NATS Executive Director, Allen Henderson, steered a panel discussion on March 10, 2011 entitled, "Choral Directors are from Mars and Voice Teachers are from Venus: Sing from the Diaphragm and other Vocal Mistructions," along with esteemed NATS members Sharon Hansen and Brenda Smith, NATS President Donald Simonson, and NATS Past President Scott McCoy. They presented an additional Interest Session that afternoon: "Choral Directors are from Mars and Voice Teachers are from Venus: Top 10 List - Complaints from Both Sides of the Aisle." Download the PowerPoint of the first presentation from this page and discuss the topic on the PowerPoint PDF download page at http://www.slideshare.net/OfficialNATS/vocal-mistructions-presented-by-nats-at-acda-powerpoint-pdf

1. Choral Directors are from MarsandVoice Teachers are from Venus: “Sing from the Diaphragm” and other Vocal Mistructions Sharon Hansen Allen Henderson Scott McCoy Donald Simonson Brenda Smith

2. The Successful Voice Teaching Team Voice Teacher Choral Director Vocal Coach Medical Professionals Choreographers/Directors Diet/Nutrition Experts Exercise Physiologist/Trainer Movement Coaches Drama Coach Who is on your team? Don’t have a complete team together? 2

4. Voice Foundation Activities

5. Local voice teacher in your classroom

6. Take a voice lesson yourself

7. Vocal health professionals

8. World Voice Day – April 16thHow can middle and high school and college choral conductors interact with independent and academic voice teachers in their area to develop a successful team? 3

9. What specific knowledge is important when teaching beginning singers? What about a voice pedagogy class required for all music education majors? 4

10. Survey ofVoice Pedagogy Requirements* *Conducted at Sixty-One American Universities 5

11. The Voice Teacher – Choral Conductor Conflict in Higher Education Fantasy or fact? Who cares? Why worry about this? 6

12. Mistructions What are some common “mistructions” we hear in both the choral rehearsal and voice studio? 7

13. Support Issues “The trouble with young professional singers today is that their teachers are no longer teaching them how to use their diaphragms.” (NY Times music critic) The diaphragm is exclusively a muscle of inspiration. Diaphragmatic pulse produces a hiccup—probably not the best way to articulate rapid pitches in melismaticpassages. “Sing from the Diaphragm” 8

14. “More support is better” MOREsupport? BETTER support! 9

15. Support Issues How about: “Breathe low” “Breathe easily” 10

16. Body Alignment Issues “Stand up straight.” “Stand like a soldier.” “Come to your balance point.” “Quickly check your alignment.” “Tuck that chin in.” “Are your eyes looking out into the world?” “Can you sense your neck longer in the back and shorter in the front?” 11

17. Body Alignment Issues “Suck in your gut.” “Can you sense your breath when it is deep and full?” “Do you sense an expansive, stretching feeling all around the middle of the body?” “Lift your sternum.” “Do you sense a gentle lifting sensation under your upper chest? Not forced, but buoyant . . .” “Are your shoulders released and free?” 12

18. Textual Issues “Enunciate! I want to hear all those consonants!” EVERY consonant? Final consonants? Initial consonants? 13

19. Clear Choral Diction Clear choral diction involves a corporate understanding of the symbols and their use in a concise rhythmic context. 14

20. International Phonetic Alphabet(IPA) THE internationally recognized standard. Valuable for high school students to be exposed to it prior to college diction courses. Works in both the choral AND studio settings. It even works with my church choir. Works with various languages and students are able to see the correlations between the use of a particular sound in various languages. 15

21. Diction Issues How about: “Make sure your final consonants are clearly articulated and rhythmically energized.” 16

22. “Everyone sing a pure [i] vowel.” One size does NOT fit all. Vowel modification requires SPECIFIC solutions for each section. 17

23. Formant/Resonance Issues “I want absolutely no vibrato throughout this entire piece.” “Raise your eyebrows so you will sing in tune.” “Drop your jaw.” “Keep your tongue down.” 18

24. Formant/Resonance Issues How about: “Tune your vowels to optimize clarity and resonance.” 19

25. Stamina of the Voice “We are going to spend the entire lesson/rehearsal today singing everything on [du].” ([di], or [da]/ Pick one!) Imagine spending an entire one-hour workout at the gym performing only squats! 20

27. Even under ideal circumstances too much can be harmful.21

28. What is optimal for the voice? Opinions vary All voices are unique Overuse is abuse 22

29. Stamina of the Voice “You’re a trained singer. Can’t you sing for 1.5 hours and then sing a concert?” Can a Major League Pitcher throw batting practice for two hours and then pitch a full game? 23

30. Warm Ups/Cool Downs “Warm ups take too much rehearsal time. The choir should come ready to sing.” “Singing the hymns for Sunday is a good way to warm up. Once everyone has arrived, we can cut right to the anthems.” 24

31. Warm Ups/Cool Downs As necessary to singers as to athletes Best done a cappella Warm ups adjust posture of the voice Cool downs assist in returning to a speech posture 25

32. Warm Ups 5-7 minutes Cover 4 basic steps toward singing—Relaxation/Posture/Breathing/Resonance Clear goals Address technical problems in literature 26

33. Cool Down Brief Descending glides Return choir to speaking range Sustained tone or chord 27

34. Questions? This presentation and a handout version can be downloaded at http://acda.nats.org allen@nats.org 28