I often wake up during the semester to find a variety of texts from students either canceling a lesson or asking a question about an upcoming performance. Then as I drink my morning coffee and peruse Facebook, I can see what my friends, colleagues, and students are up to. Many times students are posting about study guides and music events—but occasionally I see evidence of underage drinking or check-ins for bars, clubs, or restaurants in the wee morning hours. This always makes me uncomfortable, especially if I know they have an early morning music theory class or an afternoon voice lesson.
As I become more and more adept with (and attached to) my iPhone, I have become curious about social media and its potential impact on teaching and singing. To find out others’ views, I solicited opinions on my Facebook page and requested input via the Auditions Plus Blog. Here I share a few of my own experiences along with the great feedback I received from both singers and teachers on the use of Facebook and texting in the studio.
Facebook
I have been on Facebook for several years, and I have a love-hate relationship with it. I love that I have reconnected with former classmates, teacher colleagues, and fellow singers. I love seeing family pictures of my four-year old niece, who lives clear across the country. I truly enjoy reading informative and funny posts from long-lost friends or students. It’s great to keep in touch on a more informal level. I definitely detest, however, all of the idiotic game requests, the over-the-top political postings, and those who publicly share every little detail of their lives. I mostly use Facebook as a tool, so I do not have time for FarmVille, Bejeweled Blitz, or Words with Friends. I typically do not post a lot of personal information. I frequently acquire writing projects and singing engagements via Facebook, so I try to keep it as professional as possible.
But what about Facebook and my students? If I have a voice student send me a friend request, I usually accept. I do not send friend requests to students, however. If a student does not want to be Facebook friends with me, I completely respect (and appreciate) their need for privacy. Facebook, if used appropriately, can be a valuable and entertaining tool. It can, however, also be a negative experience when I see students posting pictures of all-night partying or using inappropriate language. Thankfully, this is more the exception rather than the norm, and I have not had to broach the topic one-on-one with very many students. Only once or twice has information I garnered from Facebook negatively impacted my students.
In the spring 2011 semester, I was teaching an undergraduate vocal literature class and was FB friends with many of the students in my class. Unbeknownst to them, I often suffer from insomnia, and one way I whittle the time away is by playing solitaire or scrolling through my FB newsfeed on my iPhone. One night, as I was counting sheep and spending time on FB, I noticed that one of my voice students had checked herself, and several other singers, into a popular Las Vegas nightclub. It was about 2:00 on a Thursday morning. Several of the students who were part of the FB “check-in” were in my 11:00 a.m. vocal literature class. I wondered who would show up to class.
To their credit, all of the guilty culprits attended class, albeit bleary-eyed and perhaps a bit hung over. The irony was that the student who checked everyone in was not in my class, so when I casually mentioned something about their late night adventures, their eyes nearly popped out of their heads. Needless to say, a few hours later, the post had miraculously disappeared.
One student involved in this incident had a private voice lesson with me later that afternoon. She had no knowledge of the post. She arrived to her lesson several minutes late, looked quite haggard, and was full of excuses. I did not mention my knowledge of her source of pain, but I was definitely unforgiving in her poor performance during her lesson. It was evident that she had slept very little and had been talking in a loud, smoke-filled club. She practically broke down in tears as I refused to accept her lack of preparedness and poor vocal shape. Had I not known about her nocturnal activities, my firm and unyielding behavior would have been harsh. But I was disappointed at her lack of respect for me and her lesson. How can you have a productive lesson after hanging out at a noisy, smoky club all night?
In the next blog entry I’ll delve into the prevalent practice of texting.
Social Media and the Voice Studio – Part I
