Trinity College London
Warm ups
  • Overview
  • Chunking
  • Work your way up to the expected standard
  • Advice for the vaccai exercises
  • Audio recordings of the exercises
  • Don’t just focus on the notes
  • Integrate technical exercises into warmups
  • Soft palate exercises
Technical exercises
  • Overview
  • Chunking
  • Work your way up to the expected standard
  • Advice for the vaccai exercises
  • Audio recordings of the exercises
  • Don’t just focus on the notes
  • Integrate technical exercises into warmups
  • Soft palate exercises
Choosing repertoire
  • Overview
  • Chunking
  • Work your way up to the expected standard
  • Advice for the vaccai exercises
  • Audio recordings of the exercises
  • Don’t just focus on the notes
  • Integrate technical exercises into warmups
  • Soft palate exercises
Best practice for practising
  • Overview
  • Chunking
  • Work your way up to the expected standard
  • Advice for the vaccai exercises
  • Audio recordings of the exercises
  • Don’t just focus on the notes
  • Integrate technical exercises into warmups
  • Soft palate exercises
Preparing for exams
  • Overview
  • Chunking
  • Work your way up to the expected standard
  • Advice for the vaccai exercises
  • Audio recordings of the exercises
  • Don’t just focus on the notes
  • Integrate technical exercises into warmups
  • Soft palate exercises

Download joining guides & syllabuses:

THE TEACHER’S
GUIDE TO:

SINGING

Essential advice from experienced
singing teachers

Teaching singing can be one of the most joyful and rewarding career paths. 

But, as a solo music teacher, you might find it difficult to find the time to do things such as introducing new learning techniques and swapping good practice with peers.

Some of the best training you can have as a teacher is gained by simply talking to other professionals. That’s why we reached out to singing teachers throughout the UK to ask them for their top tips. 
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Overcoming challenges

1
What is the biggest challenge for singing teachers? How do you overcome this challenge?

Effective warm-ups

2
Describe your most effective singing warm-up

 

Choosing repertoire

3
What repertoire would you use with a new Grade 1 singing student?

Technical exercises

4
How do you prepare candidates for the technical exercises in an exam?

Preparing for exams

5
What advice do you give to students when they are preparing for a graded singing exam?
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Rehearse the breathing, posture, and easier parts before digging into the technique of the exercises.

Anna Hariet
Private teacher

What singing teachers told us

Reading through over 15,000 words of responses, we were treated to a range of advice. What really stood out was not only the variety of tips but also the consensus of fundamental points. While teachers would agree on the most important elements of great singing teaching, they would implement the approach in a number of different ways.

This allowed us to group the advice into themes, making it easy to embed into your existing practice. Are you using folk songs as repertoire for beginners? So are lots of other teachers – there’s plenty of advice here. Need to extend your range of semi-occluded warm-ups? A number of approaches can be found in this resource.

You’ll find plenty of ideas you can use right away and a number of wider strategies that can expand your approach to teaching.

Using this guide

‘The Teacher’s Guide to Singing’ is divided into five sections – one for each of the questions we asked teachers. Dip into the advice and find ideas that will work for you and your students.

We would recommend taking one idea and trying it out for yourself first; ensure you’re confident with this new technique before trying another and building up your bank of resources.

Treat this guide as a number of ways to gradually fine-tune your practice – not a full-scale makeover.
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First of all sing, for the love of it! Show students all repertoire from theatre and pop, to classics and folk to find out what each person loves.

Roberta Ritson
Core Music Hexham

Learn more about Trinity’s range of singing qualifications

The advice in this resource will be useful regardless of which exam board you’re using, or whether you’re even entering candidates into exams at all.

If, however, you want to learn more about Trinity’s range of singing qualifications, then you can download our specifications and guides on this page of our website.

Learn About:

Overcoming challenges