Voice training lessons, anyone?
A batch of students from Music Unlimited’s voice training classes performing with the Grammy-nominated group, Della Mae during their visit to Guyana
A batch of students from Music Unlimited’s voice training classes performing with the Grammy-nominated group, Della Mae during their visit to Guyana

GONE are the days when finding professional voice training in Guyana was a rare gem; where tutors were professionals from the ‘old school’, few in number, and known only through word-of-mouth.

Thanks to local institution, Music Unlimited, voice training lessons are not only now within the reach of aspiring singers, but are also interactive, extremely fun and, based on results from past students, certainly worth the effort.Music-2

Music Unlimited was founded in 2012 by brothers Christian and Jeremy Sobers.
The school at first offered courses in Music Theory, Guitar, Piano, Bass, Vocals and Drums, and since its opening has trained over 400 students in the past four years.

Christian said that the idea to open its doors to offer voice training lessons came from constantly hearing students express their wish to expand their horizons and sharpen their vocal skills.

“When they told us that,” he said, “we would usually go out and try to find places to send them. But we couldn’t find anything that was a credible programme, or one that had students that showed effectiveness.
What we found was mostly ‘old-school’ or classical-based programmes.”

FUN AND ENGAGING

Realising there was a gap, Christian brainstormed the idea with his team, and they came up with the structure for a contemporary programme that makes mastering vocals “fun and engaging”.

The syllabus doesn’t only involve theory, but teaching students as well how to practically develop their voices, giving them practice routines for even after they leave. Christian said that the lessons draw inspiration both from the Berklee College Music Programme syllabus, as well as the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) syllabus.

The team first ran two test programmes with groups of collectively 50 people, after which they found that the results were impressive.
“We saw that the students were able to accomplish great things,” Christian said. “We had people who couldn’t even hold pitch; and when they were done, they were singing harmonies.”

SIX YEARS ON
This was in 2014. Since then, the group has churned out four batches of students, and is now holding auditions for its fifth.
Auditions are held in front of tutors to assess the individual needs of each student so that those needs could be focused on during training.

Over the last two years, the voice lessons have served well for many up-and-coming musicians, including model and singer, Anasha Dutchin.

“One of our students also performed backup vocals for the opening act of the Tessanne Chin Concert held here last year.

“We have really seen growth with students,” Christian said.

Auditions are currently open for the new set of classes, which are scheduled to start in May, and Christian and team are excited to greet their new batch of students, as Music Unlimited strives to keep evolving the programme so that the students are always challenged.
Indeed, with students required to do live performances during their course, surely the challenge is on. But serious vocalists would admit that it is such pressures that bring out the best in their voice!

 

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