"A METHODOLOGY FOR SINGERS OF POPULAR MUSIC",
A Professional Pop Singer’s Perspective on Teaching Singing.

ABSTRACT

Popular singing is the newest of the major singing styles (cf. classical, jazz, musical theatre singing) to enter into the world of academia and educational institutions. Pop singers to date have generally been untrained but are now realising the limitations that can result. This has led to a surge of interest in contemporary/popular music courses throughout the world. This author’s concern is that the teachers involved are adequately skilled for this new challenge.

Classical methods are the prevailing models in vocal pedagogy and many attempt to teach pop singers from this foundation. There are also a myriad of vocal self-help books available that often further confuse the situation because of their classical bias. As a style that is the most removed from the traditional vocal aesthetic, it is this author’s opinion that generic, classically-oriented approaches do not suffice and that a new teaching model is required for singers of popular music. The writing of a compendium of musically relevant vocal exercises is also suggested.

This paper is divided into several relevant topics to gain an overview of the technical and musical needs of pop singers: ie. posture, breath management, tone (laryngeal posture, onsets, speech quality, belting, mix voice, ‘head’ voice, falsetto, twang, ring and breathy tone), diction (vowels, consonants, accent), rhythm, vibrato, pitch (including scale forms), harmony, range, agility, musicianship, interpretation (including improvisation, acting skill and vocal ‘effects’), visual presentation, amplification and vocal health issues. It is suggested that a referral be made to the tables Figure 1 (p.5) of the introduction and Figure 26 (p.52-53) of the conclusion as an outline of the salient points of the paper.

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