Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2008 The Use of Imagry in Teaching Voice to the Twenty-First Century Student Jon F. Clements Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC THE USE OF IMAGERY IN TEACHING VOICE TO THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY STUDENT By JON F. CLEMENTS A Treatise s bmitted to the College of M sic in partial f lfillment of the re, irements for the degree of Doctor of M sic Degree Awarded. Spring Semester, 0112 The members of the Committee appro3e the treatise of Jon. F. Clements defended on March 12, 0112. ______________________________ Roy Delp Professor Directing Treatise ______________________________ 7e3in Fenton O tside Committee Member ______________________________ Larry Gerber Committee Member The Office of Grad ate St dies has 3erified and appro3ed the abo3e named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wo ld li8e to than8 Professor Roy Delp for his patience, help and g idance d ring my completion of this treatise. I wo ld also li8e to than8 the other members of my committee, Professors Larry Gerber and 7e3in Fenton for the wor8 they ha3e done in helping this treatise come to fr ition. I wo ld li8e to recogni9e Dr. Jerrold Pope, my 3oice and 3ocal pedagogy teacher and c rrent fac lty member of the Boston Uni3ersity School of M sic, for all the instr ction and inspiration he ga3e me d ring o r years together at Florida State Uni3ersity. Mostly, I wo ld li8e to than8 my wife Barbara, witho t whom this treatise wo ld not ha3e been possible. Her constant enco ragement, s pport and patience helped me to forge ahead and complete this pro:ect. For that, and for o r two children Isabelle and Madeline, to her I will be eternally gratef l. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;... 3 List of Fig res ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;.. 3i Abstract ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; 3ii 1. INTRODUCTION ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;... 1 0. A BRIEF HISTORY OF VOCAL PEDAGOGY AND IMAGERY ;; 4 3. ESTABLISHING AN IMAGE VOCABULARY ;;;;;;;;... 10 4. CREATING THE APPROPRIATE IMAGE ;;;;;;;;;..; 12 5. THE POWER OF WORDS ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;.;; 32 APPENDIX A ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;. 44 APPENDIX B ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;.. 47 BIBLIOGRPAHY ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; 51 BIOGRAPHICAL S7ETCH ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;... 54 i3 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Fre, encies of Ma:or Terms and General Areas of Agreement ;;;; 41 in American Voice Pedagogy TeAtboo8s, 1911-1911. Table 0. Fre, encies of Ma:or Terms and General Areas of Agreement ;;;; 40 in American Voice Pedagogy TeAtboo8s, 1971-1991. 3 LIST OF FIGURES Fig re 1. Galen of Pergam m ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;.. 4 Fig re 0. CAmarilli, mia bellaD Emeas res 1-4F ;;;;;;;;;;; 5 Fig re 3. Man el Garcia II ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;...7 Fig re 4. Sa sage lin8s ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; 39 3i ABSTRACT When instr cting 3oice, teachers ha3e had to de3elop a 3ariety of methods to eAplain pedagogical principles to their p pils. There are teachers whose methods se only anatomical manip lations and scientific fact, teachers who se only images and analogies, and teachers who se a combination of both. The p rpose of this treatise is to ill strate ways to choose images and analogies and lin8 them to specific pedagogical principles when teaching 3oice. This treatise incl des the following. 1F a historical bac8gro nd for 3ocal pedagogy and imagery, 0F how to help a st dent establish an image 3ocab lary, 3F a g ideline for creating the appropriate image when teaching certain pedagogical principles, and 4F s ggestions for imagery se in the instr ction of style and m sic, as well as the power of word choices. 3ii THE USE OF IMAGERY IN TEACHING VOICE TO THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY STUDENT CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION When teaching the twenty-first cent ry 3oice st dent, todayGs 3oice instr ctor needs to se 3aried techni, es to enhance his/her teaching. Each st dent presents a different challenge for the teacher. Beca se e3ery st dent is a ni, e indi3id al, teachers ha3e had to de3elop a 3ariety of methods to eAplain pedagogical principles to their st dents. There are teachers whose methods se only anatomical manip lations and scientific fact, teachers who employ only images and analogies, and teachers who tili9e a combination of both. The methods teachers choose to se in their instr ction may be infl enced by the methods with which they were ta ght. When a teacher who fa3ors a strict