MBF wrote:
>>It is with great sadness that I watch the academia insist that singers
learn to use their voices by exclusively learning the classical style.
Occasionally, do I hear of colleges also adding musical theatre into the
curricula, and if they are really forward thinking they may have a great jazz
program going. However, I've not heard of a college that helps one learn how
to sing pop, rock, R&B, or gospel. To me, this is preposterous, technique can
be learned outside of any musical style and then applied to any style of
music that one wishes to sing. The trick, is learning how to sing the style
correctly without harming ones voice.
I don't believe that most academics today claim that one can only learn to
sing well using classical music as the vehicle. However, I think it is good
to remember that the reason classical music is the foundation for a college
music curriculum is the same as the reason great literature is the foundation
for the English Department's curriculum. It's not that you can't learn to
read using other kinds of books, newspapers, or whatever. It's the fact that
an educated person needs to know great literature, and likewise as educated
person needs to know great music. Whether or not one makes a career out of
classical literature or classical music is another affair!
|\ Dr. Diane M. Clark, Assoc. Prof./Chair of Music Dept., Rhodes College
| 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112, 901-843-3782, dclark@r...
() http://gray.music.rhodes.edu/musichtmls/faculty/dclark.html
|
|  |
