Vocal Pedagogy and Creativity, Part I

I once had 4 voice lessons with an expensive and well-known singer who had sung opera many years in Europe. After returning to the States, she developed a method of voice teaching based on 15 years of her personal research into voice science.

I sought her help after seeing an ENT (supposedly he worked with singers) who completely missed the fact that I was developing bi-lateral vocal fold paralysis. (!) Neither the teacher or the ENT helped me at all and both sets of information were actually harmful both physically and psychologically. GRRRRRR

So here were two learned professionals, WHO COULD NOT SEE or HEAR THE PERSON IN FRONT OF THEM. Did they need more information so they could have helped me? NO. What they both needed was to get outside of the information they had collected and turn it into something useful.

One of the main differences between intelligence and creativity is that the creative person has the ability to draw connections among bits of information and imagine various paths and outcomes. And this is the missing ingredient with many voice teachers who run around collecting information, certifications and degrees by the boat-load.

Read How to Make Connections Like a Creative Genius.

These are all valid ways to learn and perhaps start to assimilate experience, but one vital thing we are not taught in our school systems, academia and general culture is how to turn information and book learning into something useful. Has it occurred to you that the information presented in the learning environment is just an INTRODUCTION to understanding? Just the tip of the iceberg?

Information, by itself, is not the stuff that enables you to be effective.

Chances are good that you are getting information from someone who is also consuming information without turning it into their own Experience. When you teach, you are teaching who you are as well as whatever it is you teach. So inability to turn information into something useful is passed on in your manner of working. Rather a vicious circle.

The transformative and alchemical process to turn information into a creative experience requires time, self-acceptance, effort, and in many cases, more money. And this inner process is different for everyone.  It has its own time-table to follow and does not give a hoot about you being productive, “an expert,” and a reliable cog in society.

A personal note from my own voice studio: I work with voice teachers who are certified in 2 or 3  methods of vocal pedagogy. They are good teachers and wonderful human beings who at some level, feel that a few lessons going over the exercises that they learned in the certifications will turn them into the singers they want to be or help them with their students. So when they have not reached where they want to go after 4-6 lessons, or even 6 months, they stop. I understand. It is expensive and time-consuming. And who has the time to practice, experiment, observe, and at the same time learn how to ALLOW the process of the slow change of muscle fibers and neurological connections? And do this year after year after year? After year?

Yet, that is exactly the kind of creative process necessary, whether you do it yourself or reach out for guidance, to transform learning into useful experience.

Information continually changes, BUT SO DO OUR BODIES and EMOTIONS. Especially for women because of our life cycles and hormonal effects on the voice. But it is true for men, too, and for anyone who has survived physical or mental health crisis. If you are coping with a chronic issue that doctors can not solve, it is doubly true. It is a constant creative act to experience, assimilate and present information to others.  What you learned as a 21-year-old will no longer serve you at 25, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70+

Guess what. Life is continually about transformation into something new until it is time to transform again.

THIS IS THE SECRET THAT NO ONE TALKS ABOUT. We are taught that having a magic degree or certification or studying with that Broadway star can lead to wisdom and effectiveness.  While learning is a wonderful experience, having a personal value system that allows you to assimilate the new process is something that I have observed many teachers do not have.

Finding your own creative path is never easy in a culture that says it values creativity but does not value the time, solitude and continuous experimentation to develop a creative thing or thought and turn it into experience. As far as singing and teaching singing goes, you are more apt to do this if your personal values match up with these commitments.

I just finished watching the tv series “Genius” about the life and work of Albert Einstein, produced by Ron Howard. I recommend this series as a way to illustrate my point.

And here’s the KICKER–our personal values are shaped by our culture, religious traditions and the hive mind. What is required to live creatively and turn information into a body of deep personal experience?

I am not talking about work experience. I am talking about a deeper knowing that often comes from our deepest, most vulnerable places.

In Part II, I’ll outline some of the counter-culture elements that are needed to walk this particular path.  A good book to read, in the meantime, is The Courage to Teach, by Parker Palmer.

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“Transformation” abstract study by Cate Frazier-Neely