Please could we stop using the word ‘open’ in relation to anything to do with singing? I realise that teachers and voice scientists may have specific meanings for this word in different contexts, but I am concerned that a) students don’t necessarily have a clear understanding of the different uses of the word, b) we […]
Please could we stop using the word ‘open’? Read More »
This post is an invitation to take another look at my earlier post called Reading List (8 July 2014). I’ve added a number of books on voice science and pedagogy that have come out of the USA. If you want a quick overview, read this page, but if you want the lists, with brief descriptions
Books on singing technique and voice science Read More »
The ‘3 + 1’ Map of Singing- Pt 1 describes how Breathing management, Vibrating source (vocal folds), the Resonating system, and Inner Life (thinking and feeling) all play a role in singing. It is not uncommon for uninitiated singers to think (mistakenly) that singing is somehow a linear process. In a linear model of singing,
The ‘3+1’ Map of Singing – Pt 2 (interactive model) Read More »
Everyday breathing in Everyday breathing out Singers breathing in Singers breathing out Breathing for singing is an extremely important topic, and there are many subtleties to learn about it. So we are going to work on it step by step. However, once we have worked through the various ideas, I hope that it will have
Breathing for singers is different from normal breathing (Breathing 1) Read More »
There are excellent teachers, good teachers, teachers who don’t really do any harm but don’t actually know enough to do a student much good, and teachers who actually mislead because they don’t know what they are doing. How can we find a good teacher? A good teacher should demonstrate certain knowledge, skills and personal traits, and be able
Choosing a singing teacher Read More »
My singing students are well acquainted with my teaching model for singing lessons, and this summary is a reminder for them of the core concepts. It serves as a draft outline of a book I would like to write about what I have learned and teach about singing. I don’t know whether the book will ever
A to J model of singing Read More »
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
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 »
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 »
