The Disciplines of Vocal Pedagogy: Towards an Holistic Approach.

* The Disciplines of Vocal Pedagogy: Towards an Holistic Approach, by Karen Sell. Ashgate Publishing Company (101 Cherry St., Ste. 420, Burlington, VT 05401), 2006. 253 pp. $94.95.

Revising her doctoral dissertation to produce this book, British voice teacher Karen Sell has set herself a daunting challenge. Approaching any subject "holistically" is surely an admirable effort--and perhaps one that is intrinsically doomed to frustration and incompleteness. And what subject can be more elusive, more difficult to embrace holistically, than that most baffling field: voice teaching? The result is an earnest but modest introduction to the art and science of vocal pedagogy coupled with a very useful compendium of bibliographic material.

Chapter 1 attempts to provide a brief history of vocal pedagogy. Of course, such a history is necessarily incomplete. It will always leave the reader wanting to know more; and Sell's generous bibliography certainly helps point the reader in the right direction. Still, her own summaries of the writings of famous teachers and singers throughout history are peculiarly unsatisfying. Instead of providing tantalizing nuggets about, say, Lamperti's or Marchesi's principles, she tends to categorize them rather generally and impersonally, dismissing most early methods as not being physiologically or scientifically accurate enough. This somewhat flat and colorless historical account gives the impression that the author is dashing through an obligatory preliminary overview before arriving at a subject about which she is much more passionate.

And that subject makes its appearance in Chapter 2: ethics and psychology as they relate to vocal pedagogy. For this topic, Sell's conciseness is laced with an attractive bite. Here she is addressing issues on the basis of her experience as a voice teacher, not as a researcher. Her opinions, prejudices and passions shine through this chapter, making it by far the most readable and personal section in the book. Especially noteworthy are Sell's wise reflections on dealing with students of differing age levels.

The third and fourth chapters deal, respectively, with the science of voice teaching and issues of sound and technique. Sell reveals that she is no admirer of "imagery" in teaching vocal technique; she prefers clear, scientifically based description and a mastery of physiological terms. She also advocates the use of modern technology with such tools as the nasometer and the electroglottograph. She goes as far as to make the following astounding (and alarming!) statement: "Singers hear and listen to their teachers and feel the sensations of correct technique, but to see internal detail of their instrument they need to use scientific apparatus. When the day comes for peer review and standardization of the profession, as in other related professions, more than personal opinion is going to be needed when attempting to quantify beautiful, healthy singing." [p. 85]

In the concluding chapter about performance, Sell walks us briskly through a checklist of such issues as tone color, interpretation, diction and performing anxiety. She returns to somewhat generic quotes from other writers rather than offering any new or personal insights. It is not apparent, at first reading, that this discussion of performance stems directly from dealing with singers at a particularly advanced level of artistry. Still, what Sell succeeds in doing is de-mystifying and classifying some of the various subjects with which a conscientious voice teacher should be familiar. --Reviewed by Stephen Dubberly, Knoxville, Tennessee 

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