Week 12-13/Post #14

 Summary

Welcome Back to the blog! I decided to make two posts out of belt and wait for the registers and formants edition until we finish our discussions and videos next week. Instead I'm going to begin summarizing my experiences with Vocal Pedagogy this semester and how I have been applying it to my own learning.

First off, I have become such a huge nerd for vocal pedagogy. I have always been fascinated by the mechanics of sound, the uniqueness and variety possible in the human voice, and the causes of injury and misuse especially in young singers. Because singing is so personal, it is often difficult to reflect on one's own practices and venture away from what is perceived as "our sound." Now, I understand that there are SO MANY anatomical factors at play with every breath we take, every sound we make (I'll be watching you). Here's a summarized list of those body parts I have become more aware of:

-laryngeal position

-tongue (tip, mid, root)

-velum/soft palate

-lower abdominals/breath

---understanding of diaphragmatic movement with lung expansion

---understanding of "sucking in breath" vs allowing air 

---understanding importance of breath options

-false folds!

-thick/thin/brick/brin fold mass options

---onsets and offsets with all fold options

This doesn't even feel like it begins to summarize all we have discussed in this course. It is invaluable knowing how to manipulate these in my own body, but even more crucial for my path to be able to identify sounds and issues created from each of these areas. Having the vocabulary to explain sound is amazing, because using symbolic concepts and inconsistent language has been not only confusing for myself and others, but it can be totally ineffective or counterintuitive. As a future teacher, that's really what this class is all about: communicating concepts to students in universally understandable terms, even if it takes time to fully grasp. The more students I can reach through my own knowledge and experience, the better I will be in my career.

I am very excited to carry this forward into my final semesters of voice lessons and onto my student teaching. Maybe I will have more opportunities to deepen my vocal pedagogy understanding in the future (I hope so!), but until then I will be sad that I only got one semester, and grateful for the wonderful time I had!