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Practical Agreements

I expect you to come prepared to your appointment. That means you bring a ‘grocery list’ with questions, thoughts and challenges you’d like to tackle. I will ask you how you have processed the previous lessons, how you have practiced, what your thoughts on the process are, whether you have discovered things, what your needs for today’s lesson are,… Please, prepare for this conversation.

This is what you bring to your lesson:

You can send me everything via the shared Dropbox folder I will create.

Singers

  • Provide the text for me. Memorize it, but make sure to bring the text for yourself in a format you can make notes on. If you don’t know the text by heart yet – which you should  😉 – make sure you can read it in a comfortable way: Not on your phone, but printed out / on a large device and for example on a music stand.

  • Bring a backing track / karaoke. If you accompany yourself on guitar or piano, please also make a backing track by recording that accompaniment, so we are also able to work without your instrument. It’s OK if this recording is basic and / or low-quality. See below for more information.

    During in person lessons, I prefer to play the music on my laptop, but if you prefer not to deliver it to me – for example because it is your new single that is not yet finished, you can certainly play the music on your own device. In online lessons, you play the backing track yourself. Check out the tips for online lessons to prepare accordingly.

  • If you sing a cover, also bring the original song in case we want to analyze it.

  • Only if necessary: The sheet music. Buy it on Musicnotes, Online Sheetmusic, Sheetmusic Direct, Sheetmusic Plus, IMSLP, Supersong,…

 

Speakers / Actors

  • Provide the text for me. Memorize it, but make sure to bring the text for yourself in a format you can make notes on. If you don’t know the text by heart yet – which you should  😉 – make sure you can read it in a comfortable way: Not on your phone, but printed out / on a large device and for example on a music stand.

  • If you haven’t written down your lines and you will not in the future for yourself, you don’t have to, especially for me.

  • In case you use a visual presentation (Powerpoint, Keynote,…) or props, bring everything you need.

Backing track / Karaoke

In person lessons: You pay me to receive my undivided attention and energy, not to focus for 50% on the piano 😉

Online lessons: See my statement above + Playing together is not possible due to internet lag.

  • Buy on iTunes, Karaoke Version, TPLM, Opera Karaoke,…
  • Stream on Apple Music, Spotify, Deezer, Youtube (please use the official channels, so the artists get paid!)…
  • Make a recording of the accompaniment yourself. This doesn’t have to be perfect quality. Often the basic chords on the piano / guitar, recorded with your smartphone is enough. If you sing in a band, it’s very convenient to ask your band to record an instrumental version of your song. Like that, we work with the same tempo, key, feeling and such as you do during rehearsals and gigs.
  • Delete the voice of the original song with AI programs such as RipX, VocalRemover, Moises,… They also allow you to change the tempo and key! Use Transpose to change the tempo and key of YouTube streams.

Please don’t work with illegal downloads. You buy the song / karaoke legally, you make your own accompaniment, or you stream it.

Recording

We don’t hear ourselves like other people do. The reason for that is because we don’t only hear our voice from the outside, but also from the inside. Your skull transfers a lot of sound and it also distorts it internally. And though we can work with a mirror, often, you don’t register everything.

And you shouldn’t! “Doing” and “analyzing” are two very different things that can sabotage each other. During your lesson, I want you to be able to engage in the “doing” 100% without analyzing at the same time.

That is why we record your lesson. You can also process everything and take notes at home much more effectively. You don’t have to waste time making notes during your lesson, we stay in the flow.

You record online sessions yourself via Zoom. For in person lessons, you bring your own recording device, preferably video. A recorder, your smartphone, a tablet, your laptop,… Beware, usually you can’t record and play music at the same time on the same device. If you play your music yourself on, for example, your mobile phone, you will have to bring an extra device to record the session.

If you prefer not to record your session, you can always let me know.

Professional Secrecy

I maintain a professional secrecy. Whatever happens in between the four walls of the studio (or during the Zoom session), stays there.

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