Why Voice Teachers Struggle (And Why It's Not Your Fault) – Voice Science

Picture this: You just finished a lesson that didn't go well. Maybe the student wasn't getting the concept you were trying to teach, maybe your explanation fell flat, maybe you tried three different approaches and none of them landed. And now you're sitting alone in your studio—or maybe you're the only music teacher in your building—and you're wondering if you're actually any good at this. If everyone else has it figured out and you're just faking it. If maybe you shouldn't be teaching at all.

Here's the thing: 93.4% of new teachers experience imposter syndrome. And music teachers? We collaborate at rates far below other educators—less than one-fifth as often. That means if you're struggling, if you feel isolated, you're experiencing exactly what the system set you up to experience.

And look, I'm not here to tell you that everything's fine and you just need to believe in yourself. That's not helpful. What I want to do in this episode is show you why the voice teaching profession is structurally lonely, why most teachers—even really good ones—have no idea if they're doing well, and what the research actually says about what helps. Because here's what I want for you: I want you to understand that your struggles aren't personal failures. They're predictable outcomes of a broken system. And more importantly, I want you to know what actually works to fix it.

We're going to talk about why your degree program probably didn't prepare you, why isolation is crushing teacher confidence across the board, and why the competitive culture in private instruction is making everything worse. But we're also going to talk about what collaboration actually does—because the research on this is really clear and really hopeful. And we'll get into some practical steps you can take to build the support network you should have had from the beginning.

So if you've ever felt like you're teaching in a vacuum, or wondered if you're the only one who doesn't have it all figured out, or worried that asking for help means admitting you're not qualified—this one's for you.

 

The Preparation Problem

Let's start at the beginning. There are three main types of voice educators: school teachers, choir directors, and private lesson teachers. Depending on which of these most describes you, you may have a doctorate or no collegiate education at all. But assuming that you have a degree in music, you got a few credit hours of pedagogy. At most, about 12-15% of your education was in pedagogy—less if you have a performance degree.

You may have learned some basic classroom management, taken a few classes about vocal anatomy, read a research paper or two. You probably even made a model of the larynx—I've built three of them in different classes now. I bring this up because I want to make it clear that your education was in how to be a performer first and how to teach effectively second. Your teaching is almost certainly a combination of what your teachers did and what worked for you when you were a student.

Your feelings of being underprepared? Not your fault. The system failed you.

The Isolation Epidemic

And unfortunately, the system continues to fail you after you leave school. Music in all of its forms is an incredibly competitive field. We chase perfection and exceptionalism in all things, but we also always think that someone is coming up behind us ready to take everything we've worked so hard to build. This includes our students. Because of this, we're afraid of collaborating too deeply with another teacher—what if our student likes them more than us?

Well, here are two facts for you: 44% of music teachers never collaborate with other music teachers, and 52% of music teachers burn out. I think these two things are connected.

The isolation of being a voice teacher is extreme. Forty-four percent don't work with other voice teachers. Forty-four percent. And they end up burning out because teaching is hard, and you weren't set up for success. And when you're isolated and underprepared, guess what shows up next?

Imposter Syndrome Isn't Just You

Imposter syndrome. This is something I know well—I spent the vast majority of my teaching career here. Your student has trouble with a note. You try more air, more support, did you get a deep enough breath, what about posture, did you drink enough water today, how about yesterday, what about using bricks? After all of that, your student still just doesn't get it.

And then—and we've all experienced this—your student comes in and says they watched a video on YouTube about the same issue and it just made so much sense. And all they did was say the same thing you've spent the last three months saying.

This does not make you a bad teacher. In fact, it says great things about you. You tried a lot of different things and built the foundation for them to understand it when someone else said it exactly the way they needed to hear it. It can unfortunately be really easy to feel like an imposter, and you're in good company—over 93% of educators experience imposter syndrome.

So let me ask you this: if you were underprepared from the start, teaching in isolation, and experiencing the same self-doubt that nearly every other teacher experiences—what's the solution?

What Actually Works: The Collaboration Research

Turns out there's one answer to both imposter syndrome and isolation: collaborate with other teachers. Quality collaboration with another teacher can improve instructional outcomes and student achievements. The research on this isn't just encouraging—it's really strong.

I've had the pleasure of working alongside other teachers for most of my career, but even in more recent years where I've only been teaching in a solo private voice studio, I maintain regular chats with teachers that I respect across the country. In these chats we discuss specific challenges we're having and debate the application of the latest voice research. I benefit from their decades of experience and differing musical backgrounds. They benefit from my reading of the latest research. One study showed that 88% of teachers believe that collaborative professional development changed their teaching for the better.

Now, collaboration can take a lot of different forms depending on your specific teaching setting. Let me give you some examples of what this actually looks like in practice:

Coffee chats. Getting together with one or a small group of teachers and discussing what you're having success with and what challenges you're facing. Debating potential things to try and different approaches that might yield better results. These short conversations can open up your thoughts on what's possible and reveal how many different ways we can express the same concepts.

Master classes. Bringing in another teacher to run a master class for your students is an incredible opportunity for your students and for you to watch another teacher do their thing. Fair warning—your students will be talking about how much they learned from this opportunity and you'll be thinking about how you've said the exact same thing for months. That's normal. That's good, actually.

