Social media is a tool that many singers use to learn more about their voices. In this article, we meet some of the voice teachers using social media to share that information.
We all spend a lot of time on social media these days. We use that space to connect with friends and colleagues as well as to explore entertainment or information about our favorite subjects. Several years ago, I began very purposefully following voice teachers who shared helpful information about singing on social media.
Recently, I interviewed three of my favorite voice teachers from social media to ask them how they got started sharing their work online, what benefits they have seen in sharing, and if they suggest we all start sharing as well (they said yes!). Each of these teachers comes from a different world of singing and teaching and each has a unique perspective to offer singers and singing teachers today.
Dr. Jennifer Cresswell (TikTok: @dr.jenny_soprano) is an opera singer and online voice instructor, as well as a visiting assistant professor of voice and the department’s recruiting coordinator at Simpson College (Indianola, Iowa).
Elle Holiday (IG: @vocalabau) is a jazz singer with a diploma in jazz voice, a voice-specializing speech pathologist (SLP), a singing technique coach, a vocal massage therapist, and the director of VocaLab (Adelaide, Australia).
Maddie Tarbox (IG and TikTok: @maddietarboxvocalstudio) is owner of Maddie Tarbox Vocal Studio, LLC, and is an auxiliary adjunct professor of voice (CCM) at Shenandoah University (Winchester, Virginia).
What was your reason for first sharing your work on social media, and how did you get started sharing?
Maddie Tarbox: It was 2020, and I had just graduated from Shenandoah [University] and finished the master’s degree. I was so eager to share everything I’d just learned, all of this wonderful evidence-based, science-informed information. I felt empowered to start speaking the truth to some of these things and I was eager to help change the culture of teaching. As soon as I started sharing information with my face on video, that’s when things really started to change. It truly was one video at a time, just whatever I was passionate about that day.
Jenny Cresswell: I fell into it completely. I gained a TikTok following initially, not by teaching. I wrote a parody on the quintet “Your Fault” from Into the Woods. I called it “Your Job.” Someone said, “You should put it on TikTok.” I put it up there and got 80,000 views off the bat. And then I found myself facing another year as a freelancer. I thought, “All right, I can do this. I know people who teach voice online.” So, I just started making TikToks. That’s where that came from. It came out of necessity to eat.
Elle Holiday: It would be oftentimes in response to . . . seeing a teacher post something, [and] I would think, “Well, that’s problematic” or “That’s not based in evidence.” I decided I was going to pull apart research articles for people who don’t usually. So, I used accessible language and then posted it, and it would just get traction. And it sparked conversation and knowledge, growth, and education—and it’s free. The stuff I shared was genuinely a response to the singing teachers who were sharing things that they didn’t even know were harmful. It’s not their fault. So, I [would find] a gentle way to [say], “Here’s the evidence. Have a read.”
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What is the best thing you have discovered about sharing on social media?
EH: The most satisfying part for me personally is seeing the community that’s built from it. You see people “meet” each other in the comment sections, and then they’ll go to DMs, and then you’ll see a photo of them together and they’re collaborating. The community that is built from it has been really lovely.
JC: It’s allowed me to focus on the students that I really want to work with. I have taught this last year students on five continents. I teach people from all over the world. I have a student in Peru. I have students in Japan. I’ve had students in Australia, France, Ireland, and Canada. That’s exciting to me. It’s the variety of students.
MT: I can’t deny that the social media following has turned into financial stability for me in a way that I did not know was possible for voice teachers. So, I have to acknowledge that is a big part of it. Some of the other [positive things] are watching the teachers that I get to work with have so much success in their studios. It warms my heart more than words can say. And then the third thing is it taught my nervous system that it was not only safe to speak my mind, but necessary to, if I wanted to have any kind of impact on the voice teaching community.
What inspiration, resources, and tools did you use to get started?
JC: I got my doctorate at University of Michigan in the middle of the pandemic. I was the assistant for the Business of Music class for two semesters, so I did have the benefit of having read those books that were associated with that class. But honestly, when it came to TikTok, I just watched TikTok. You have to study the format.
