Hello comrades! Let’s talk about “growing pains”. Sometimes there is a season for something really cool in your professional life, and then a few years later, it’s not so sizzling anymore. I think this can be due to growth, and not to a fault of the thing that we were originally excited about. Examples from […]
Tag: learning
Continuing education for singing teachers – broad or deep?
When pondering training possibilities, the question for me is “Go deep, or go broad?” I tend to go deep (into one approach) when I find something especially resonant. When I was younger I wanted to know everything from everyone yesterday (going broad rather than deep), but now that there is less pressure on myself to […]
Teaching to the test
When I was a public school music teacher, I joined my colleagues in annoyance with the number of school days spent testing children. With schools’ rankings and “grades” being partially dependent on test scores, administrators are very concerned with getting the highest scores possible. There is a bustling industry around predicting what is on the […]
Mechanistic directives – useful or of the devil?
For this article “mechanistic directive” means: an instruction for a specific physical action to make some aspect of singing work differently. Example: Make a widening stretch in the soft palate when singing an ascending interval. Useful: If it makes singing more beautiful with less effort. If after many conscious attempts it starts to become automatic. […]
I already know about that
Sometimes when I’m talking shop with colleagues they will tell me about a recent course, workshop, or book that they have learned from. Sometimes they may say, “You probably know all about that.” That is never true. If I have made the study of a topic my life’s work, my niche in the vocal world, […]
Getting meta for a moment
I’ve been at this blog since 2010. Hundreds of posts, many ideas explored and revisited, both successes and flops. You can’t predict people’s reactions. When I post about general principles, philosophy, and the mindset of the voice teacher, I tend to get generally positive reactions. When I post a more nuts-and-bolts “how to” type of […]
The desired, the possible, and the experienced
When teacher works with student, he needs to keep in mind that he is trying to help the student to do something that she has never done before. Each party is bringing these three potentials to the lesson: the desired behavior (in the future) the possible manifestations and scope of achievement (in the future) the […]
Vocal Satisfaction Survey
Hello Singing Friends (pro, avocational, everyone who sings!), If you have a few minutes, I would be honored to have you take my “Vocal Satisfaction Survey” which is part of a research project and the book I am working on. It is anonymous. Thanks!
The biggest challenge
When discussing politics, pedagogy, problems, conflicts – The hardest thing is to not let our hearts harden. Sometimes we must work very hard to cultivate lightness, humor, kindness, truth, love, and openness. Let’s work together.
You have the right to not remain silent
When you are in a lesson or coaching, and have a question, ask it! Never be afraid to try to improve your understanding. Even the most articulate, thorough, well-spoken, right-as-rain teacher will say things that are not easy to understand at first. Sometimes that amazing teacher will make a mistake. The more you probe and […]
Selecting an undergraduate school for voice
This is really simple. Find the best teacher you can who is a member of an accredited post-secondary institution and go to that school. This teacher needs to have had visible success helping young people to sing better. This person will be your mentor for four years. They will be responsible for your vocal health […]
What’s personal, what’s universal
We have a hellacious level of confusion in talking about vocal technique due to the conflation of the universal and the personal. In teaching, we must minimize this and make the boundaries between the two very clear. Everyone has a larynx. The anatomical structures and functions are the same for all. There are variations in […]