Vocally speaking, that is exactly what the Royans Professional Vocal School does and advocates.
We soon will be celebrating our 30th anniversary since we opened the doors.
When we did, we had one rotary phone and a little later, a tape answering machine.
In no time, we had over a 100 students, 7 teachers, retail music store and rehearsal space for the bands to practice.
Those were the days
Interestingly enough, the business was by far more efficient, not to mention, more personalized and even more intimate, so to speak.
We neither texted each other trying to establish the schedule or confirm the sessions, nor we emailed each other for the information or for details on the course.
Everything was done fast and efficient via landline on both ends and the school was booming.
Today, people have no concept of talking on the phone and lately, even no concept of actually receiving an instruction in-person!
They want it via phone, skype or facetime.
Go figure!
I am old school and I find when I work with a person's voice and nevertheless, with the person as a whole, it does become quite an intimate endeavour, as the voice reflects the person's true being and through its development, establishes his/her's identification.
The human body represents the instrument, which the person (speaker or singer) should be able to extract the maximum capacity of.
It is only possible when the body positioned properly. and all the muscles of the body are working in full conjunction and coordination with each other.
If the person does not stay straight and his body is quite slouched, the sound will be drawn down and will end up in the chest and will eventually die at the person's feet.
If the person stands with the pelvis out, the sound will be falling onto the hips, will be crooked and will also never reach its aimed destination.
As we already know the sound is a physical material body and travels as such, i.e. relatively, respectively, prospectively to the person's height, width and central line of the person's body.
How is it possible to establish the above via skype, let alone the phone? Beats me...!
I work with the person, not the robot, therefore the real eye contact (not virtual), the real connection (like the mother and the child with an umbilical cord) is very important.
I get to know my student by looking at him and his life, sometimes from the childhood.
The emotional makeup of the person I am working with is very important in our present and future vocal development.
It never ceases to amaze me, especially when it comes to a serious voice repair, that those troubled people are asking for the virtual cure.
I wouldn't be surprised if soon, the chiropractic doctors and masseuses will be questioned whether or not they could perform their skills virtually, so that the very lazy and out of touch people would be able to receive even those services not leaving their couch or their home per say. LOL!!!
It is the least to say retarded, but, unfortunately, it almost is becoming a reality.
I am, personally, really scared, as I'm not sure where this world is going to end up.
No wonder the economy is exponentially going down the drain, as the real people have been substituted by machines and robots.
One of my assistants revealed to me that his future date wanted to give her agreement for the actual date via skype.
Since he's not exactly a spring chicken, however, still young enough, even he was a little shocked on that proposition, but then still had to settle for a text.
How pathetic is that?
I understand that this is our world today and somehow, at least the parts of it, I, unfortunately, have to accept.
But, if I can help it, I would still like to continue doing what I have been doing best for a greater part of my life-delivering even today's online world, up close, interactive and intimate, and needless to say, IN-PERSON.
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