Online Lessons Preparation

Chriscello

What should I have prepared for a first lesson with Ken? I am a beginner singer, and have the course. I hit a brick wall so to speak, and could use some help. What can I do to maximize an hour lesson? Any help is appreciated. I have not planned a lesson yet, but I am saving up for it. 

Christine

highmtn

@Chriscello,

Ken will be wanting to make sure that you are right on track with the basics that are taught in Volume One.  We're talking about the bright, pingy sound of "It's the Lah!!! AH!!!"   Have that very bright and clear.  He may go on into AA and EE as well.

Make sure you can do your basic LAH scale, keeping it very AH, not uh or some other variation.  Make it really AH!!!

Work on your support.  Make sure your posture is good.  Have all of the moving targets conquered, if possible.

Have one or two songs ready, if you like.  Possibly songs that are challenging to you.  You should probably send an email to KTVA when you schedule your lesson, or a few days before your lesson, letting him know what songs you would like to go over.  That will save time and Ken can be ready to pull those songs up on his computer. 

Be warmed up when the lesson starts.  So about 45 minutes before your lesson, do about a half-hour of warmups.  No point in using your lesson time to get your voice working right.  We all need a little warmup time.  Being warmed-up will help you to make the most of your session.

Ken is a nice guy and you will be comfortable working with him.  He covers a lot in a lesson, so it's best to have a recording program going to do a screen-capture of your lesson for future reference.  If you do that, be familiar with using it, so you won't be fiddling with a software program when you need to be singing. 

Ken may be running a screen-capture anyway, and if so, he will send it to you after the lesson.  Just ask about that when you book your lesson, so you know, one way or the other.

You may want to watch some of the webcam videos, if you haven't already, just to see kind of what it's like. 

If you have any other questions, let me know.

Bob 

kaulfers

Chriscello,

Don't let the technical stuff interrupt your lesson.  After about 10 minutes of a tech meltdown during my lesson ken was about to reschedule but it came together.

 My internet provider is new and  developing their network so it's really bad at times and it was a thunder storm the day of the lesson which made it worse.

Power down all internet devices, seriously skype is sketchy when you need it to work the most.

Reboot your internet modem, cable/dsl whatever.  if you are wireless but and be hooked up I'd say go wired.

Don't run any browser or internet app. If your phones or tablets are on wifi, shut them off.

Have good light for your camera, don't sit under a ceiling lamp. make sure light is coming from in front of you. 

like Bob said, warm-up.

Enjoy the process, for me, I talked as little as possible and had a great lesson my voice wasn't happy, it was "leg" day for it. 

I also recorded myself with a video camera so I could have a High quality local video and not just the screen capture.  Another fail safe as you will.

highmtn

Good points, @kaulfers.