MT: Dr. Shannon Coates (IG: @voiceped). Shannon has been herself from day one on social media. She showed what was possible in a way that got into my subconscious: “You can do this; you have things to share.” I would follow and engage with creators and marketers on social media.
EH: I read a lot of professional development books, and so I learned a lot about marketing and being an entrepreneur, [especially from a] book called The Introvert Entrepreneur by Beth Buelow. And one of the other things I learned [from a professional development book] was to never name your business after yourself. The business is its own entity, and if it’s named after you and the business gets negative reviews, that feels very personal because it’s your name. And it’s not as easy to expand. It was a wonderful piece of advice.
How do you approach branding?
EH: Because I’ve got a business account, I’d look at the data and see “How many people saw this? How many people liked this, shared this, commented on this?” And once the following had increased, I’d rinse and repeat—pick the things that performed the best, change the colors, change the fonts, change some of the wording, and repost. It has been just trial and error and playing around for hours on Canva!
MT: I’m still learning about who I want to be as a brand and what I want to represent. And that’s where core value work comes in. I do a lot of work with Michelle Markwart Deveaux and the Speakeasy Cooperative (IG: @thespeakeasycooperative), which has been so invaluable to help me really understand who I am and what I want to offer this world so that I can keep offering it and not burn out by pretending to be somebody I’m not.
JC: It’s literally just me. There’s nothing except for the words “Go Practice,” which was also just me for over a decade in my private studio. I [advised], “If you can’t do this, go practice.” So then when I started actively going online and saying, “Go Practice!” that became like a catchphrase and then the name of the app. It is that simple.
What is your advice for building and growing a successful social media community?
MT: Have your own back. Develop self-loyalty and a system for self-validation in the face of people disagreeing with you. Make the videos with your face on them. Just do it. It’s so scary, but human beings respond to a more human element in a much more powerful way. The way you reach people will be on a much more personal level, and they will be much closer to your ideal clients. Not to mention, it always does better with the algorithm!
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EH: Content is king. If you’re wanting to grow, make sure that what you are providing is adding value to people’s lives and making people feel good about themselves. It’s tricky, but don’t compare yourself to others. You have to have a lot of self-confidence and self-belief. So, you want to make sure that you surround yourself with people who fiercely believe in you and support you.
JC: Become tech savvy. I’m not a “techie person,” but it’s just so easy now. You can learn everything on YouTube. Your delivery matters. You have to be able to make eye contact with the camera as though you’re talking to somebody. People engage with you on TikTok. They like my videos because I teach them how to do something, and I demonstrate. They relate to it, so then they try it.
What are you passionate about sharing?
MT: I offer models that are really digestible for highly complex systems and situations. How can I help you with your “boots on the ground” in your studio every day in a way that not just you can understand as a teacher who has some background in anatomy and function and physiology, but your students too? The goal is to make it as digestible as possible for not just teachers but singers as well.
JC: So, taking my teaching out, what I try to offer is a realistic view into someone who has consistently been working as a singer at a professional level. On any given year, I make between $10,000 and $25,000 from singing. I need young singers to see that and get used to it. I need them to see that I am doing exactly what I went to school for, but this is actually what it looks like. I also bring being a single mother to the table. The population breakdown shows us that 16% of all households in the United States are single mother-run households with minor children. But that’s not really reflected in the opera world. I speak for all that kind of stuff. It needs to be heard.
EH: A big part of what I do, especially on social media, is teaching that just because you’re a teacher doesn’t mean you are meant to know everything about the voice. Here’s a space where you can learn where you’re not going to get shamed. I’m not going to say, “You should know this.” I’m going to say, “You only know what you know. And the fact that you’ve sought out new information here means that you’re trying to do the best for yourself and for your students.”
What each of these teachers seems to have in common is that they share only the information they believe is helpful and topics about which they are truly passionate. Consider your passions and what you have to offer as a teacher, and you too may find value in sharing on social media.
