How many times a week should I take my opera voice training?!
Question: one hour per lesson which is like 50 dollars per hour
Answers: one hour per lesson which is like 50 dollars per hour
I am fine with a one-hour lesson once a week. I tape record my lesson so I can listen to it while I practice (really helpful!) I feel that a week gives me adequate time to prepare and practice. Since 99% of improvement in any musical instrument is practice, you need to make sure you have enough time to do it.
Also, don't sing full-out for longer than 20 or 30 minutes when you practice. You can practice for 30 minutes and then rest for an hour and then practice some more if you want to. However, if your voice gets tired, your vocal chords get sore and swollen. Then they rub together more and this can create callouses (nodules) that are really hard to deal with and are horrible for a singer (they ruined Julie Andrew's career.) I'm not trying to scare you but just trying to make you aware.
Twice a week (once at the beginning of the week and again towards the end of the week) would be ok, if you can afford it. I just take one one hour lesson per week.
I would say that once a week is a good start. As the other ladies suggested, tape recording and practice are the other components that count most.
Before you blindly follow what's on the tape, listen to it thoroughly, and find out if you can reproduce the sensations you felt when your teacher praised you. Learn to differentiate between what feels right ( it will sound the best) and what feels wrong. Getting to know and "interpret" your own body signals is the fastest way to learn how to produce your voice in a healthy correct way. Let the recording device do the listening while you do the sensing and adjusting. Since the "voice in your head" is an extremely private thing ( you are the only person in the world who hears it), you want to stop listening to that one, and learn to listen to the voice that the rest of the world hears. ( the one on the machine) This takes a concentrated adjustment in your listening skills. It keeps us honest and postively critical, so that we learn from mistakes faster and more efficiently.
Always ask if you are not certain what your teacher wants you to do. Ask for realistic answers, and not pink clouds, colors and images. Ask for information that relates directly to what your body needs to do. Sometimes an imaginative answer or suggestion will help you to get your body in the "right frame of mind" to execute a particular physical action, but don't depend solely on images.
Best wishes and keep on singing