Dear Vocalisters
Although we all will have our own ideas about the best training
methods for the singer, we also have a model placed before us that
has been most successful. That model is the vocal performance degree
as offered in colleges, universities and conservatories.
I have frequently pointed out a problem with any system of training
which emphasizes the finished product at the expense of a process
which permits the singer to be an artist at every stage of
development.
But I am not suggesting that the vocal performance degree concept is
a failed one as has been put forth by a number on this list. Quite
the contrary, the American and Canadian degree system has populated
the world with singers of the first order. Even today, it is the
degree system that has produced the greatest number of successful
singers in the world. Singers out of this system are sought in opera
houses throughout all countries. Singers out of this system are the
best trained in languages and an understanding of the underpinning of
the music they perform. There are more capable and well trained
singers available on the market today because of this system of
education.
This form of training was developed within the American education
system because there was a desire expressed by young singers for a
better organized, more clearly defined procedure of training than
could be found through the private studio and/or music degrees in
non-performing fields such as musicology, theory, etc. The programs
were created around the needs of singers for systematic training in
vocal technique, literature, languages, theory, sight reading, ear
training, etc. The programs have adjusted themselves to meet the
needs of professional performers as those needs have changed.
The vocal performance degree has also provided the singer with an
environment in which to grow with less of the pressure that one would
find in an early entry into a professional career. The voice needs
time to mature while being guided towards its eventual finished end.
There are few successful child prodigy singers.
All of the above is not to suggest that the education system which
supports the vocal performance degree is above criticism. There are
many needs that are not now being met and some that have never been
met. But the education system that has been developed through the
vocal performance degree IS one of excellence and has a most
desirable track record. It is a degree that is admired throughout
the world because it has done what it set out to do; it provides
singers with the tools to be and become successful and the
understanding of their art that is necessary if they are to continue
to grow. And it has done this excellent work without always having
the best of the students available as its raw material.
The private studio is of prime importance to the development of the
singing performer. That private studio may exist as a separate
entity or as an entity within a college, university or conservatory.
It is the work of the private teacher which makes all the difference
for the success of any singer.
However, it is not necessarily the case that the most successful
private teacher is the best teacher. Often teachers of acclaim are
successful because they are able to attract students of the strongest
talent. It is successful students that make a teacher famous. But I
have often seen the finest teaching being done by studio teachers who
work with less the most talented students yet are able to mold them
into excellent singing performers.
It will always be true that a young singer of extreme talent can be
moved along more quickly within the framework of private instruction
only, but such cases are the exception, not the norm. Systematic
education is built around the concept of the norm. How can we teach
the greatest number of learners most successfully? Public education
should never be primarily concerned with how to teach the most
gifted. The most gifted will always be on the periphery of public
education because they are not the primary focus of this kind of
education.
Consequently, we must have all the forms of education and training we
now have to provide for the needs of all of our performers and the
art of music itself. Music is not only an art but also a lifelong
training of the human mind and emotion. In its presence, we all are
students.
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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