Caitlin Craig McKinney Chapter 1

What are the 3 questions that McKinney asked teachers after playing each of the samples of faulty singing? What is wrong with the sound you are hearing? What do you think is causing it? and What would you do about it if your were the teacher?

When does the diagnostic process begin? When you enter the room, or when the doctor enters the room.  He immediately begins to take notes on your physical appearance to determine your state of health.

Define symptom. How a certain person is feeling or how their body is reacting/changing in effect of a particular disease.  

What are the 3 basic techniques for gathering evidence? Observation of the patient, the patient's own self-evaluation, and systematic testing done by the Doctor.

Define diagnosis. A diagnosis is an analysis of information to understand the problem, and how to plan to fix it. 

What are the 3 fundamental questions a doctor must ask about each patient he examines? What are the symptoms? What are the causes?  And, what are the possible remedies/cures?

Upon what should the teacher’s tonal ideal be based? The teacher's tonal ideal should be based on physical laws of sound, and the tone quality of artist level singers.  These two ideals should be the standard or correct model of vocal sound.  

What are the components necessary to be able to communicate information to the student in a way that s/he will accept your analysis and want to make the desired changes? A thorough understanding of the voice mechanism and how it works, an ability to verbalize your thoughts in a way that is discernible by the student, and some skills of a master psychologist. 

Complete this quote 

“Each student is an individual and must be allowed to seek vocal truth for himself under your guidance.”

Why is a systemic approach to diagnosing vocal faults important? Because faults can go unnoticed, or uncorrected.  "If you do not set up a system of checks and balances, you will tend to ignore some problems and forget others for extended periods of time."  It can be useful to keep a notebook or file on your students, to record vocalises, problems that occurred, and progress.  This will help the teacher to better access where the student is and where she needs to go. 

Complete these quotes (16)

“bad sounds and incorrect pitches which are not heard on the first hearing become increasingly less likely to be heard with each subsequent hearing.”

“the longer you teach a student without correcting a particular vocal fault, the more inclined you are to accept it as an inborn characteristic of that person and leave it uncorrected.”

What are McKinney’s recommendations for the first hearing of a student? Allow the student to sing through the entire song without interruption.  First say something positive about his performance.  Try to make it a positive experience so that you can build a trusting and good relationship with the student.  "Avoid negative criticism, but do lay down some firm guidelines and clear expectations."

What is the teacher’s plan of action? Recognize problems, determine causes, and a plan on how to fix them.

What are the two types of clues? Audible and visible clues.

What does the teacher need in order to determine causes? The teacher must be familiar with the physics of sound and the vocal mechanism.

What does it mean to use empathy as a voice teacher?  Why is this a valuable tool? Empathy is a way to feel in your own vocal mechanism the actions of your student in order to diagnose the problem, and to discover a way to fix it.  Empathy will help you be able to better communicate with your student in order to fix the problem. 

How do we develop the ability to devise cures for vocal faults?  From applying knowledge and gaining experience.  

Complete this quote (19)

“Do not begin to tolerate or accept the incorrect sound just because you have not been able to change it. Be resourceful; be creative, adapt your techniques, consult other teachers; keep searching until you find an answer.”