Singing Lessons for Professionals: Taking Your Voice Beyond Good to Exceptional

You’ve already mastered the basics. You can sing in tune, maybe even perform on stage or in the studio. But you know there’s another level above “good” — the kind of voice that captures attention and performs consistently under pressure. That’s where professional-level singing lessons come in.

I’m Mark — a Certified Vocal Coach and one of the UK’s leading singing teachers. I work with singers across Nottingham, the UK, and worldwide online.

My speciality is helping serious singers transform their voices with clarity, stamina, and power — so they can move from good to exceptional.

Who Takes Singing Lessons With Me?

Gigging and recording singers who want to raise their standard.
Semi-professional or ambitious amateurs ready to invest in long-term growth.
Performers preparing for auditions, tours, or demanding studio work.
Amateurs who harbour a desire to have the best voice they possibly can.

What unites them? They’re serious about improvement and ready to commit to regular, structured coaching.

Why most singers plateau and never reach their potential

Honestly, most singers today are performing far below the standard they’re capable of. In many cases, they don’t sound their best — and often, they don’t even sound that great.

Continue reading “Singing Lessons for Professionals: Taking Your Voice Beyond Good to Exceptional”

August 20, 2025August 20, 2025

The Hidden Costs of Cheap Singing Lessons

When it comes to singing lessons, price is often the first thing people look at. A quick Google search will show you plenty of cheap singing lessons — some offering lessons at £20 or £30 an hour, while others charge much more. At first glance, the cheaper lessons seem like the obvious choice. But as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. You can read more about how much singing lessons cost here.

In fact, cheap singing lessons often carry hidden costs that make them far more expensive in the long run — not just in money, but in wasted time, missed opportunities, and lasting damage to your voice. Below, I’ll outline three of the biggest hidden costs I see in singers who come to me after months or years with “budget” lessons.

Continue reading “The Hidden Costs of Cheap Singing Lessons”

February 2, 2025August 3, 2025

Making Your Living In Music

I’ve been working as a vocal coach for about a decade and a half now. Many of my clients are professionals who earn some or all of their income from making music. I also know many other musicians who work within the music industry.

As such, I thought it might be worth sharing a few things that have made working in the music industry achievable. If you are trying to make a living as a singer/musician, or would like to learn more, please do have a read.

1) “Musicianship” is a skill

When I first started making music in my teens, people noticed I seemed to have an aptitude for it. They would say things like:

“You’re good at music… you should do music for a living” was something I’d hear a lot.

It didn’t strike me until years later, that’s like saying:

“You’re good at maths… you should do maths for a living“.

In reality, there is no job that is just “maths“. There are jobs that employ maths as a skill, e.g. accountancy, actuary, mathematics teacher, even engineering, but being “good at maths” is only one component of the skill set needed to become valuable within a job.

Similarly, just because you love singing, this does not automatically mean you HAVE to become a solo performer or front a band. There are always a plurality of jobs that require musical ability as a skill, but it is deployed differently within each arena. Continue reading “Making Your Living In Music”

November 27, 2021August 3, 2025

What does voice acting involve? Can I start doing voice over work?

I’m a professional vocal coach and singing teacher. The core of my work is about building, improving and fixing issues people have in their voices.

From that point, the primary and highest demanding application of this is for singers and performers using their voice in song. This involves using their voice over the widest range, at the most extreme intensities, often in sub-optimal situations where their performance needs to be dead-on first time.

Other applications of a well-built voice involve acting on stage, on television, voice-over work, stage speaking, professional speaking/voice use, etc. Many of my clients are even school teachers looking to maintain their voice. This is very much a classic example of a professional voice user – it just so happens voice training overlaps very well with their love of singing.

Voice acting interest

I’ve been getting a lot of interest lately in voice-over work and voice acting. I have had the odd client who goes down this road, but the majority of my client-base falls into the above camp. It seems that many are considering a career-change or even a side-gig in voice acting, so I wanted to pull together some pointers on what it is and what is involved. I will also briefly clarify the difference between a voice over coach and a vocal coach like myself.

What is voice acting?

“Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience.”

When you watch “Peppa Pig”, “The Simpsons”, or listen to radio shows like “The Archers”, the people providing the voice track for each of the characters are professional voice actors. Their bodies are not seen on-screen, so they are required to provide all the emotional intensity and meaning for the scene purely through using their voices. Voices need to be intelligible and of an appropriate character for the given project.

Projects can be extremely diverse. Radio shows, podcasts, animated films, cartoons, educational videos, pre-recorded corporate training, explanations within software, TV or radio advertisements, jingles, TV/radio segues, etc, all can involve the use of one/multiple voice actors. Because of the diverse range of possible voice acting avenues, you can understand why there is no “one size fits all” definition for what makes a good voice for voice acting. Continue reading “What does voice acting involve? Can I start doing voice over work?”

June 15, 2019July 5, 2025

The Difference Between Amateurs and Pros

“Amateurs practise until they get it right, a professional until he can’t do it wrong.”

Extract from “Psychology for Musicians” by Percy C. Buck, circa 1944.

I’ve talked before about the importance of putting in the reps. To be honest, I feel like I should have multiple articles devoted to this very topic. That way I can can illustrate the importance of repetition, by writing repetitiously about it! Continue reading “The Difference Between Amateurs and Pros”

May 27, 2018July 5, 2025

Epic voices you’ve (likely) never heard of

I was watching an interview a little while ago, with a famous fight trainer. The interviewer asked him who the most dangerous/incredible fighter he’d ever seen was, and he told this story about a guy called Steve Rusk.

Steve was just an outdoors-y kind of guy in the US (hunting, fishing, etc), but he’d come in and train with the fight trainers top world-class fighters. And Steve would utterly destroy them. He was just THAT physical and that good… but he never had the desire to be known across the world, he just liked training and being good at that. It was it’s own reward.

In the same way, there are some INSANE singers out there that you will (very likely) never have heard of… and I thought I’d share a few of my absolute favourites on here. All of these are bootleg recordings to help capture how good these guys are live. Enjoy! Continue reading “Epic voices you’ve (likely) never heard of”

May 8, 2018August 3, 2025

Are singing lessons tax deductible?

Are Singing Lessons Tax Deductible?

Many who study with me—or with other teachers—run their own business, are professional speakers or consultants, or are singers themselves (gigging or otherwise). Naturally, the question arises: “Are singing lessons tax deductible?”

The first answer is an instruction: It depends. You should definitely speak to your accountant.

The second answer is a short discussion on reasons why singing lessons or vocal coaching may be tax deductible in your specific case. Again, to confirm this, speak to your accountant.

1. Do You Sing or Make/Study Music Professionally?

If so, then it is likely you can claim some or all of your singing lessons as a tax deduction. If you are a gigging musician, singer-songwriter, or music teacher, then ongoing music tuition may qualify as CPD—continuing professional development—and therefore fall under allowable business expenses. Again, confirm this with your accountant.

2. Do You Use Your Voice Professionally (But Don’t Sing)?

If you’re a professional speaker, educator, or consultant, there’s still a case to be made for a vocal coach to be partially tax deductible. This is less certain than for performing musicians, but if your voice is a business tool and coaching improves it, it’s worth discussing with your accountant.

3. Hobby Use?

If neither of the above applies, it’s unlikely your lessons are tax deductible. In most cases, they will be considered a personal hobby. As always, seek personalised advice from a qualified accountant.

Disclaimer

This answer was not written by a certified accountant. It reflects personal opinion and should not be viewed as binding legal or financial advice.