Online singing lessons: do they actually work?
Ema Vaitekūnaitė ·
For most of what a singing lesson does, yes. A coach can hear your pitch, tone and strain over a video call, and see how you breathe and stand. The main limit is the delay on the line, and it helps to know how lessons work around it. Here is what works online, what doesn’t, and how to set up so the lesson sounds as good as it can.
What works well over video
Most technique work is call and response. The coach demonstrates or explains, you try, the coach tells you what happened and what to change. That rhythm works fine with a small delay, because you and the coach never sing at the same moment.
Over a video call I can still hear:
- whether a note is in tune, and where it drifts;
- strain, pushing and a tight sound;
- breath noise and phrases that run out of air;
- changes in tone when you adjust something.
And see:
- posture, shoulders and neck;
- the jaw, the tongue and the mouth shape;
- how you breathe in before a phrase.
Online lessons with me follow the same structure as lessons in person: a warm-up, technique, then applying it to the songs you want to sing. You get clear exercises to practise between lessons, so progress doesn’t stop when the call ends.
The real limits
Delay. Every video call has a lag. It is short enough not to matter when you talk, but too long to make music together in time. You can’t sing in unison with your coach, and a coach can’t accompany you live on piano. Lessons are built so this doesn’t matter: you sing, then the coach answers.
Sound processing. Call apps are built for speech. They cut background noise and even out volume, and on singing that can clip long notes or flatten loud passages. Many call apps let you switch this off. In Zoom it is called “Original sound for musicians”.
The room. Some details are easier to catch in the same room: small breathing habits, tension you can see from the side. In person I can hear and see everything at once.
Singing with a backing track online
Because of the delay, the track works best from your side: play it on your own device and sing along. If it plays quietly from a speaker, the coach hears you and the track together (switch on original sound first, or the app may filter the track out). If you keep the track in headphones, the coach hears only your voice, which is often enough for technique work.
How to set up for an online lesson
You don’t need special equipment to begin. A phone or laptop, a quiet room and a stable connection are enough. A few small things help:
- Put the camera far enough back to show you from the head to the waist.
- Use a wired connection or sit close to the router.
- Turn off noise suppression, or switch on original sound, in your call app.
- Keep water nearby, and the lyrics and the track ready before the call.
- Tell the people at home that you will be singing. It helps you relax.
Lessons run over Zoom, Google Meet, or whatever you already use.
Who online lessons suit
Online lessons suit people who live outside Vilnius, travel often or simply prefer to practise at home. There is another advantage: you learn in the room where you practise, so what works in the lesson works at home too.
Complete beginners can start online too. You don’t need any experience.
Online or in person?
The method, the structure and the price are the same: one to one, in English or Lithuanian, 45–60 minutes for €60. Choose whichever fits your life. If you live in Vilnius and want the most detailed feedback on breath and posture, come to a lesson in person. If you live elsewhere, travel or have a tight schedule, online lessons keep you singing every week.
To book one, send me a short message about your voice and what you’d like to sing, and I’ll reply personally.
Ema Vaitekūnaitė is a vocal coach and performer in Vilnius. She trained at ICMT in London, Hamburg and New York, sang in season 12 of The Voice of Lithuania on LNK, and teaches one-to-one lessons in English and Lithuanian, in Vilnius and online.
