Can we learn to sing from a book? Absolutely not. I regard myself as reasonably knowledgable about voice, and a number of its related fields, including the teaching of voice. While I use the books listed here as reference tools, I think they might be only moderately useful to someone who isn’t a voice geek and voice […]
Some teachers (including me) use a mirror in singing lessons, and encourage the use of a mirror in practice time. There are pros and cons to this. Although I use a mirror in lessons, I always suggest that singers get used to working without a mirror as quickly as possible.
Is a mirror useful for singing practice? Read More »
1. ALIGNING In the ‘3 + 1’ map I set out how all vocal technique has to be relevant to the Breathing system, Vibrating source, Resonating system, or inner life of the singer. The one aspect that affects all of these is how we ALIGN ourselves. ‘Processes’, not ‘positions’ Some singers and teachers talk about this in terms of
Aligning and Awareness Read More »
Introduction This is an edited version of my posts (without other people’s responses) in a topic (Jan 2013) I started on a LinkedIn discussion group consisting of singing teachers. I wanted to explore what role / responsibility teachers felt a student has in the teacher’s studio, and in their own learning, and how should they
Who is in charge of a singer’s learning? Read More »
What are they looking for? (NB Check the section ‘College Advice’) “Is my singing voice OK? What if I can’t hold a tune?” Wrong questions! This audition is not about the beauty of your singing voice, or your level of musicianship. This is an audition for drama college, not a music theatre training. In other
Singing for Drama College Auditions (Part 1 of 6) – General advice Read More »
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 »
