Vocal Technique (Davids/LaTour) - Chapter 13, Teaching Singing (Williams) - Chapter 4

Three A-Ha moments I took away from the readings were:

1) My first A-Ha moment was early on in chapter 13 of the Davids book. I always knew that there had to be a physical change that happened in a male’s body when going through puberty, and that is why the males voice deepens, but I had no idea what caused it. Davids explains that the “vocal fold length[ens]… and is associated with the development of the 'Adam’s apple'” (pg. 201). Davids goes on to explain some other changes during adolescence: the vocal tract gets longer, the lung capacity increases, and the larynx, pharynx and mouth increases in size (pg. 201). These things happen in the female body as well, it is just more obvious in males because of the obvious deepening of the voice.

2) When I first read that teenagers listen to 2.5 hours of music a day (Williams 55) I felt shocked; it sounded like a lot. But then I thought back to how often I listened to music as a teenager and became surprised. I would have guessed a higher number...

3) The reasons Williams listed for possible early onset of puberty are quite interesting. (Improved diet, warmer climate, hormones in water/beauty supplies, increased psychosexual stimulation and increased exposure to light.)

Two questions I decided upon were:

1) On page 203, Davids explains a study that shows that these physical voice changes/vocal development (referring to A-Ha moment #1) are now happening 2 years earlier (the late 1990s), than in the late 1970s. Will this continue to happen?

2) Williams mentions in her book “the onset of puberty may be slightly earlier than it was 50 years ago. There is no conclusive evidence to show why this may be so” (pg. 76). This is very interesting to me. Other than the possible reasoning I found in the Vocal Technique book, has anyone done more research on this? Has anyone come up with a more concrete reason since these books were published?

Works Cited

Davids, Julia, and Stephen A. LaTour. Vocal Technique: A Guide for Conductors, Teachers, and Singers. Long Grove: Waveland, 2012. Print.

Williams, Jenevora. Teaching Singing to Children and Young Adults. Oxford: Compton Pub., 2013. Print.

Teaching Singing to Children and Young Adults - Jenevora Williams - Chapters 1, 2, 3 & Interludes A, B, C

Two A-HA moments I took away from the readings were:

1) The explanation that it is important to teach healthy singing right from the beginning, because there can be short-term effects, medium-term effects, and how important healthy singing is in the long-term. On page 8, Williams states that short-term effects can include “voice tiring [and] voice loss,” medium-term effects can include “the acquisition of bad habits,” and in the long-term “healthy development of the voice into adulthood.” I like this explanation because it explains that ‘safe’ singing is very important to instill in your students right away.

2) I enjoy how in chapter two it explains how to establish good habits for singing. On page 34, in the chapter two summary, it explains how to do this. 1) Encourage good posture, 2) Play with extending the pitch range, 3) Encourage in-tune singing by using melodic fragments, 4) Young children have a higher pitch range than older children and women, and 5) Involve parents with singing activities as much as possible. This was a great explanation to me because it makes more sense to me, and it is something that I can easily explain and do with my students.

Two questions I decided upon were:

1) After reading about ‘Singing in Tune’ on page 47, a question came to me. Why are people ‘tone-deaf?’ Why is it so hard for some people to sing in tune, but it is VERY hard for others? Is there a way to fix this, or is it something that they will deal with for their whole lives?

2) I read several times in these chapters: “boys tend to lag behind girls … in their ability to sing in tune and in their enthusiasm for singing.” When I become a teacher, what are some good ways to get boys involved in your school choir? How can we get boys feeling enthusiastic about singing? In my school ‘graduation singing ensemble’ there were no boys and no interest from any of the boys in my school.

Works Cited

Williams, Jenevora. Teaching Singing to Children and Young Adults. Oxford: Compton Pub., 2013. Print.

Vocal Technique - Julia Davids and Stephen LaTour - Chapter 5 & Chapter 6

Two A-Ha moments I took away from the readings were:

1) My first A-Ha moment was right at the beginning of chapter 5. I had no idea that when forming vowels, the “tip of the tongue should rest at the base of the lower front teeth” (Davids 87). This was something interesting to know as a non-trained singer.

2) Something that was very interesting to me in chapter 6 was a statement made on page 115: “sometimes consonants should precede the beat.” It then goes on to say, “if … consonants are formed on the beat singers may be perceived as late. Formation of these consonants just before the beat will avoid this problem.” This was very interesting to me, and it is something I would have never thought of. I guess it is a similar situation to trumpet. We position the lips before we are supposed to start playing, because it allows us to set up our embouchure so we are not late on an entrance and it prevents us from ‘flubbing/cacking’ the first note. (Maybe not??? – Feel free to correct me if this is an incorrect statement.)

Two questions I decided upon were:

1) In chapter 5 I am noticing that singers can experience a lot of jaw tension. Davids reminds singers not to ‘clench’ the jaw. Not only does this create tension, but also it affects the sound and can make your tone sound too bright. I know first hand that many brass players suffer from TMJ. Is this a common issue among singers as well? Are there exercises you can do to relieve jaw tension?

2) The quote on page 113 of chapter 6 raised a question for me. “Singers often pay consonants insufficient attention because they focus on the vowels out of a desire to create beautiful tone quality.” I know for me, as a trumpet player, I put my main focus on creating a beautiful tone on the instrument and I focused less on articulation and the proper positioning of my tongue. I began to notice that when I would play a heavily articulated section of a piece, my tone quality would diminish. Because I focused less on the articulation aspect of playing, it then became VERY hard to play with a clear tone for these articulated sections. Is this a similar sort of situation with the quote written above? Is it important to focus on consonant formation just as much as vowel formation?

