Best Singing Lessons

My Singing Lessons with Mrs. Hankey

I find that many people who take singing lessons think that they do not sound very good and are in fact quite talented.  I also find the opposite to be true.

Some people think they sound really good and are quite wrong.  They take singing lessons to work on one specific thing when they need to work on everything.  There are also many people who fall in between.  Natural talent and musicality come in varying degrees and levels of potential and gift.  And even the seemingly most gifted benefit from  singing lessons.

I had always loved to sing: elementary school talent show, church choir, high school chorus, and of course, voice lessons.  My first voice teacher was Mrs. Hankey.  Singing lessons with her were classical and formal.  Each lesson started with Mrs. Hankey taking me through vocal exercises along with the piano: me, may, mah, moh, moo up and down the scales.  One day while playing the piano, she broke a fingernail and stopped abruptly.   I continued on without her.   She encouraged me so I went on singing.  Up then down then modulating, then up then down.

She told me she did not realize that I could do the exercises without accompaniment.  I did not realize that other people could not.  I thought that everyone could carry a tune without accompaniment and that everyone could sing.  That was the day I found out I was talented and had a gift to sing.  Before then, I thought I totally sucked.  What a life changing moment.  From then on, even when I did not like the way I sounded I still knew that I was capable of sounding better.  With a lot of singing lessons and practice I could sing anything and sing it well.

Now I carry on in Margaret Hankey’s honor by offering evaluations and singing lessons to people who want to know if they can sing and what level of talent and potential they have.  It is my hope that I can give my students their own best singing lessons.