We’ve previously written a post on choosing the best musical instrument for your child. It only made sense to write another one on the one musical instrument you don’t need to pay money for. And since most instruments, at least all high-quality ones, are very expensive, we thought a lot of people would appreciate this. That instrument is your voice.
Singing is a great way to get your child into music, without having to spend a ton of money. Everybody has vocal cords. This is the one instrument we are all born with and we don’t have to buy. Of course, you will still have to spend money on lessons. Sure, you can find plenty of YouTube videos and websites that teach people how to sing, but this is hard even for adults. And if you want your child to be the next singer everyone wants to hear on vinyl, you can’t skimp.
You have to sift through all the bad advice and videos to find the good ones. Furthermore, you have to piece them together yourself into some kind of course of study. It is much better to actually purchase a course that is structured and comes with practices sessions that are already set up. Everything is done for you.
There are a few options when it comes to singing lessons. The first and easiest are online singing courses. There are a ton of these, but most are not that great. Here’s a good breakdown of the best online singing classes. Any one of those will be great for your child.
The benefit of online courses like these is that they are relatively inexpensive. Most only cost a few hundred dollars and are often discounted to under a hundred. This is a great deal considering everything you get. You get videos and audio lessons from an established singing coach and a structured practice schedule to help you work on everything you learn. This helps keep you accountable and keeps you on track. You don’t have to research anything. All you have to do is follow along and do the exercises. This will not make you or your child a great singer, but it will get you past the basics.
Once you have the basics down, you will probably have to pay for an actual vocal coach. Some people do this right away. It is much faster than learning on your own, but it also costs more. I think it’s best to just buy some singing courses first, especially if you’re doing it for a child. They can be fickle and change their minds quickly. What if they don’t like singing anymore after a year? Then you wasted a bunch of money on an expensive coach. It is much better to only lose 50 or a hundred dollars on a course.
Anyway, after a year or so, if your child is still into it, you can go ahead and spend the money on a coach. Here, too, there are few options. One is to get a coach locally. If there are good singing teachers in your local area, this makes the most sense. Nothing is better than having an actual live coach in the room with you.
If these are hard to come by, you might want to get your vocal coach online. These coaches teach via Skype. These are real coaches who also teach locally, but they supplement their income by teaching on Skype. You can actually get some pretty famous coaches this way. Maybe not as famous as Michael Harding, but still people who have taught celebrities and singers we’ve seen on famous TV shows like The Voice and American Idol.
They also don’t cost any more than a local singing teacher either. At least not a good singing teacher. For this reason this is a great option. The only drawback is that the coach is not actually in the room with you. But with Skype you’re as close as you can get to that.
If you are trying to get your child into singing and you want to know how best to teach him or her to sing, these are the three options: vocal classes online via prerecorded video or audio, an actual vocal coach online via Skype or a live coach who comes to your house or your child goes to the coach’s. As mentioned, I recommend the online course at first, followed by a vocal coach, either Skype or live, once your child has progressed beyond the beginning stages.
