A Tale of Two Teaching Styles: A multi-genre singer's experience of music theatre and classical voice lessons

In order to meet the demands of the modern music industry, singers are expected to be able to perform across a wide range of singing styles (Bartlett, 2019; Rosenberg, 2016). Despite the growing acceptance of “contemporary commercial music” (CCM) and associated style-based pedagogies, there are limited training options for singers seeking to perform across a range of genres (Bourne & Kenny, 2016; Meyer & Edwards, 2014). As a practising multi-genre singer and teacher, I have experienced first-hand the challenges of performing and teaching across a spectrum of styles. My doctoral studies have focused my thinking on existing, genre-based teaching practices and how these might be synthesised to support multi-genre singers and teachers. This paper highlights preliminary findings from an artistic research project centred around an autoethnographic case study of genre-based teaching practices. Data were collected via journaling of video-recorded singing lessons, semi-structured interviews with participant singing teachers, instrumental and perceptual testing, pre and post data collection, and stroboscopic imagery collected via clinical visits with a medical specialist (ENT). The coding of the data set highlighted common themes including pedagogic tools and instructional language used by teachers, while pre and post measurements helped to evaluate possible vocal health impacts for performers.