In the last blog, I talked about how the prevalence of voice-related information online has made it difficult to know which "influencers" are reliable and which may be intentionally deceptive just to get more followers. Clicks and views don't necessarily mean that what is being posted is worthwhile. I also suggested looking for "peer-reviewed" sources, which essentially means that the information was vetted by other professionals before it was given the green light to be brought to a wider audience.
I was fortunate to have participated in a major peer-reviewed conference over the last weekend right here in our backyard. The Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA) holds an annual symposium, which in recent years has been hosted in Houston, Mexico City, Seattle, Toronto, and Minneapolis, among other cities. But this year, the board of directors voted to hold the event in Salt Lake City. The symposium brings together voice professionals from the performing arts and the medical field to present interdisciplinary research, workshops, and panel discussions.
The "American" part of PAVA meant that the symposium drew people from Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Washington, DC, Wisconsin, and various parts of Canada. But the "Pan" part (a prefix meaning "all," "whole," or "universal") meant that there were also people in attendance from Australia, Germany, India, Italy, Norway, Poland, and Sweden—right here in little ol' SLC!
As a hybrid conference (with both in-person and virtual components), there were also online attendees from many of the places listed above in addition to Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, as well as Costa Rica, Iran, England, Mexico, and Spain.
So, for those keeping track, that makes 39 states (plus Washington, D.C.) and 14 different countries. Not a bad turnout.
In order to present at this symposium, you have to decide which category to submit for: Research Presentation, Pedagogy Talk, Panel Discussion, Workshop, Micro-Workshop, Research Poster, or Pedagogy Poster. Then you have to submit an application (abstract) that has specific parameters for how you should describe your work. Those abstracts then go to a committee of professionals in the field with varied areas of expertise who decide whether to accept your proposal, reject your proposal, or conditionally accept your proposal pending certain changes or adjustments. This doesn't absolutely rule out any questionable ideas getting through (there are charlatans in every field), but it significantly increases the likelihood that what gets presented will be of quality since it has gone through multiple checks before receiving the thumbs up.
Now, compare that to your average TikToker. All they have to do to share their content is post it. And if it's flashy enough, or cleverly presented, it can reach a pretty wide audience pretty quickly. That doesn't mean what is being shared won't be substantive or useful—there is lots of information that is technically unvetted that is still of quality. But, once again, good media literacy should cause us to be a bit skeptical if someone online is making wide-sweeping claims without having gone through any real process of quality assurance.
That being said, check out these post-PAVA Symposium hot takes here and here. You might see some familiar faces.
Now that we're heading into the second half of the semester, check in again on the goals you set back in August. Are you on track? Have you been consistent in your practicing? What adjustments can you make to make your practicing more effective?
Now go practice.
The PAVA symposium is such a cool event, especially since vocal professionals from all around the globe are in attendance! It sounds like an amazing opportunity to talk to people of different backgrounds, nationalities, and upbringings about their experience in the vocal field. Also, I love that the submission process to present at this symposium is thorough. The voice is a fragile instrument, and not just anyone should be speaking about it in a setting where other experts are looking for advice or even broader knowledge of a topic they already know well. However, I do think that depending on who is facilitating the submission process, some people who have genuine passion and a wide breadth of knowledge about vocal pedagogy could be eliminated as possible presenters, which does sadden me. Of course, people with potential can be rejected in any field, but I still thought that it was worth mentioning.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the PAVA Q&A videos, I really enjoyed hearing a plethora of opinions from different vocal professionals! One that stood out to me was Kevin Wilson's hot take, which was that functional pedagogy does not exclusively come from classical singing. I wholeheartedly agree with this, because depending on a singer's body type, age, genre they sing, and many other factors, they have to employ techniques that are specific to them, and these techniques might not align with what is taught in the classical singing space. This connects really well to what we learned in class, too; there isn't one right way to sing for everyone.
Looking back on my August goals, I feel that I have fallen off of them a bit. To be honest, school and life has gotten crazy, and I have struggled with balancing my schedule in a healthy manner. Despite this, I'm starting to get back on track, and am pushing myself to practice, even when I'm feeling tired. Singing does always make me feel better, and I want to remember that in the moments that I'm unmotivated.
At the start of this class, my main goal was focused on just the ability to get up in front of people and sing without nerves getting in the way. Since singing is something, I have recently started doing in front of others, it is very nerve wracking to perform this very new skill in front of people. I have noticed that over the few times that I have performed in front of the class, I feel like my nerves have lessened and overall, the performance isn't as nerve wracking. In fact, during one of the performances of Delovely, I found myself actually enjoying singing. I don't think that I will ever get to the point where I will have 0 nerves performing and I think that is a good thing. I am just happy that it is now at a stage where the nerves seem to be a normal amount. Since my goal has pretty much been achieved from the beginning of the semester I'm trying to focus on new ways to add to my goal. I still notice that I have a bunch of tension in my body that I would like to get rid of. So, a kind of new branch of my former goal is to be able to sing with an open, free body.
