Vocalist.org archive


From:  Earl Presley <egpburk@s...>
Date:  Thu Mar 6, 2003  5:03 am
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Training of Singing Teachers


It is imperative that one understand the physiology of the vocal mechanism. It
is the only way you can insure the safety of your students voices. The ear is a
wonderful thing, but unless one has eyes and experience to see the telltale
signs of vocal abuse, small glottal attacks and stops, tension in the various
areas of the upper body and jaw, one cannot cannot help students without putting
them at risk. There are many excellent singers who are horrible teachers. They
have know understanding of the actual mechanism of the voice and only have their
ear to blindly lead the student to attempt exercises they were taught by someone
who also had no idea what they were doing. Vocal Pedagogy is a serious
specialization that should be approached as such. It had little to do with
Choral Conducting, Sacred Music, or Music Education, with all due respect to
those who got their Masters in those areas.
A good place to start is "The Mechanism of Singing" by William Vennard. It
should be in any good College Library. "Research in Singing" by John Large is
out of print but should be in a good library if the college caters to Vocal
Pedagogy at all. Additional authors of good resources are Richard Miller, Joan
Wall, and their are videos of the voice actually singing that should be viewed
by every singer and teacher.
Pardon the soapbox, but I have been remediating damaged voices from voice
studios, pop and rock singers, and teachers for a very long time. If your going
to teach private voice, do your homework!
Earl G. Presley, BMEd, MM, MTS
http://www.geocities.com/egpburk@sbcglobal.net/egppage.html
Deborah <singsoprano2003@y...> wrote: Hi everyone,

First I would like to apologise for asking so many questions but I
still have alot to learn.

I was wondering among the singing teachers out there what in their
veiw was important training for singing teachers.

I am very keen to be the best one I can be and I am curious what sort
of experience and training the teachers on the list have had.

Best Wishes

deborah










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