An Examination of Methods Used to Teach Practice Strategies in the College Voice Studio

Abstract

This study investigated collegiate voice instructors’ approaches for teaching practice strategies to their students. Voice instructors (N = 46) from accredited institutions in three Midwestern states participated in a researcher-designed survey, which described (a) the types of practice strategies addressed in lessons, (b) the methods used for assessment, and (c) the value instructors placed on specific practice strategies. Respondents typically used logs and journals to keep track of students’ progress. Score study was valued and used as a practice strategy most often by respondents, but other strategies such as repetition to improve accuracy and focusing on the most difficult sections of the music were also rated highly. Findings suggest that although these collegiate voice instructors seemed to be incorporating a variety of assessment and teaching strategies into their studio instruction, no consistent, formulaic method for teaching college singers to practice could be identified.

Music Educators’ Understanding and Opinions of U.S. Copyright Law

“…Given that online questionnaires tend to receive lower return rates than paper questionnaires (Nulty, 2008), this response rate is perhaps not surprising. We acknowledge that this response rate is lower than desired, but we considered it acceptable for this study because it is slightly higher than recently published descriptive studies using web-based questionnaires (Baughman, 2017; Silvey et al, 2016). Because we intended to sample only from in-service music educators, we examined demographic data to confirm that all 50 of these individuals had completed at least 1 year of full-time teaching experience.…”

“…Even though we sent reminder email invitations and offered an incentive lottery to encourage greater survey participation, our response rate was lower than desired (22.50%). Because this response rate is slightly higher than those reported in recent studies using web-based questionnaires (Baughman, 2017; Silvey et al, 2016), we considered this response rate acceptable with two caveats: (a) the applicability of these findings toward nonrespondents is unknown (i.e., those who chose to respond to the questionnaire may have different attitudes than those who did not respond) and (b) the sample size may have resulted in low statistical power. This research is based on data collected from music teachers in one state who were members of NAfME.…”

“…Because we only examined frequencies and percentages descriptively for the remainder of the quantitative data, we did not conduct any further reliability or validity tests—a smiliar practice used by other researchers in recent descriptive surveys of this type (cf. Baughman, 2017; Silvey, Springer, & Eubanks, 2016).…”

An Examination of Undergraduate Conductor Practice Behavior

“…With regard to students’ conducting practice behaviors, instructors can take time in class or during individual conferences to address students’ practice strategies that may improve their self-regulation, similar to approaches found in music performance (Miksza, 2012). By monitoring students’ practice, instructors could determine which strategies discussed in class are being used or need to be reinforced and broaden their contextual understanding of practice routines with regard to time and setting (Baughman, 2017). Furthermore, data gleaned from monitoring students’ practice could be valuable for instructors when determining how to sequence and pace course content.…”

Characteristics of expert vocalists’ practice

“…Heller et al (2015) looked at approaches related to flow in the practice of amateur university voice students. Regarding teaching practice strategies, collegiate vocal teachers reported that they most frequently recommended that students identify problem sections in the music, mark the music, set goals, and use journals to record progress in lessons (Baughman, 2017).…”