Inspired Not Bound: The Promise of Science-Informed Voice Pedagogy

Lynn Helding defines Science-Informed Voice Pedagogy in her upcoming book Practicing Science-Informed Voice Training as, “A type of hybrid singing voice pedagogy that unites science and art by researching current voice science, translating it, combining it with extant historic voice knowledge, and transmitting it to singers.” Over 170 years have elapsed since Manuel García’s "Observations on the Human Voice" were presented to the Royal Society of London, igniting the field of voice science; yet if scientific facts are as rich and transformative as its proponents claim it to be, then why haven’t more singers (and teachers of singing) jumped on the science bandwagon? This talk seeks to understand human behaviour of both sides of the “Science versus Art” debate via research from the fields of cognitive science and behavioural science, and will focus particularly on lessons learned due to several societal shifts. The first was a major leap in psychological research over the past three decades, revealing that we humans are not nearly as rational as we might believe ourselves to be.

This research took on urgency during the second societal shift: the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Public health professionals discovered that people base their decisions on emotions or “gut feelings” far more than on facts and figures. Helding will discuss “Why Facts Do Not Always Change Minds” pivoting to, “Inspired Not Bound,” in which we are invited to imagine the future of voice pedagogy in a post-Pandemic landscape based on the premise that “what is known and considered true does not begin nor end with science, but takes account of the full scope of human experience.” (Helding, Practicing Science-Informed Voice Training, forthcoming Bloomsbury Publishing.)

🏷️ Price £30 (UK VAT inclusive)
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