All models (or maps) are wrong The statistician George Box once said that “All models are wrong, but some are useful.” There is more than one way to talking about singing, and how the voice works. Some models are definitely confusing or misleading, or stray wildly from what we know scientifically about the physiology of […]
The ‘3 + 1’ Map of Singing – Pt 1 Read More »
The ‘3 + 1’ Map is a broad overview, and fits onto the Alphabet Map that starts to drill down into more detail. Our use of language can subliminally and powerfully affect how our students think about singing. It is worth noting that six of the nine points below are expressed as verbs. This is
The Alphabet Map (‘A to J’) Read More »
In the ‘transmission model’ of teaching, the teacher transfers a body of information to a relatively passive receiver, the student. While there is some information on singing that can be conveyed this way, the student needs to embody the knowledge in how they think, feel, and inhabit their own skin and muscle. Learning to sing
The Learning Map (7 points) Read More »
As students learn, they consciously or subconsciously try to fit each teaching point coherently into a bigger picture – developing their own ‘cognitive map’ of how singing works. But do we as teachers have a coherent map? Can we articulate it? Is it useful to our students if we do so? In an AOTOS article
Models and Maps for Singing Read More »
Developing competence – can anyone sing? There is a model of learning that has been around in various forms since the ancient Greeks. Its modern description goes something as follows: Unconscious Incompetence: At this level, we are unskilful. We may realise this, or we may not be very self-aware. We don’t know what we would need to
Singing is a learned skill, not a ‘gift’ we’re born with Read More »
or … How can we help students become independent of teachers? (First published in ‘Singing’ – the Journal of The Association of Teachers of Singing (UK), Spring 2011) What exactly is a warm-up, and who should be in charge? Students often ask for ‘warm-up tips’ or what might be called a ‘recipe’ for warming up. They
The perils of warming up Read More »
Listening to one’s own voice as a singer is bound to distort healthy voice production. Adrian Fourcin has explained why in an excellent chapter called ‘Hearing and Singing’ in Janice Chapman’s 2006 book, Singing and Teaching Singing: A Holistic Approach to Classical Voice. First, sound is directional, which means that the sound is less intense
Singers shouldn’t listen to themselves Read More »
The seductive power of a factoid is that the information appears to be reliable and accurate. People assume the truth of a factoid partly because they have heard it repeated so often. The internet has given greater influence to the factoid for a number of reasons. Web pages get written by self-styled experts who do
Is that a fact? Commonly held, but mistaken, ideas about how to sing better Read More »
Whether learning, singing or performing, we function better when our minds are not distracted by anxiety, and when we can feel completely present physically, mentally and emotionally. The following exercise can help us achieve and sustain equanimity.
A post-performance evaluation exercise It has been said that there is no such thing as failure, or a mistake, just opportunities for learning. This is a method for how to learn from a past event that you have been involved in – perhaps leading a project, giving a presentation, taking part in a meeting, having
Learning from our performances Read More »
