Instinct vs. Science in Singing Instruction

Jan Hammar

In the vast amount of publications on singing over the last 400 years mainly two kinds of books are represented: literature on singing pedagogy and the science of singing. Interestingly enough nobody has, to the knowledge of the author of this dissertation, tried to describe the very nature of the knowledge that the singer needs for his craft, nor tried to define the different disciplines/ building stones in singing education. The aim of this study is to start a discussion to fill this void. 
This means:
· Finding out: which disciplines are part of singing teaching? How can they be described and defined?
· How do they fit in the process of teaching and learning?
· How do they interact to form a knowledge-in-singing? What is really knowledge-in-singing? What is the difference to knowledge-on-singing?

These deliberations lead to:
· Can the description of the singer`s knowledge be of use in the singing-studio? Be a help for the singing teacher and his student.

Considering singing teaching and learning automatically leads to another aspect of singing:
· Is singing teaching based on science or instinct. How much theoretical knowledge does the singer need?
The knowledge of the professional singer is described in this paper as genetic knowledge, practical: knowledge-in-singing and theoretical: knowledge-on-singing. These describtions make for an easier acquiring of know-ledge because the singer knows when his intel-lectual capacity can be used to his favour and when he has to rely on his body to acquire a singing technique.
The difference between the scientist and the singing teacher is that science by itself is not so important to the latter as the possible way to use it in teaching. The singing teacher always has to rely on his born instincts and his acquired feelings for a correct vocal production of sound.
This way singing teaching worked for centuries. In other words: a very special instinct for
the voice of his student is an absolute requirement for a successful singing teacher. On the other hand: singing teachers were the first voice scientists. Science, computertechnology and so on are parts of our daily environment. Our students grow up using the new technology.

In order to be able to cope with the demand of the students and to be able to answer their justified questions about their voices and the mechanism behind it, the singing teacher todayhas to be more open for new methods of teaching as a continuing reflection-on-singing!

Dissertation: Instinct vs. Science in Singing Instruction (Originaltitel: Das Gesangslehren und —lernen im Spannungsfeld zwischen Instinkt und Wissenschaft.)

Jan Hammar Hammar@t-online.de