Singing students’ expectation for non-formal studio teaching

The level of exposure to a wide range of musical styles through the ever increasing use of mass and social media amongst young people has had a major impact on their musical tastes. In a similar way, the individuals who rapidly gain success through singing in bands, or who make their careers as singers, appear to be impacting in an important way on the aspirations of many young people. In Estonia, private music and singing studios constitute an increasingly popular trend. The differences between classical singing and contemporary pop singing are significant, and the training required to enable students of singing to master these two often contrasting styles requires the presence of a very knowledgeable vocal teacher who can prevent a young singer from harming their voice. The questionnaires were distributed to 45 students of solo singing, and 43 students studying solo singing in three well known singing studios of Estonia returned the completed questionnaires. There were 11 male singers and 28 female singers among the respondents and four respondents chose not to provide details of their gender. The study revealed that solo singing is primarily studied in order to learn vocal technique and develop performance confidence, along with developing the ability to carry the tune and increase their vocal range in a range of vocal styles.