ReplyDeleteFirst I would like to say how amazing it is that you were a part of the Symposium! I am sure it was delightful to be among so many talented and educated peers.
ReplyDeleteSecond, my goal check-in.
The first goal was to discover my vocal range. While I still have times when I feel I can hit notes that are out of this range, I have found these notes consistently. My consistent low note is about an A3 while I struggle to hit the high F5. I am going to spend the rest of the semester focusing on vowel sounds now that I discovered my base.
I also wanted to become more confident in my singing. While I have improved within my ability to perform in front of others, I still struggle to simply sing in front of other people. So, I suppose the only logical thing to do would be to do it more often!
Third, practice.
I will admit that my practice consistency has struggled the past two weeks due to some feelings of overwhelm, and being sick (I rested for about a week). I practice my songs but I have not taken enough time working on my range lately. I am going to get back to that work this coming week.
I believe my practicing would be more effective if I sang more often in smaller amounts of time. Right now I practice in the morning and my voice (and my focus if I’m honest) is not at my best. I think I will try singing for about 10 minutes at a time 2 or 3 times daily instead of once for 30 minutes. That way I can see how my voice feels at different times of the day and after different amounts of exercise. That will be very interesting!
I am excited to continue learning!
Wow, the PAVA! You learn about new things every day. But to the topic at hand: the goals. So far, my goal is actually coming along quite well! I've been being more mindful of my voice and the way it feels, especially when I am singing high. In class we talked about the transition between voice levels, and how you can push to make your mid-range extend further into your higher range, and vice versa. Before, I would often push my voice to extend this range, but it would often feel tight or wrong, but I would ignore that because it produced the sound I wanted. So, most of my goal has been achieved by backing simply off of the amount of power/pressure that I use, and pushing less. Sometimes I slip back into bad habits because it isn't always fun to sing in my higher register with less power and fullness, but the goal is to continue backing off until I learn a better method of singer high, with power, and cleanly/healthily. As for actually incorporating this when practicing, I have definitely fallen off my practice schedule, which has been very unfortunate. Hamlet has been taking its toll, and while I do my best, much of the little free time I have had is being diverted to other assignments, like midterms and projects. Hopefully, in the future, I will be able to manage my time better and get back on track.
ReplyDeleteThis symposium sounds very cool!
ReplyDeleteMy goal at the beginning of the semester was to strengthen my head voice. I feel that I have improved, which makes me happy! I am also just realizing changes I can make to my technique in order to sing higher notes with more ease, like changing how much breath flow or force I'm putting behind it. I'm finding that I don't need to be as loud or as forceful as I thought I did, and that's been very helpful.
Practice is going relatively well. With Hamlet rehearsals, my schedule has gotten really busy, and I haven't been as consistent as I like. I need to set alarms to remind myself to practice in my spare time.
I am really happy with the amount I'm learning in this class, and I feel like I am making progress!
While I was a bit peeved that my voice teacher was so busy two weeks ago that he had to cancel lessons, I appreciate the fact that he is so cool and participates in such scholarly work like PAVA! I hope you had fun!
ReplyDeleteI think the comparison between the amount of work, research, vetting, approval processes, forms, etc., vs. a free internet account is something that not enough individuals realize. So many people run to Instagram and TikTok to ask questions that professionals spend years of work to be able to answer, yet that work is bypassed for the fast, often misleading or incorrect information that a "charlatan" can make up and post.
In terms of practicing, I think I have opened my eyes to a new goal that I didn't know I had--acting through the work, and connecting vocal choices to character choices. While our lessons have often been full of this, I haven't dug as deep into that process before the last few weeks. I'm currently working on material for my junior year that engages me a lot, and requires me to really dive into the text, character analysis, and my arsenal of vocal/musical choices to create a cohesive story. Excited to keep going!
In reflecting back on the goals I set back in August I think I am pretty on track and consistent when in comes to practicing. I have been focusing especially recently with this new song in class where to breath and fluctuating dynamics. After getting sick my stamina when it comes to breath has not been at its peak but I have been trying some specific breathing exercises we have done in class. After not having private lessons for some time now it's been nice to be more consistent with using my voice and I feel like I am improving on my skills. I will say because of Hamlet rehearsals taking up all the rest of my time I have been trying to fit singing in my schedule differently as I no longer have the slotted time in my day to do so. I have been using empty classrooms in-between class and rehearsal and some days I sing while I'm driving though that's not preferred. The weekends are when I can get most of my practicing done at home.
ReplyDeleteWhat I’ve loved about this semester is that it’s given me a lot of clarity about singing. I’ve fallen prey to the myths and misinformation surrounding the voice, or I’ve gotten myself confused with what exactly I was doing with my voice.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been very very very effective on my goals. My main goal was to prepare for an audition for Next to Normal, and the character Henry who I’m looking to audition for holds out an F#4, and I’ve gotten to a point when I can hold it out for as long as necessary. Not I’ve got to work on consistency.
