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. Please contact me at (603) 436-7793 if I can ever 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  car? At first, it was uncomfortable and a little scary but  eventually, it became second nature. The more you regularly 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