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
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