My Teaching Philosophy

by Larry Bridges

I have modified my teaching philosophy considerably over the past few years. My wife has been an elementary teacher for a number of years. She is constantly studying topics like brain-based learning, and developmentally appropriate educational techniques, and I have learned a tremendous amount from her.

One thing I firmly believe in is that the educational process is a partnership, based on mutual respect. When a student starts with me, I honestly try to give their goals and views credibility. People come with a variety of goals and usually it’s my job to help them achieve those goals, but sometimes I need to help them revise broaden their horizons, and open up to a variety of styles of music. If I see they are damaging their voice, I need to point that out.

If a student, especially a child or teen, want to be a pop singer, I don’t try to immediately force them into Classical literature. That usually doesn’t work. Instead, I start where their interest lies, and showing some respect for their interests, they are more willing to open up to other styles, such as Classical and Broadway.

I am very big on "Project-based instruction". I feel a project is great for motivation. Students also tend to take my suggestions more seriously when they are recording their voice. It is a excellent tool to show problems with pitch, vowel positions, vibrato, and interpretation. When I point out problems when they sing live, they may or may not take it seriously, but when they hear it on a recording, it is much more obvious, and hard to ignore. Daily exercises are also crucial in building vocal strength and muscle memory.

It seems that the old school of thought was that if education was fun, it couldn’t be serious learning. I take issue with that. I believe when a person is enjoying and "into" what they are doing, they are paying more attention and really learning. This concept is best described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book called Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.

I believe that everyone has the potential to become a good singer (potential is the key word), although most won’t. I have seen people who think they are "tone deaf" (which I believe is rarely valid), learn to sing on pitch.