Task 6b: Critical Reflection

Module 2 'Professional Practitioner Inquiry' has been a difficult task for me but really insightful at the same time. I struggled with starting this module as I was finding it troublesome to determine my inquiry question(s). 

When I came to a brain-dead status over my inquiry question(s) I decided to use my SIG as a method of brainstorming and bouncing ideas back and forth. I had a few main themes that I wanted to throw out into the world and see what came back. These were

•   Vocal Coaching vs. Singing Teaching

•   Do you need to have qualifications to be a successful vocal coach?

•   Can you develop your business as a trusted service without qualifications to back it up?

It was only when I started to bounce these ideas to and fro that somebody pointed out to me that I was almost looking for a yes or no answer to these questions. Almost as though I was trying to prove something. It was then that I realised that I was setting myself up for disaster as there was no discovery to be had and the answers were going to be hard to find. During one discussion with a successful business owner and close friend of mine he suggested that instead of asking if one particular aspect was going to help me successfully develop my business, I should broaden the spectrum and ask 'What action can I take to help me successfully develop my business?'. This then opened my questions up to a multitude of options to explore and pathways to discover. I was able to also bring the subject of qualifications under this umbrella topic. 

After deciding that this new question was going to be more accessible to research I was still toying with the 'Vocal Coach vs. Singing Teacher' aspect of my proposed inquiry. I wanted to ask questions focussed on my professional practice but didn't quite know how to go about it. After one campus session I was speaking with another student from the course who kindly suggested that the statement 'Vocal Coach vs. Singing Teacher' was like asking for one or the other. As an inquiry question, was this going to be too difficult to answer?

I sat with a pen and paper and jotted down that one statement. I was stuck. How was I possibly going to even BEGIN with that one? So I got into contact with one of my old friends from college who is now a singing teacher. After an hour phone conversation she asked me if I had considered finding out what prospective clients look for in a teacher/coach. This question almost ran parallel to my questions about business development and it was then that I decided on my Inquiry Question:

What action can I take to ensure successful business growth and guarantee my service is first choice for clients seeking a Vocal Coach/Singing Teacher?

Once I had decided on this Inquiry Question I was able to start looking at the ethical considerations surrounding this topic.  To help me with this I looked at the ‘BERA Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research 2011’ which was really useful in terms of finding out about minors and vulnerable adults and informed consent for different categories. These frameworks were great for providing me with guidance for carrying out my research focussing on confidentiality, integrity, safe practice, permission and professional code of conduct. All of these established guidelines have played a huge part in helping me to effectively plan my research.

I was also able to look into vocational business development and regulations for new small businesses including tax codes etc. There is a lot of useful information surrounding this topic online as a lot of what I need to find out for these sections has already been explored by others and therefore the information is readily available for me to use. There is plenty of literature available on successful freelance business development. One favourite of mine is a book – ‘Successful Freelancing: The Complete Guide to Establishing and Running Any Kind of Freelance Business’, Marian Faux, (15 Mar 1997). Topics include establishing a business plan; setting up an office; negotiating fees; handling contracts and agreement letters; tax, insurance, and benefits planning; expanding your business; advertising, publicity, and marketing; and measuring your success.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/books/dp/0312152159/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430391887&sr=8-1&keywords=successful+freelancing      

When deciding on research tools I established that participant observation, questionnaires and reviewing documents/literature were going to be most effective for me. This is because I have a limited amount of clients/students and a limited SIG. Most of my research will be qualitative for these reasons.

In conclusion I believe that the tasks and readers in Module 2 have encouraged me to develop my knowledge and research skills and fully take into account all ethical considerations when dealing with human/sentient beings. I feel ready to launch my inquiry and am excited about what I will discover and the opportunities that my knew knowledge will enable me to relish. 

Tasks 4b & 4c: SIG's and Developing Questions Within My Professional Community

I have recently been looking through some blogs to try and identify some useful sources for my research. I am having a bit of difficult doing so as I haven't seemed to come across many people with such a specific interest as mine. However I HAVE managed to discuss some of my questions and ideas with my private pupils, their parents and also some old peers who are now teaching themselves.

I have mainly been focussing on the questions I have regarding teaching and whether it is deemed necessary to have teaching qualifications or whether experience is more preferable. After collating my notes I have come up with the following answers...