scientific method instr cts a st dent, that st dent may in t rn instr ct his/her f t re st dents in a scientific manner. Also, a teacher who ses imagery in his/her methodology may be more li8ely to ha3e a st dent that will also se imagery. Unfort nately, these images may be passed from teacher to st dent with no other eAplanation than, CThatGs what I did.D Whereas instr ction that ses imagery may be colorf l and entertaining, instr ction de3oid of imagery can be dry and diffic lt to nderstand for many st dents, especially beginners. Therefore, a method of instr ction that balances both the se of imagery and scientific principles is desirable. William Vennard states, C;the 8nowledge of literal fact is the only : stifiable basis for the se of imagery and other indirect methods.D1 In order to ha3e s ccess, the a thor of this treatise belie3es the twenty-first cent ry teacher needs to learn from the past and combine those pro3en pedagogical concepts with c rrent ses of lang age, ideas and images. 1William Vennard, Singing: The Mechanism and the Technic. ENew Yor8. Carl Fischer, 19I7F, iii. 1 Clifton Ware in Basics of Vocal Pedagogy describes how mental imagery is sed in 3ocal pedagogy. He states that mental imagery is Can int iti3e approach to learning sing poetic, s b:ecti3e fig res of speech, incl ding simile ECli8eD and Cas ifD and metaphor Eimplied comparison with factF to elicit indirectly a positi3e response.D0 The se of imagery in teaching 3oice is not a new idea. Victor Fields elo, ently p rports its rele3ance. Mental imagery pro3ides the 3ery plan and p rpose of 3ocal eApression. The formation of the so nds of the 3oice and their ade, ate pro:ection are direct o tpict rings of these nderlying concepts, and 3ocal eApression is therefore said to be go3erned by the singerGs powers of 3is ali9ation and mental imagery; Basically, it is the MIND that sings, not the 3oice. Yo can say or sing only what yo thin8, since yo r 3oice follows yo r tho ghts; Hence, we m st learn to sing in tho ght, for the tone is embedded in the idea that prod ces it.3 Fields describes the importance of imagery, b t it is Vennard who emphasi9es the necessity of combining scientific fact and imagery. He states, CScientific lang age is inade, ate in teaching an art, and we fill o t the deficiency with poetic imagery. As long as we do not conf se fancy with fact, this can be a means of finding tr ths which are yet beyond o r nderstanding, b t which may nonetheless ha3e practical sef lness.D4 James Mc7inney agrees with VennardGs balanced approach to the se of imagery. A;problem may arise from the mechanistic and psychological controls employed in the act of singing. EAtreme ad3ocates of the mechanistic approach belie3e that singing is largely a matter of getting the right parts in the right place at the right time, and that correcting 3ocal fa lts is accomplished by calling direct attention to the parts which are not wor8ing well. At the other eAtreme are those who belie3e that attention sho ld ne3er be directed to any part of the 3ocal mechanism J that singing is a matter of prod cing the right mental images of the desired tone, and correcting 3ocal fa lts is achie3ed by learning to thin8 the right tho ghts and by releasing the emotions thro gh interpretation of the m sic. As is 0Clifton Ware, Basics of Vocal Pedagogy: The Foundations and Process of Singing. EBoston. McGraw-Hill, 1992F, 24. 3Victor Fields, CHow Mind Go3erns Voice,D The NATS Bulletin 00.0 EDec. 1970F. 0. 4Vennard, 147. 0 often the case, the tr th lies between these two eAtremes and is a composite of both approaches.5 Donald Freed in Journal of Singing agrees with Vennard and Mc7inneyGs approach to fact-based imagery. He writes, CThe teacher certainly sho ld 8now the difference between image and physiological tr th. More often, the imagery sho ld help to reinforce a physiological principle, and the difference sho ld be eAplained.DI By sing imagery, one can tailor his/her teaching to help each st dent in a lang age and manner in which he/she will nderstand. As ed cators it is challenging to ma8e teaching styles remain rele3ant in terms of the images that are chosen as well as the manner in which they are deli3ered. The rele3ance will be different for each st dent ta ght. Regnier Winsel says, CWe m st eAplain techni, e to the st dent in indi3id al terms that he Eor sheF will nderstand according to his temperament. The f ndamental of 3oice prod ction does not 3ary, b t application of these tr ths m st be nderstood by each st dent in his own wayK hence, this application m st ha3e infinite 3ariety.D7 Learning styles of st dents are constantly changing. With the increase in the pop larity of indoor, sedentary acti3ity as a res lt of technology, yo ng people today may be more li8ely to be less physical and creati3e in their acti3ities.