accomplish healthy, robust singing. It took him about 30 years to go through 30 different sources to refine and distill what he has come up with as his own method.

    We get to share in the fruits of the harvest from that incredible odyssey. NOBODY, and I mean NOBODY has gone to such lengths in search of Vocal Truths that Ken has. You can go to this college or that and do you get anything close to what Ken learned? No, you get some book-smart know-it-alls, telling you how simple it all is.

    Music degrees are plentiful. Yes, you put in some time, but Ken did much more and LIVED it. Ken earned his knowledge, by doing without, and by taking theories to the stage and proving or disproving them out. Most local coaches feel threatened by Ken's course. They know that they can't sing like he can, so they try to scare you away from a self-paced course.

    Most colleges now have online versions of courses now, so it gets a little harder to say that you can't learn over the internet.

    We prove you can every day here.

    Welcome!

    Bob
  • AlyonaAlyona Member, Moderator, Pro, 2.0 PRO Posts: 288
    Yes right. I had several teachers in my life, even in my music univercity. After them I stopped singing. Everything was tensed and nothing more. They had technologies but they couldn't hear if I was doing right or wrong. Just kept warming me up. HAhaha Ken is like a vocal extrasense ))
  • Furious_PhilFurious_Phil Moderator, Pro, 2.0 PRO, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 1,421
    I resonate with this as well, on many different avenues.
    I always, without fail, seem to find the right teacher for whatever I'm passionate about... whether it be sculpting, electronics, martial arts, Guitar, singing... you name it!
    Stay hungry, keep hunting, keep polishing the stone(s). The prime good stuff will come to those who really seek the answers :)
  • olskoololskool Pro, 2.0 PRO Posts: 68
    I was so glad to have stumbled upon KTVA at the right time. My technique over the years caused me problems. It wasn't until I got laryngitis that I knew something had to be done. Either that, or I was out of the game for good.
    The videos on youtube and all the testimonials guided me to here. I have never looked back.
    The latest uploads never cease to amaze me. Everything goes from strength to strength.
  • seekerseeker Pro, 2.0 PRO Posts: 83
    Yes I am the best teacher, Ken Tamplin is slightly better though. >:)
  • Suza0151Suza0151 Member, STREAMING INTERMEDIATE Posts: 12
    I feel so blessed to have found Ken and this course. I spent two years with teachers and online courses that were not able to properly teach the basics of abdominal support and breath control. In desperation I started having flute lessons. Not because I want to play the flute but because I thought it would help my singing. What a relief to have found this solid, long term program. After only a few weeks of Volume 1 there is a big improvement.
  • highmtnhighmtn Administrator, Moderator, Enrolled, Pro, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 15,354
    Awesome, Suza0151. You've made the rounds and now you've found the one that actually works! Good find on your part, and welcome to the club!
  • omkarpanchamomkarpancham Member, 2.0 ENROLLED Posts: 91
    Funny enough! I found some crazy people who are scared of Ken's technique, criticising Ken left and right in their videos by taking his name in the videos. I saw some of them to check what exactly the problem that guys has. But at the end of every video, I could not get any evidence from his singing to prove Ken is wrong in any way. He was a total jerk in my opinion.

    Also saw other female coaches, but no one was able to SING themselves. All videos with full of theories, talks, lack of base, lack of clear direction, deviation from topic, etc. Total waste of time. I am concerned for those people who fall for their courses and waste their times.

    I find myself DAMMNNN lucky that when I started look for a coach for western singing, one my recommended videos on YouTube gave me Ken's video. Since then, I started to Ken's videos and I was so so so impressed by his honesty, generosity, providing evidence for each concept he talks about, sincerity, tight focus on the topic of the video, etc. PLUS, his body language ALSO sends the clear vibes of positivity.

    As a typical Indian, Once I accept the GURU for what I am seeking for, I simply worship him and make every attempt to learn from them.

    KEN is the only choice for EXCELLENT SINGING!

    Thanks.
    /Om
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