"Before" and "After" Singing Lessons

Are recordings of students before and after singing lessons helpful? Or a possible scam?

Once in a while I get a request to provide “before” and “after” audios and videos. Interestingly enough, there is often an underlying aggressiveness behind these “requests”.

“Show me a “before and after” to prove your method works”, one person demanded. Another one exclaimed: “The proof is in the pudding. Show me before and afters if you want to convince me.”

Now, I completely understand the desire for this. And that is exactly why I thought it would be appropriate that I outline some reasons as to why I won't try and dupe you with "before and afters". They are, in fact, very misleading and unethical marketing practices.

Let’s put our thinking cap on and ponder some questions:

• Do you realize how easy it is for a good singer to sound bad on purpose? That's right. "Before and After Singing Lessons" recordings that show impressive improvements could easily have been done within 5 minutes of each other.
• How would an honest "before and after singing lessons comparrison" be accomplished? should people send us recordings before they begin the training? should we travel and record them before they have become customers? 
• Why would anyone ever want to send me a "before" recording? What's the incentive? Is there a reward? If so, wouldn't that encourage them to send a "bad" recording? How would we know how it was done?

You might want to know that people have actually contacted us and offered to give a “before and after”. Guess why? It turns out they haven’t bought they program. They think by offering us a “before and after” we will give them the training for free. How ludicrous.

Now, there are numerous more reasons why a “before and after” is not only unethical, but extremely misleading. Here are just some…

Even if a “before and after” was recorded in earnest, how would that help you? Before what? After what? Is it after 40 minutes or three years? Of practicing what? The truth is that you have no idea of what the person has actually done to achieve results.

What if you don’t like the style of the singer? Do the many singers on The Singing Zone success stories page sound the same? Of course not. If for some reason you come to believe that you will sound like another singer, you have been grossly mislead.

Is every improvement always heard in a recording? Of course not. Going from tension, strain and anxiety to confidence, joy and freedom is life-transforming. It has an enormous impact on your career and life. But it’s not necessarily heard in a bad recording.

The hundreds, probably thousands, of success stories that you see on this site, as well as at www.PerBristow.com or on The Singing Zone facebook page, speak about the individual’s experience. Yes, it is the experience that counts. And however great you become as a singer, there will always be someone who doesn’t like the way you sing.

Does a professional with a voice problem want his struggles recorded and spread to the world? Of course not. Nor would I ever ask for it just to dupe someone into buying my program.

Does a beginner singer want his untrained voice to be broadcast to the world? Of course not. What if I asked: “Hey can you send me an audio as a “before”, and, by the way, make sure it sounds really bad.”?

We could go on and on. The bottom line is that singers publish their material when they feel they are ready, and they do it on their own websites.

I should add that it is certainly extraordinarily powerful to be able to witness progress, to be able to sit in on lessons, and learn exactly what the person is doing, and why he/she accomplishes such tremendous results. In fact, I do provide this sometimes. But that is a very exclusive setting and only for the serious students.

So back to the idea of providing “proof”. If you were ever misled into to believing that a “before and after” provides any “proof", hopefully you are rethinking. In fact, I hope you think twice if you ever see/hear that somewhere else. The FTC has strict guidelines against such false and misleading advertising for a reason.

In the weight loss and muscle building industry they can get away with it still. It is of course far easier to simply take a photo of what you look like than creating an accurate recording of what you can really do with your voice.

Most importantly, you realize that no serious education engages in providing “proof”. My life and business has never been about providing “proof”. My job and my passion is to help those who want my help, and I do so the very best I can.

What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment below.