Staying true to your values – a singing teacher’s guide to change

In the final part (16) of her AOTOS Keynote speech, Dr Gillyanne Kayes looks to the future of singing teaching and reminds us to include our personal values and history in our training.

“Listen, change is going to happen, and without question it has accelerated across the last 2 decades. How can we hold on to what is meaningful to us and take those changes into account?

Please take a moment to celebrate what you do ALREADY

Some of you will have been thinking this as we went along – ‘well I do that’. Sometimes you were doing it intuitively all along – there just wasn’t a name for it!

I also encourage you again to identify your personal values – our values lead us to a place of certainty

You’ll know who you are, what your history is, what your strengths and weaknesses are, and understand what it is you can offer that’s unique to you. You don’t need to do it all!

And you’ll be able to identify the people and places you can go to for support, advice, growth – one of the reasons you’re in this room right now.

I decided after all of that to revise the mindmap.

An updated mindmap of what a singing teacher does, including connections to communication, values, goals, beliefs, history and culture, connect and check in with the student, plus teaching about body, voice, music, words, mind and environment

You know, when I thought about the mindmap at the beginning, especially the expanded one, I realised how significant it is that we use words and that our voice is in our body. Duh!

It’s a profound aspect of singing that makes it unique amongst other forms of music making. It allows for us to express nuanced thoughts and also to communicate depth of thought and emotion.

I think at its very core, singing allows us to connect with ourselves and share our humanity with others.

And do you know, I doubt that will change.

Thank you, it’s been a privilege to share this with you.”

Gillyanne’s Further Reflections

After I had finished the keynote, I had a chance to chat with other AOTOS members. I was please to hear that something had resonated with everyone. Some colleagues commented that it was nice to see ‘set out’ the complexity and depth of what it is we do. And it was no surprise to hear that the more mature and experienced teachers did indeed say “I know that I have been doing this – we just didn’t have a title for it”.

What pleased me especially though was that both the newer teachers and community choir leaders were moved by the speech. They felt SEEN.

And that is what we can all do for each other by getting together, sharing our practice and being able to recognise and appreciate others’ values as well as to honour our own.

See below for the links to all 16 parts of Gillyanne’s AOTOS Keynote

If you’re eager to understand more about what we CAN do to assist our students when they’re dysregulated, click here for our new online 2-hour Pop-up course with Franka Van Essen Creating a safe space: insights from polyvagal theory for vocal professionals

Join the Vocal Process Learning Lounge with over 600 voice training resources for singers, singing teachers, vocal coaches, choir leaders and animateurs

If you’d like to see the diversity of teacher backgrounds and specialities in our own Registered Teacher community, head to our Meet The Team page