Guest lessons. Now hear me out—instead of taking that week off teaching, why not see if some of your students would like an opportunity to have a lesson with another teacher? I would only do this with more established students, but it keeps their momentum going, they'll enjoy the experience, and you still get a vacation.

Joint recitals. Planning a recital involves a lot of logistics. Partnering with other teachers helps keep the cost down, reduces the administrative burden, and can light a fire under your students when they see more singers performing well.

Special workshops. Know a teacher who specializes in something really cool? Why not do a workshop with them? Two to three hours on a Saturday and you've done something really cool and everyone got better.

 

The Competition Myth

Now, I want to get out in front of the comments here. You may be thinking: "Collaborate? I can't collaborate with other teachers—they'll steal my students." While this is technically possible, the risk is not nearly as high as you think it might be. This is the imposter syndrome telling you that you're not as good as other teachers. Students are incredibly loyal to their teachers, and the teacher that helps them get better by increasing their opportunities for learning always comes out ahead.

The other reason you might be thinking this is that there's a common belief that there are a limited number of students available. While technically true, unless you teach in a very small remote town, it's really just not practically true. There will always be singers looking to improve their skills, and if you specialize in a skill that they want, you will get students.

My career has largely been focused on teenage and young adult musical theatre singers who are actively doing stage productions and are interested in understanding how the voice works so they can be consistent day in and day out. While there are plenty of musical theatre teachers, it's the science aspect that defines my specialization. I do not, however, teach young children. So when requests come in for lessons for children, I'm all too happy to pass them off to colleagues who do specialize in younger singers.

Everybody wins in that scenario. The student gets a better teacher for their needs. My colleague gets a student. I don't have to teach outside my wheelhouse. And that parent tells other parents that I was helpful even though I couldn't take their kid—that builds reputation, not destroys it.

Practical Next Steps

Okay, so I know that this is challenging, but if you're not regularly having a chat with another singing teacher or choir director, I highly recommend at least a monthly coffee chat with someone else you know in the industry. These chats provide an incredible amount of support for both you and them—remember, they're also likely feeling like an imposter. It can start as easily as: "Hey, I'm having a really hard time teaching high notes to one of my students. Can I buy you a coffee and pick your brain?" Worst case scenario, they say no. But voice teachers are generally very happy to talk about singing.

You can get out and attend conferences. I highly recommend getting to a local Estill Voice or other evidence-based workshop—you'll learn something new and meet other teachers and singers.

Make connections with teachers who teach something different than you do. As I mentioned, I'm specialized in musical theatre, which covers a lot of styles, but I'm quite lousy at country music. And there are a lot of teachers better than me at rock and pop. Connections with teachers who specialize in these genres would benefit my teaching significantly.

Start with one connection. One teacher. One conversation.

VoSci Academy

One of the reasons we built VoSci Academy was exactly this—to create a space where teachers aren't isolated. We have bi-weekly live Q&A calls where you can bring your specific teaching challenges and get direct feedback. Three complete courses, and most importantly, a community of teachers working through the same struggles you are.

Closing

I want to be really clear about something: if you've been teaching alone, feeling like you're not good enough, wondering if everyone else has it figured out—that's not a personal failure. That's the predictable outcome of a system that gave you 12% pedagogy training or less and then dropped you into a hyper-competitive professional culture where 44% of teachers never collaborate. You were set up to struggle. The research backs this up. Ninety-three point four percent of educators experience imposter syndrome. Fifty-two percent of music teachers burn out. This isn't about you not being cut out for teaching. This is about a broken system.

But here's the hopeful part—and I mean this—the research also shows us what actually works. Collaboration improves instructional outcomes with effect sizes that would cancel out the effects of poverty on student achievement. Teachers who engage in ongoing professional development see significantly better student outcomes. Connection works. Continuing to learn works. Working with other teachers instead of in isolation works.

Now, I'm not going to tell you this fixes overnight. Building a professional network takes time, especially when the default culture is competitive. But it starts with one connection. One teacher. One conversation. Maybe that's a coffee chat next month. Maybe that's reaching out to someone whose teaching you respect and asking one question. Maybe that's attending a workshop and actually talking to the person sitting next to you instead of just collecting the handout and leaving.

The point is: you don't have to stay isolated. And you don't have to figure everything out alone. That was never supposed to be the job.

Keep Singing Smart.

Citations:

This episode draws on peer-reviewed research including:

• LaPalme et al. (2022) on imposter syndrome in educators (Frontiers in Psychology)
• Battersby (2019) on music teacher collaboration rates (General Music Today)
• Matthews & Koner (2017) on music teacher preparation programs
• Kraft, Blazar, & Hogan (2018) meta-analysis on teacher collaboration effects (Review of Educational Research)
• Fletcher, Strong, & Villar (2008) on intensive mentoring outcomes (Teachers College Record)
• Swanwick & Lawson (1999) on professional development and student achievement (British Journal of Music Education)
• National Association for Music Education (2020-2021) survey on teacher preparedness
• Texas Music Educators Association (2016) burnout survey