October 2, 2024
About the Author: Stefan Joubert
In this interview, vocal coach Jeff Rolka shares his journey of creating a YouTube channel dedicated to vocal instruction and discusses his unique approach to teaching.
He offers insights into common misconceptions about singing, vocal health tips, and advice for adult beginners.
Jeff also explores the role of online learning tools and his vision for the future of vocal education.
Stefan Joubert: What initially inspired you to start your YouTube channel, and how has your approach to teaching evolved over the years?
Jeff Rolka: There are a few videos that precede what I consider to be the official ‘start’ to my YouTube channel, but it was in Nov. of 2013 that I began to produce singing instruction videos regularly on the platform.
I did so because I wasn’t sure that I would be able to continue teaching, or even continue being a musician, and I wanted to codify my vowel alignment methodology so that it wasn’t lost.
I had seen great results with this when I was teaching in San Francisco, and felt that if I couldn’t continue to teach, then at least those who found my videos on YouTube could benefit from what I had learned and how I approached it in lessons.
Stefan Joubert: You have helped hundreds of thousands of people improve their singing. What do you think makes your approach to vocal coaching so effective?
Jeff Rolka: When I’m with a client, I am keenly attentive to what they are singing and saying throughout the lesson. I am listening for inconsistencies in their vowel production and carefully watching how they’re using their bodies to produce their vocal sound.
In the lesson I am adjusting the exercises we are doing in real time to leverage their strong suits. I’ll pair well-produced, well-engaged vowels with those that need more work, and draw their attention to the changes that can be heard.
Having taught thousands of in-person lessons (and still going!), I have a keen ear for vocal delivery, and what sequence of exercises will in general help a vocalist (whatever their level of training) to align their vowels for the greatest amount of consistency and release.
It is this level of experience that I believe helps me to be so effective in my private lessons, as well as the videos that I produce for YouTube.
Stefan Joubert: You emphasise understanding the voice “from the inside out.” Can you explain what this means and how it impacts the way you teach?
Jeff Rolka: Let me first say that while I believe this approach can help just about anyone, I realize that no teaching method is right for everybody.
Being flexible is also important. That being said, I approach singing pedagogy using music terminology and the anatomical terms that one would find in an anatomy book or more technical vocal pedagogy book.
I don’t use terms that I feel have any vagueness about them, or that generally have different definitions depending on whom you’re speaking to. By way of example, let’s look at the word ‘falsetto’.
In the latest edition of the Oxford Handbook of Singing, ‘falsetto’ is used to describe any singing in a male voice that is above the secondo passaggio.
In Training Tenor Voices Richard Miller uses that term to describe a male vocal range that is roughly a perfect fourth above a given male fach’s secondo passaggio. In other words, it is meant to describe a range of singing.
Finally, in common usage, ‘falsetto’ can mean almost anything from head voice to the airy vocal production that is common in untrained higher register singing.
What this means is that the student often has to go through the process of understanding the context of how the word is being used, because it is safe to assume that different teachers may use it differently. This makes learning unnecessarily complicated and vague.
If instead we talk in terms of thyroarytenoid dominant vocal production and cricothyroid dominant vocal production, and the varying levels of abduction or adduction we can employ, we have concrete objective terms that accurately describe the configuration of the vocal folds.
It can initially sound complicated to use technical language like this, but after an adjustment period to the terms and gaining an understanding of the physical experience of them, the vocalist gains a much better understanding of how their voice is operating, and how to adjust their delivery to get the sound that they wish.
Stefan Joubert: What are some of the most common misconceptions people have about their voices, and how do you help them overcome these?
Jeff Rolka: The most common misconceptions by far are:
1. That the registration events which are naturally occurring in our voices are somehow to be avoided
2. That we can ‘push past’ or ‘belt it out’ and that that will somehow result in a repeatable, usable and sustainable vocal delivery.
Initially I work with clients to overcome these misconceptions by circumventing them. This is another benefit to using the technical terms that I employ.
