If you’re new to the world of singing, you’re probably thinking: who the heck is Roger Love?

To be fair, so did I.

And though he may not be a household name, it turns out Roger is pretty much the authority of vocal coaching. He’s produced more than 100 million CD sales and worked with some of the most prominent artists in the world, including:

• Maroon 5
• Demi Lovato
• John Mayer
• Selen Gomez
• The Jonas Brothers
• Eminem
• The Killers
• Tool

So, you can trust that when Roger says this is how you do singing, then this is how you do singing.

Roger Love’s Singing Academy Overview

What’s Included?

Roger Love’s Singing Academy Program consists of three levels, aptly named Level 1, 2, and 3.

Level 1 is all about learning Roger’s technique, and focuses on teaching you the basics of mastering your head, middle, and chest voices.

Level 2 takes these learnings and applies them across 6 different styles of singing. Level 3 is described as “performance magic and feedback from Roger.” I felt like the first two levels presented the best value, with Level 3 being for really invested learners.

If you like, you can start by just purchasing Level 1, or you can buy all three at once! Each level consists of 35 instructional videos, and gives you access to the Love Notes software (more on that soon), plus a bunch of vocal exercises and bonus videos.

Level 1 Lessons

Where some of the vocal lesson platforms I’ve worked with in the past offered a free for all approach and let you figure out a lesson plan for yourself, Roger Love has helpfully divided the video lessons into weeks. Of course, you can watch them in whatever order or pace you like, but I found this really helpful for understanding how to pace myself.

Level 1 is broken up into 5 weeks.

• Week 1 is introductory and focuses on your breathing
• Week 2 takes a psychological approach and teaches you about your vocal chords and larynx
• Week 3 is where you’ll begin exploring head, middle, and chest voice
• Week 4 teaches you about a specific vocal technique called vibrato
• Week 5 takes a step back from specific vocal techniques and discusses how diet affects your singing voice, as well as concepts such as stage fright.

I got the feeling that Level 1 is really more of a fundamental course that introduces you to Roger Love’s techniques and methodology. If you want to see substantial results and improvements to your singing voice, I’d definitely recommend purchasing Level 2 as well.

 

Level 2 Lessons

Level 2 is where the Roger Love Singing Academy really shows its stuff. Like Level 1, it’s broken up into 5 weeks of lessons.

Week 6 and 7 dive even deeper into head, middle, and chest voice, as well as vibrato, developing those techniques even further than in Level 1.

The next 3 weeks focus on singing whole songs, and explores 6 different genres of music:

• Rock
• Pop
• Country
• R&B
• Gospel
• Musical theater

8 weeks might seem like a long time to wait before you get into singing actual songs, but it’s crucial to build a strong foundation of technique before you can start to apply it. I didn’t get a feeling that the course was dragging on at all, which to me, means the lessons are very engaging.

If you’ve done any singing lessons before, or play another instrument already, then you might be able to power through the first few weeks of Level 1 reasonably quickly. That’s the beauty of online singing lessons.

Level 3 Lessons

Level 3 gives you a further 4 weeks of vocal advice. I say advice because this level is really focused on the holistic approach to singing as opposed to specific techniques and voice coaching.

The first week (Week 11) does give you an advanced lesson on head, middle, and chest voice, but after that, Roger steps away from his piano and pulls out a giant notepad to teach you not just how to sing, but how to be a singer.

Weeks 12 through 14 discuss topics such as microphone technique, working with a band, developing your own style, and the music business. Some of them I found seriously valuable (mic technique, for example, is seriously important), but not all of the videos will apply to everyone.

 

 

 

 

User Interface

I found the interface pretty intuitive and well laid out. By no means is it flashy or luxurious, which may be a disappointment to some given the price of the academy. Still, overall I’d say it’s pretty nice.

Everything is easy to find, you have access to the exercises and bonus material at all times, and the lessons are nicely divided into weekly modules, which I found gave an excellent guideline for pace.

Songs & Styles

The Roger Love Singing Academy does a decent job of introducing students to a variety of genres. I wouldn’t say it goes particularly deep into any of them, though, so if you’re wanting to learn the specific fundamentals and techniques of singing in a given genre, this one might not cut it.

You’ll need to purchase the Level 2 lesson pack to get to genre-based lessons too, which are made up of:

• Week 8 – Rock
• Week 9 – Pop and country
• Week 10 – R&B/gospel and musical theater

Tools & Support

Aside from the lessons above, purchasing Roger Love’s Singing Academy gives you access to a few other goodies.

Love Notes

An intuitive piece of software developed by Roger himself, Love Notes is designed to help you learn specific signs. It gives you visual cues as to where to switch between head and chest, and where to apply vibrato. You also get some video walkthroughs of Roger showing you how to use the software. I haven’t seen anything like this in other vocal lesson platforms, so I thought this was a cool and creative bonus.

Exercise Studio

The exercise studio consists of vocal warmups as well as exercises in diaphragmatic breathing and locating your larynx.

Bonus Videos

I’m not entirely sure why these aren’t included as specific lessons. They seem pretty similar in ways to many of the Level 3 lessons. Either way, they’re reasonably valuable, and teach you about concepts such as:

• How to read music
• Mouth positions
• Writing songs
• Building a character
• Eliminating pitch problems

Value For Money/Cost

Roger’s lessons aren’t cheap, but what do you expect from a world-class vocal coach?

Level 1 costs $197, 1 and 2 together cost $297, and all three together come in at $497.

The middle option seems to represent the best value, especially where that’s where most of the technique-specific lessons exist. When you consider the fact that you’re getting 70 video lessons with that package, it ain’t half bad. That’s less than $5 a lesson…

If I were purchasing the lessons again or recommending to a friend, I’d say go with Levels 1 and 2. You can always upgrade to Level 3 later if you really want to.

Trial Period

There’s no trial period available with this product. However, you can access up to four free lessons before plugging in those credit card details. That should be more than enough for you to get a feel for whether Roger’s academy is for you or not.

Niche Aspects

One thing I found super cool about Roger Love’s Singing Academy is that each video lesson has a comment section underneath it, kind of like YouTube.

This lets you view other users’ comments, tips, and suggestions, many of which I found really helpful.

What surprised me even more, was that Roger jumps in and replies pretty regularly!

The male/female lesson approach is pretty cool and gives a slightly more individualized approach.

How Does It Compare?

Roger Love’s Singing Academy is one of the more developed lesson platforms available today. Of course, it certainly isn’t one of the cheapest, but you get what you pay for. And to be honest, for $5 a lesson with a world-class vocal coach, who’s counting?

In this regard, The Vocalist Coach offers slightly better value for money given the number of lessons provided, but Roger Love’s program offers a far better user experience. It’s not quite as sleek as 30 Day Singer, though.

Conclusion – Who Is Roger Love’s Singing Academy For?

Roger Love’s Singing Academy is no entry-level platform, this is a program for only the most serious of singing students. I’d recommend this program for anyone who really wants to knuckle down and improve their voice, and isn’t worried about a flashy user interface.