At City Vocal Coach we provide expert singing and songwriting tuition. We’re also home to some of the best teachers in London. So, in order to best direct your musical future, we thought it important you get to know our teachers a little bit more – to help you make that all-important decision of who would be best for you.

First in our series, introducing Jonathan Whiskerd…

How did you first get involved with music?

I started singing in my primary school choir! We were lucky enough to have two amazing music teachers who made singing fun and exciting. They managed to make the choir cool (well, we thought so anyway). They used to write original songs for us, which sparked my lifelong fascination with the communicative power of writing and performing.

When did you decide you wanted music to be your career?

I had always had aspirations to make a living from my musical skill and experience, but I didn’t manage to make it a reality until I fully committed to it. I worked as a freelance musician after I left university but had another job alongside that. I then moved to London to work for a musician’s charity (Help Musicians UK – a fantastic organisation). I spent all my time working with professional musicians and decided that I needed to be one too, so I left my job and (over several years), built a career as an artist, songwriter and songwriting tutor.

How do you stay productive and inspired as a musician?

By working with new people all the time and staying committed to learning and developing. I don’t ever like to feel too comfortable. In my opinion, the minute you feel you’re ‘done’ as a writer or musician – and that you have nothing left to learn – you are in dangerous territory. What keeps me motivated is the wonderful, lifelong challenge of continual creative and professional development.

What do you enjoy the most about teaching?

I find it so fulfilling helping other writers to achieve their goals. I have worked with so many people who have talent and ability but are just not sure how to focus it or, sometimes, are simply afraid to grant themselves permission to write songs. I find it very rewarding to work through these issues and blocks with writers; and hopefully they do too!

What is your most important tip for songwriting?

Writing is re-writing. It is very difficult to address and explore all of the creative and technical possibilities at once. It may be that, occasionally, you can write something in one draft but, generally speaking, methodically refining the song is how you can make big gains in your writing. Pushing yourself beyond your comfort zone by moving beyond what you might usually settle for can yield great results. It’s a very different energy to the initial creative splurge – and it’s definitely hard work – but if you ignore this stage of the process, you are selling your songs short of their full potential!