Dear Student:
This letter is to inform you of my policies, procedures and expectations from you as my voice student. I
hope that you will dedicate yourself to excellence as a singer and musician. Contact me at (603)436-7793
if I can be of any assistance. My website is: www.scottyrich.com. Send e-mail to: scottyrich@aol.com
1. Attending the Lesson
Bring a blank CD-R to the lesson if you'd like the lesson recorded. Please have at least two songs
prepared to sing. It is to your advantage to learn the notes of a song outside of our lesson time in order
that we can spend most of our time polishing and perfecting the song. It also helps if you can bring the
sheet music and a recording by the artist of the song you wish to sing. If I happen not to know a song you
want to do, this will help me get the correct feel for the song. Compact Discs work well for this as I
actually have a machine that can remove the vocal track from a CD so you can sing along with it! Feel free
to e-mail me any MP3s of songs you are interested in doing
2. Payment
I really prefer payment at the beginning of each month in advance rather than by the individual lesson.
However, I understand that not everyone is in a position to do this so exceptions can be made. Cash or
checks (payable to Scott Richardson) are fine. If you earn any money performing music during the year
your lessons are tax deductible so I can write you a receipt if you wish.
3. Cancellations
I count on you every week, it's my only source of income! If you need to cancel a lesson, I require 24
hours advance notice or you will be charged. The only exception to not cancelling within 24 hours would
be bad weather, sudden illness or extreme emergency. I would prefer you to reschedule/makeup your
lesson rather than just not attend that week. If you are consistently unable to make a lesson time, it will be
better to take your lessons on an on call basis. This means you don't have a regular spot but call on
Sunday night to see if I have any cancellations the coming week. In order to learn more effectively, it is
preferable to have a consistent, weekly lesson, but if you can't do this, please give up your spot to
someone else on my waiting list. I think you'll find me to be a very understanding person when things come
up in your schedule, but I hope you'll be fair to me as well. Please don't be late as I want you to get your
full lesson time in and get your money's worth.
4. Practicing
To master any skill requires a commitment so daily practice (even a few minutes) is important to show
progress in developing your voice. Many of the vocal exercises are not necessarily "fun" to do, but are
designed to strengthen and coordinate certain muscles used in singing. Everyone likes to sing songs, but
the people who go to the next level and are the most successful, practice the boring, repetitious and
difficult tasks. Although singing in your car is not the ideal place to practice, it is better than nothing. If you
can though, find a place alone where you can "let loose" and not worry about being heard. Using a mirror
and recording yourself can be very helpful.
5. Care of Your Voice
It is never advisable to sing while you are ill or have any pain or tenderness in your throat area. This is your
body's way of telling you to take it easy. Other things that can adversely affect your voice are:
screaming/yelling, improper vocal technique, fatigue, smoking (anything), certain legal or illegal drugs,
menstruation, pregnancy, emotional trauma, singing too much, singing without warming up, alcohol,
caffeine, dairy products and many other foods. As a singer, you are using your body to make music, so the
better you take care of yourself, the better you will sing, it is that simple.
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I truly desire your success and improvement and will help you grow musically in any way I can. Other
areas we can work on in our lesson are: songwriting, stage movement, scat singing/blues, music
theory/reading music, career preparation and how to market yourself as a singer, studio recording, piano
and guitar.
I have thousands of songs on background tracks (like Karaoke) and quite a large collection of Compact
Discs and MP3s. You are welcome to copy any of these during the lesson for educational purposes. I also
have a vast library of music books and sheet music you are welcome to look at. We also can make a CD
right here during the lesson in my professional recording studio.
I encourage you to explore other styles of music you may not have considered. I am fairly well-versed in
rock, pop, alternative, R&B, jazz/standards, Broadway, country, folk and blues. I do have a college
degree in singing so I could even teach you a little opera if you desire. Sorry, I don't teach rap!
Please get out and perform as much as possible. Remember when you first learned to ride a bike or drive
a car? At first, it was uncomfortable and a little scary but eventually, it became second nature. The more
you do it, the easier it gets -- so get out there and go for it -- you know you want to deep down! Be brave
and try Karaoke or volunteer to sing a song with a local band. Many churches would love you to sing a
solo or give your talents to the local senior center. If you're in school, maybe there's a talent show you
could sign up for. If not, start one! I get quite a few bands and theatres looking for singers, so I may line up
a few auditions for you. I'll keep you up on other opportunities.
Sincerely,
Scott Richardson