Elizabeth T McKinney Ch. 1

What are the 3 questions that McKinney asked teachers after playing each of the samples of faulty singing? (5) What are the symptoms?  What are the causes of these symptoms?  What are the possible remedies?

When does the diagnostic process begin? (11) Once your student first walks in the door.  From visual cues, you can determine information about their posture, general confidence, tension in the body, command of expression and language, and attitude towards learning. 

Define symptom. (11) any sensation or change in bodily (or vocal) function experienced by a patient (student) that is associated with a particular disease (vocal fault)

What are the 3 basic techniques for gathering evidence? (12 or 15) 1) Informal observation of the student, 2) Self-evaluation by the patient, 3) Systematic testing by the teacher

Define diagnosis. (12) thorough analysis of facts or problems in order to gain understanding and aid future planning.  This is implies that diagnosis is not only finding the problems, but finding the answers to those problems as well.

What are the 3 fundamental questions a doctor must ask about each patient he examines? (12) What are the symptoms? What are the causes of these symptoms? What are the possible remedies?

Upon what should the teacher’s tonal ideal be based? (13) the physical laws of sound and the tone quality of artist performers against which you can measure the sounds you are hearing.

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? (12-13)  1) comprehensive knowledge of the vocal mechanism and how it works, 2) the ability to express yourself in terms the student can understand, and 3) some of the skills of a master psychologist.

Complete this quote (14)

“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? (14) Establishing a systemic approach ensures that you regularly check up on all vocal areas, and do not regularly neglect some areas out of habit.

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? (16) Let the student sing the entire song.  This encourages the student to create full musical picture, and will make teaching easier later on.

What is the teacher’s plan of action? (17) Recognize symptoms, determine causes, devise cures

What are the two types of clues? (17) audible and visible

What does the teacher need in order to determine causes? (18) a knowledge of the vocal mechanism and how it works.

What does it mean to use empathy as a voice teacher?  Why is this a valuable tool? (18) In using empathy, when observing the singing of a student, you can feel in your own vocal mechanism what is occurring in his, a form of inner imitation.  This can be the quickest way to identify the cause of a fault, and devise cure, because of how accustomed we are to fixing our own voices.

How do we develop the ability to devise cures for vocal faults?  (19) This skill comes mainly from applied knowledge and gained 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.”