hey chris liepe here with the differences between a vocal coach and a voice teacher
i've got nothing against you
those of you who've been following the channel for a while know that i kind of like to play semantics
a little bit and i like drilling down into certain things simply because it makes us think about our
voices differently and in thinking about our voices differently we free certain things about
our voice we uncover possibilities about our voice that we never would have otherwise because singing
starts and really ends in a lot of ways with our mind thinking in different ways
and putting different types of language to the way we think
is a huge huge way to improve your vocals and overall musical creativity and abilities and in
a lesson with a private student the other day i was talking about this very thing
what's the difference between a teacher and a coach my goal here really is to bring you
into the discussion into the conversation i don't want to cause any arguments or make these you know
definitive gross generalities that's not my goal at all everything i'm saying is very subjective
but it's my hope that you will start to think differently about your needs as a vocalist
which do you need in your vocal journey do you need a vocal coach or do you need a voice
teacher which am i more of i'm going to unpack that a little bit and that may help you
view other coaches or teachers in slightly different ways again to your benefit as a learner
a lifelong student of your own voice if you'd like more help from me with your own voice click
the link below and join my free course that's the best place to start we do lots of unconventional
things in that free course and this is sort of the gateway into doing more things with me as your
teacher or your coach okay so the difference between voice teachers and vocal coaches
i'm going to pose this first scenario to you in a football game or on a football team
your coach is in general again i'm going to make some generalities but
there's all sorts of wiggle room here but for the sake of this illustration the coach is not
in the player's roles at all he's a coach he's not on the field playing a position
he's not in the weight room training like they're training he's not dieting like they're dieting
in many cases he's maybe done played football in the past but not always
and in a lot of cases he's in a very different life stage the coach in football talking about
american football here but this could apply to lots of other team sports as well and really even
solo sports like gymnastics et cetera the coach is oftentimes in in a sage sort of role where they're
drawing on their past experiences whether it's in coaching or as a player or athlete or whatever and
they are helping a talented individual or group of individuals reach their full potential that
is what a good coach does they bring out the best in individuals and they help coordinate
and create opportunities for those individuals with the gifts that they have or with the
with the talents and with the work that they do often times it's a coach's job to
enforce or encourage or not mandate but put in place things that even though the the team member
or student may not know is going to be of huge benefit if that coach can hold their feet to
the fire and go yes do this trust me this is going to go a long way to your improvement
that's that's one area of a coach can be really really helpful you could think
of a musical conductor in this same sort of role or set of strengths maybe the conductor
isn't playing all the instruments he probably can't play all the instruments in the orchestra
your football coach isn't going to go out and kick a field goal better than the kicker
he's not going to throw a pass even remotely good as the quarterback but he is helping these people
do what they do well and what they already do well and bringing things out
in an even better way now this is where coaches and teachers start to go like this a bit in one
way of looking at it yes there are lots of great coaches that are also teachers and there are lots
of great teachers that are also coaches i just want to reinforce that statement but let's look at
teachers for a moment if you've ever had a guitar teacher before oftentimes especially starting out
these lessons are pretty straightforward you come with your guitar and your teacher is showing you
exactly what to do so that you can learn the right chords learn the right postures learn the right
kind of touch with your pick and how to how to do certain things on on the instrument that you
don't know how to do this teacher is often well skilled in the areas that he or she is showing you
on the on your instrument and so there's this this role model relationship
that is tied to a teacher-student relationship if the guitar teacher
the guitar teacher isn't going to say well this book shows you how to play a d chord
and not demonstrate not be able to play a d chord himself that would be not in keeping with
proper instruction there are cases where teachers are teaching things that they don't know but that
is in general not that effective when it comes to teaching the best teachers
do and are doing really well now they may have different roles or different
life you know occupations and stuff like that but in general a teacher is coming alongside a student
who doesn't yet have the skill set to do what they want to do let's go away from
music for a moment and look at a classroom environment you've got a teacher who has
knowledge in a certain subject or group of subjects and you've got students that
are there to acquire and learn to apply knowledge you might also think about teacher and apprentice
um that that sort of thing or someone who's an expert and someone going and doing an internship
at a particular place of work there's there's a mentor and apprentice relationship there teachers
are often doing that which a student wants to be doing on a similar level now i've taught guitar
for many years as well as voice and there have been several cases where
as a guitar teacher i have been teaching a student for a number of years and they get to a point
to where i say you know what my skill set as a teacher has been exhausted for you as the student
if you want to take your guitar playing to an even better level it would be best for you to
seek out a teacher that is more in line with where you're at with a player as a player now
and where you want to go in other words i've taught you everything i know you should go find
someone who can teach you more of what i don't know so you hear a lot of murmurings online here
and there about oh you know chris cornell and lane staley took voice lessons from this vocal coach
in seattle this one time and really changed their perspective and what they did and how uh
you know how they approach things then you also hear about you know so and so famous singer you
know whitney houston having a vocal coach helping her warm up before this and that and he go wow
i'd love to take lessons from you know that vocal coach or those vocal coaches and
i bet there's some really enlightening things that you'd pick up on
but this kind of vocal coaching relationship where you've got a a singer who's already discovered
how to sound amazing and has a career and they're vocally creative and using their
their voice uh and and expanding in their craft and yeah they need to see a vocal coach because
they need to refine some things and learn how to do something safely that's kind of its own animal
where a lot of people really need to focus is not so much on oh i i really sing well
uh i sound good i'm writing all all these songs i'm covering all these songs i'm singing night
and night out and that's not really where a lot of singers are where a lot of singers are
is they don't necessarily need someone to go okay here's your amazing career and and uh voice let's
refine things a little bit and bring out more of what you already do really well
most vocal students don't know where to start most vocal students are looking for a role model most
vocal students are looking for starting points ways to unlock the voice that they don't yet know
they have so a coach someone who can literally stand on the sidelines and bring out the best
in a team but isn't in the trenches doing the same things that the students are doing
or that the players or team members are doing a teacher is someone who one might seek out that is
doing the things that you want to be able to do in the way that you want to do them you're
able to gather inspiration from this teacher yeah you can gather lots of inspiration from coaches
but it's a different type of learning both are really really good both are great for different
stages in your journey sometimes you need a coach sometimes you need a teacher someone to unpack the
the seemingly minut details that are so important to getting you to where you want to be on a skill
basis and yes this includes mindset this includes all sorts of some things that are intertwined
between coach and teacher but i want you to ask yourself where are you do you need
a coach or a teacher do you need someone to take what you already do really really really well and
help you capitalize on that in a in a more vibrant way or do you need someone to come alongside you
a mentor someone who's right there doing the things that you want to be able to do
in the way that you want to do them i hope these delineations are helping you consider your needs
and even your place and stage in your journey as a singer which am i a teacher or a coach
it depends on the student and it depends on the dynamics of what we're working on i would consider
myself much more of a coach if i am co-producing a song that someone is singing i'm sitting in
here as a producer i've got someone singing over there and you've seen me do this uh in if you've
engaged with any of my courses with spencer sotelo i am functioning much more as a coach in that role
but i spend a lot of time as a teacher helping people discover things doing things with them
doing things for them putting myself out there letting them put themselves out there
and being right there with them yeah i'm the the quarterback with the quarterback right i'm i'm
teaching this person how to pass the the the muscle sensations the angles the disciplines
the things necessary to do what they want to do i'm doing that with voice demonstrating all along
the way again i hope this has been helpful for you let's keep this discussion going in the comments
coach versus teacher and which do you need and why and again if you'd like me to be your coach or
teacher click that link below and start by joining my free voice course we'll see you for more