Are a teachers qualifications more important to a student than a teachers experience or credits?
No. Most students find it more interesting when their teacher has some experience of working themselves say in the West End or in a Recording Studio. The fact that their teacher has done such things gives the pupils a sort of 'wow' factor. The evidence of this is that when trying to engage a class some teachers find it helps to give an example of a job or experience they have had as this prompts the students to ask questions and spark their interest to keep them engaged. Often if you have worked in a well-renowned show or with a famous company/person a student will take on the task in hand as though if they achieve this then it may be them one day working for/with a famous company/person. It gives them something to aspire to be or achieve.

Further from this question a topic and further question that arose was..

Does having qualifications make a teacher a 'good' teacher?
The general consensus was no it doesn't. Not because qualifications don't stand for anything where teaching is concerned but because you could have a teacher with all of the qualifications in the world yet they may have no industry experience or previous teaching experience which may in fact hinder their ability to teach as effectively as is possible. You can't learn experience in a classroom.

I will continue to ask my other questions within my professional community as and when I see the members and once I have do so I will continue to blog the answers!

Task 4a: Developing Questions for Professional Enquiry

After reading Reader 4 I have been developing some questions relevant to my practice. These are topics and ideas I would like to develop further to enable me to enhance my level of practice. 

In practice I am a 'Voice Coach'. I chose to trade under that title as I believe 'singing teacher' to be misleading. Personally, I do not believe singing is something that can be 'taught'.  In my opinion, for something to be taught it requires universal understanding - something like maths and science -something that is the same no matter who you are and where you're from, whether you're old or young or whether you're male or female. Maths will always have equations that will always take the same format and produce the same answers. Science will always follow the same rules, with the same equations always producing the same reactions. However each and every voice is different and therefore I don't believe that singing is something that can be taught.

'The sound of each individual's voice is entirely unique not only because of the actual shape and size of an individual's vocal cords but also due to the size and shape of the rest of that person's body, especially the vocal tract, and the manner in which the speech sounds are habitually formed and articulated.' - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_voice

It is for this reason I believe that the term and practice of voice coaching is more appropriate than singing teaching.

I am a singer with vast experience in many different performance areas such as; live musical theatre performances; live solo performances; original cast recordings; solo vocal recordings; live choir performances and recorded choir sessions. I base a lot of what I coach vocally on experience and technical knowledge. I do not have any teaching qualifications. I am aware that some mothers of students and older pupils alike would be dubious about paying for coaching from a voice coach with no 'teaching qualifications'. But that is exactly the point. I will not be teaching a student to sing. I will be coaching them on how to develop, protect and maintain their own completely individual voice. I will be technically manipulating all areas of the voice to create new sounds, a lower/higher range and a healthier singing experience by using various exercises and vocal techniques to do so. With my experience in performance I will also focus greatly on the performance from within the voice as well as external performance.  I do not need any qualifications to do these things. What I need is a clear understanding of the voice, how it works and vocal health. I also need the ability to recognise strengths and weaknesses in ANY individual voice and I need the experience in which to fully utilise each voice by using specific exercises and techniques tailored to suit.

There are many 'singing teachers' out there who will have some form of teaching qualification and will sit at a piano next to a student using old hand scales and arpeggio exercises to briefly cover the full range of notes he/she may have and then sing the same song over and over whilst giving direction such as 'sing from the diaphragm'. They are not shaping the voice, nor are they focused on breathing, stance or performance. I mean, how can they be if they are forever staring at sheet music and a keyboard? 

Another thing that has always bothered me about 'singing lessons' is that in the early stages these are often offered in groups as a choir/classroom format. I have no problem with this being the case in Primary education as it can definitely help to encourage children to be comfortable with using their voice to sing but once the student reaches Secondary education age I believe that singing lessons in a group can serve to be a hinderance. The nature of the voice is that it is more adaptable when it is younger than when it grows older. Therefore I believe that honing in on the voice of an individual at a young age is paramount for technical development and vocal understanding. In a group of students it is not possible when they are all singing at the same time to asses a voice and discover any issues that may be present in the voice. Nor is it feasible to donate enough time to focus solely on particular voices in order to really make a difference to the voice. 

These are a few main reasons for why my belief is that of the above.

Based on the above points the questions I have decided to explore are:

•    Are singing lessons in groups/classes beneficial to pupils further than a means of simply becoming comfortable with singing?

•    Can an individual voice be developed and/or adapted when having lessons in a group/class?

•    Does teaching in groups/classes allow individual pupils/voices to develop properly and to their full potential?

•    Are a teachers qualifications more important to a student than a teachers experience or credits?

If anyone reading this feels as though they have any comments or points for or against any of the questions I am intending to explore then please do comment! Any opinion is appreciated!

Many thanks x