Another one of my goals was to gain confidence in my basics and I definitely feel more confidence in that. I feel like I’ve blossomed as a singer, that I have the tools to take my singing from something holding me back to a selling point for me as a performer.
My plan is to just keep consistent with this training, and daily practice.
I feel like I am pretty on track. I make time for my goals, although they often have to take a back seat due to other class expectations. Senior showcase specifically has taken a lot of my time, attention, energy, and focus. Rather than building my range and choosing songs I want to work up to like I wanted to, I have been forced to focus on songs that I am capable of doing now (with a few struggle points possibly). Although I build in time during my practice to work on technique alone, not connected to songs, most of my song practice revolves around showcase. I think that by finalizing my showcase material, I will better be able to focus on other materials, that may be a little more out of my comfort zone. This way I can work on the skills that are a little less polished. I need to make sure that along with the kind of music I love to sing and am used to singing, I need to be well rounded and bring in some non-contemporary music and more classical style music in order to have songs to build on as well as technique exercises.
ReplyDeleteThe PAVA sounds so cool! I think it’s definitely a testament to the harsh reality of actual academia vs. social media “school”, and how often we digest statements that random people online make like its nothing and just believe it to be true, when at conferences like PAVA, information is checked and verified by multiple, highly-qualified sources before being passed along to a general audience — just crazy to think about lol. Anyway, I’ve been doing meh on my goal of practicing more frequently for the past few weeks, as I’ve been battling sickness and just general voice fatigue. It’s definitely frustrating, however, I have been giving myself much more grace than I would have in the past, so I guess that is still something to be proud of. I am hoping if I take it easy, I will be better sooner, but the patience that comes along with that waiting is what gets me sometimes. I think for these upcoming weeks, I would like to make my goal of having more frequent practice sessions more of a priority, even if that means they are short ones in-between classes or something, because at the end of the day any practice is better than no practice :)
ReplyDeleteThis semester has been challenging for me. The workload in this class in particular has felt manageable and reasonable, but in other classes not so much. It's unfortunate because I'm working a complicated job in Ogden that requires me to commute just over 2 hours a day between home, school, and work, and so my practice has admittedly suffered. It feels a bit unfair because the workload from other classes dominates my limited free time. The practice required for this class shouldn't suffer but it does. I'm considering how to handle the next semester more effectively. I moved in the middle of this semester to help be closer to work (which feels odd to be further from school, but ultimately cuts down on the total commute). The move took more out of me than I expected. I knew that this semester would be challenging but it has been even more so than I anticipated. With that said, I'm really enjoying my experience in this class. The first performance we had was extremely nerve wracking. I could hardly sleep the night before and was trying to think of ways to not have to do it. But after getting through it, each performance feels slightly more manageable. My sister sings and we were recording at my dads house in Wales this past year, and she kindly gave me some advice that I was yelling and straining. I was confused, and didn't understand how else to sing with a "full voice." This far into the semester, it's been really eye opening to see how delicate the vocal folds are, and also how small they are. I'm working on letting the air "sail" out of my throat instead of forcing it out. If nothing else, even if the sound isn't improving, I certainly feel better when I sing. I feel less strain and feel like I'm starting to understand how to breathe and hold myself to support my vocal muscles when singing.
ReplyDeleteWhat you said about peer review makes a lot of sense. At the conference, every talk or workshop had to pass through a group of experts first because they checked the ideas carefully before anyone could present. That extra step helps keep the information more trustworthy. With that being said, it’s not perfect, but it’s much better than just posting anything online.
ReplyDeleteI agree that TikTok and other apps are different. Anyone can put up a video in a few minutes. If the video looks fun and whatnot, it can get thousands of views pretty quickly. Some of those videos might still be helpful but many are not checked by anyone who really knows the subject. Views and likes do not equal good advice and your point about being careful with what we believe is really important.
I also appreciated the reminder at the end. Checking our practice goals halfway through the semester is smart and it’s easy to start strong and then slip. Asking ourselves if we are still practicing the right way can help us stay on track. I like thinking more carefully about where I get voice tips and how much I should trust them.
Shirel Harrus
PAVA sounds like an awesome event to attend! It’s way too easy to post information these days that isn’t true. Growing up before social media, we were warned in school to not get our information from wikepedia. We now have social media which is just wikepedia on seroids, but I feel like more people view influencers with lots of followers as “more trustworthy” even if they aren’t actual experts.
ReplyDeleteOne of my goals at the beginning of the semester was to stay consistent with my scheduled practice times and to warm up every morning for at least ten minutes. I haven’t been as consistent as I would’ve liked to be, and find myself usually only warming up on days I plan to perform or audition. It has been a busier semester than I was expecting it to be, and I think I might need to redo my practice schedule to fit in a little more realistically.