VCE classical or contemporary?

Question: When should i start singing lessons for VCE 

Answer: early. Around year 9. It’s never too late but the earlier you can start learning the repertoire and singing regularly that’s never a bad thing.

Question: Should i do classical or contemporary? 

Answer: That depends on the student and your natural aptitude. The other thing to consider is what you enjoy doing, what you are drawn to.  Let’s say if you have a real natural classical sound, a rich easy voice, with an easy vibrato and you really enjoy the repertoire, then I would suggest that classical might be the right path to go down.  More people will be doing contemporary so if you have a natural ability for classical you may fare better. 

However, if you have a natural flair for contemporary if you are the kind of person who constantly listens to pop songs (like my kids). You have your favorite artists and a Spotify account then it’s probably contemporary you should look at.

If you are really keen, in year 11 you could look at both. Choose some songs from each syllabus, a program, one song from each category. One program for classical and one for contemporary and compare them side by side. I have done that with a few year 11 students who had ability in both areas.  It does give you a bit of perspective.