Works Cited

Davids, Julia, and Stephen A. LaTour. Vocal Technique: A Guide for Conductors, Teachers, and Singers. Long Grove: Waveland, 2012. Print.

Vocal Technique - Julia Davids and Stephen LaTour - Chapter 3 & Chapter 4/Teaching Singing to Children and Young Adults - Jenevora Williams - Chapter 5

Some A-Ha moments I took away from the readings were:

1) When I began reading Chapter 3 of Vocal Technique, I became very overwhelmed with the use of anatomy of the body while singing (ex. thyroarytenoid muscle, glottis and cricothyroid). I was thinking to myself: how am I supposed to explain this to any of my students, when I don’t understand it myself? Then I read the quote on page 48: “Beautiful sounds start in the mind of the singer. If you cannot think of a beautiful sound, it is an accident if you make one” (McKinney 48). It then goes on to say “it is best to think about the kind of sound one wants to produce and the sensations associated with good sound rather than about the larynx and the vocal folds” (McKinny 48). This made me feel much calmer and showed me that there are other ways to explain pitch and tone.

2) Vocal Technique explains that it is normal for younger singers to have a breathy quality to their voice. Not only do they sometimes have an “inability to close one-third of the vocal folds” (Davids 55), they will try to model their voice to their favorite pop or jazz singer.

3) I enjoy the diagram and explanation on page 81 of Williams’ book. She writes that singers need to breathe effectively and to do this she writes that you should be able to draw an “imaginary straight line through the ear, the shoulder, the hip, the knee and the foot.”

4) The exercises used in Williams’ book are great. They are exercises that the non-singers are able to understand.

5) Something I liked in Williams’ book was the exercise on page 109. It is called the Soft Palate Exercise 1. “Sing an extended [a] vowel and, halfway through, hold your nose and then let go again.” She goes on to say, “if the sound quality changes ... the vowel is nasal.” This is a very cool exercise.

A few questions I decided upon were:

1) This question doesn’t so much focus on what the readings said specifically, but what do you do in the situation where your young voice students ONLY wants to sing popular music?

2) On page 74 in the book Vocal Technique, yawning is brought up. When singing correctly, should you really have a yawning sensation?

3) On page 83, Davids writes that for a "surprise breath" you inhale through both your mouth and nose. When singing, do you ever breathe through your nose? I am a brass player, and we were never encouraged to breathe through our noses.

Works Cited

Davids, Julia, and Stephen A. LaTour. Vocal Technique: A Guide for Conductors,                                            Teachers, and Singers. Long Grove: Waveland, 2012. Print.

Williams, Jenevora. Teaching Singing to Children and Young Adults. Oxford:             Compton Pub., 2013. Print.

Vocal Technique - Julia Davids and Stephen LaTour - Introduction, Chapter 1 & Chapter 2

Two A-HA moments I had after reading the Introduction, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of Vocal Technique were:

1)  How important it is to incorporate and focus on multiple types of vocal techniques into your warm-up. Some examples the book includes are as follows: 1) Resonance 2) Tone 3) Range and 4) Intonation. This will help your choir when it is time to start a piece.

2) Students can easily be influenced by the conductor's posture. It is VERY important to demonstrate good posture and vocal technique during choir practice.

Some questions I had after reading the chapters were:

1) Page 38 talks about the use of "snap-breaths." How do you teach young singers not to tense up while doing the "snap-breath?"

2) Page 18 talks about proper singing posture while sitting and standing. For shorter singers, while sitting, does putting your feet under the chair and sitting upright help open the ribcage/lung capacity? Or would this hinder their ability to breathe properly?

Itay Talgam: Lead Like The Great Conductors Response

Here are some things I took away from watching the TEDTalk by Itay Talgam Lead like the great conductors:

What did I learn?

A quote that I liked in some things I took away from watching the TEDTalk by Itay Talgam, Lead like the great conductors, was “when it’s needed, the authority is there.” Some conductors I have played under have thought that they were the most important part of the ensemble, and this made him a very un-enjoyable conductor to play under. It is important to show authority when it is needed, but it is also important as a conductor to step back and appreciate the music.

What was insightful?

As a conductor do not be too commanding and do not constantly tell your orchestra/choir what to do, but rather enjoy the music that you are making together.

What did I enjoy?

One of the things I really enjoyed about this TEDTalk was Itay Talgam’s sense of humor. His humor intrigued the audience and helped them connect to his ideas. Another aspect of this TEDTalk that I enjoyed was Talgam’s use of examples through video. The videos that he showed were a great way to break up the talking and engage people’s interest.

What was my take-away?

One thing I took away from this video is that as a conductor, you need to allow the musicians to express themselves through their music and show them that you appreciate them.

What questions/concerns did it trigger?

One question that came to my mind while watching this was how do you know if you are doing too much? I am sure some of these conductors thought that they were doing an excellent job by sticking strictly to the score and showing their orchestra exactly what was on the page. But, if your students don’t speak up, how do you know that you are not being too controlling and getting lost in the score and instruction? After all, different people were taught different things about the way music should be conducted.

A little something about me

Hello World,

My name is Charlene Feltham and I am currently a student at Memorial University of Newfoundland. I have recently completed my Bachelor of Music and now I am completing my Bachelor of Music Education. This blog will be used for a course I am doing called Education 2520. On this blog I will post ideas and questions related to my in-class readings. Feel free to respond if you have any comments or ideas :)