How much anatomy/physiology do I really need to know?

Last spring I was invited to participate in the Voice Pedagogy Summit hosted by the University of Southern California. The gathering of 40 voice teachers from across the country had the primary purpose of answering the question, “What should a responsible voice teacher be teaching in a scientific age?"

Participants in the USC Voice Pedagogy Summit

As you might imagine from a meeting of this many nerds, we had lots of inspiring, in-depth discussions that took up the better part of two days. We're working now to formulate our ideas into a voice pedagogy position paper that will attempt to outline the ultimate voice curriculum by identifying "best practices."

As academics, of course, we want to know as much as possible about how the voice works. But as voice teachers, the question that comes up again and again is, "How much of this information do singers really need to have?" For example, if we can't even see or feel our cricothyroid muscles, do singers really need to know what they do? One of the summit participants talked about his colleague whose students often achieve great success as performers even though, as their teacher, he claims not to know the difference between an arytenoid and a hemorrhoid. 

In my view, the voice teacher's job is to know what efficient vocal production looks and sounds like in order to offer students directions and exercises that will lead to more effective singing. In that regard, every exercise we choose should have a specific purpose. Sometimes I call students' attention to the purpose of an exercise to help them better understand the process. But other times I don't, because I don't want students to start focusing on muscle groups that they can't feel or directly control. Instead, I just want them to focus on doing the exercise with freedom and efficiency, knowing that it will achieve its purpose whether the student is aware of it or not.

In the same way, when you go to the gym, you don't need to think about how muscle fibers work when you're doing bicep curls. If you just focus on doing the curls with good form, you will build strength.

However, in the long run, I believe that greater knowledge about how the voice works will better allow you to guide your own singing. Author and voice teacher Claudia Friedlander says as much in her book Complete Vocal Fitness: A Singer's Guide to Physical Training, Anatomy, and Biomechanics:

"One of the reasons that I feel it is so important for singers to understand how your instrument functions is so that when a problem arises, you can discern whether it is an issue of skill or physiology and pursue an effective solution based on that information. If you understand how your voice ought to respond when it is healthy, it becomes easier to recognize when a medical issue is interfering with your singing. Conversely, if it is always a mystery whether your voice will work on a given day, you are likely to develop the chronic hypochondriacal angst so common to our profession." p.149

Ultimately, you are all your own voice teachers. Someone like me can offer guidance and direction, but I see you for a limited time each week while you live with your voices for 24 hours a day. You are the ones who will have to safely negotiate those voices through a lifetime of singing. In so doing, I believe that the more information you have about the voice, the better equipped you will be—both now and in the future.

How has your singing been this week?

Now go practice.