I also demonstrate techniques frequently, so I can show a client what it sounds like when (for example) one is ‘squeezing’ out a high note, versus employing voce piena in testa – which is to say, ‘the sound of chest voice in head voice.’
Stefan Joubert: With a variety of learning tools available on your platform, how do you cater to different learning styles in your teaching?
Jeff Rolka: The tools themselves favor different learning styles. For the self-starter who can easily self-reflect, my YouTube channel would be a great resource.
For those who want more guidance, but still prefer to go at their own pace, the courses on my website work very well.
Additionally, the online community on my website provides interaction with me for those that want feedback on their practices, or just want to be able to ask a question of me from time to time.
Finally, in private lessons I can tailor my methods to serve the goals of the client, keeping in mind their level of technique. For example, some clients in the past have been resistant to scale practice.
Rather than insisting that we do it anyway, I’ll specifically choose passages from their repertoire that have scale or scale-like phrases to help them to integrate that skill into their practice.
Stefan Joubert: At the London Singing Institute, we specialise in teaching adult students. From your experience working with a wide range of learners, what advice would you give to adults who are starting their vocal journey, especially those who might feel nervous or think it’s too late to begin singing?
Jeff Rolka: If you want to sing, you can absolutely get better at any age, and there is no better time to start than right now.
Feeling nervous is natural in a new situation, but keep in mind that a good vocal coach should have a kind, compassionate and thoughtful approach, and will be used to first-time nerves in their students.
For those who teach singing and those who practice singing, doing so is a normal experience every single day. Once you’ve established a regular practice, it can become that way for you as well.
Stefan Joubert: You’re a big advocate for vocal health. What are some key tips you give your students to ensure they take great care of their voices?
Jeff Rolka: Hydration and a daily practice are key. Additionally, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
If you don’t do the damage in the first place, you’ll not have anything to recover from!
I also can’t stress enough that productive daily practice is the key to a healthy, sustainable singing voice. The best approach is to do a little every day, and make sure it’s done well.
Stefan Joubert: What role does your Patreon community play in supporting your teaching, and how do you interact with your followers through that platform?
Jeff Rolka: My Patreon community make so much possible, and I could not be more grateful for their support. I communicate with them on an almost daily basis on a variety of topics, from upcoming video requests to answering questions about singing or just music-related topics.
It’s a two-way street, and the conversations that we have there are often hugely inspiring, or make me think about things in new ways that I had never considered before.
Additionally, they offer valuable feedback and are always helping me to improve the offerings I have available. I am deeply grateful for the community we’ve created together.
Stefan Joubert: How do you keep your lessons engaging and fresh, especially for students who are learning entirely online?
Jeff Rolka: I am always keenly engaged with my clients’ vocalizations and body language during our lessons. I also think that for the adult learner, working on repertoire that they are excited about is important.
So I’m not asking clients who are singer-songwriters to sing Italian Arias!
We’re working on the music that they’re writing, or songs they’re thinking about singing in their next performance.
Singing is one of the most intimate ways that humans produce music – it’s rooted in the body and can be a very profound experience. I believe that it can and should feel exciting and satisfying to learn more about how you can produce the sounds you want to hear.
Stefan Joubert: Looking ahead, what are your future plans for your teaching career, and how do you envision the future of online vocal education?
Jeff Rolka: If I were summarize my thoughts on this with one word it would be: “more!” I envision more courses, more videos long and short, more lessons on YouTube and privately, and more music production to satisfy my own artistic goals.
Low-cost telecommunications devices and the ever-increasing expansion of high speed internet around the world create great opportunities for more interaction and collaboration between vocalists than ever before.
When I started my voice teaching career I never imagined that I would be working with clients from as far afield as Australia, Bangladesh, France, Thailand, Germany and across the US, all from the comfort of their own homes.
It’s been a privilege to meet people from all walks of life, and I’m excited about what the next decade will bring in terms of ever-easier communication.
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