| Who’s a scientist? We all can be! Here’s how. |  By J.J. via Wikimedia Commons |
At VoiceScienceWorks we make an emphatic point that we are not a “method”. In the entrepreneurial voice world, new voice teaching methods and quick fixes seem to grow on trees. We wholly encourage people to find ways to articulate their gifts in order to maximize their sharing potential. Voice habilitation takes a village, after all. But, we aren’t interested in creating new methodology, rather. . .
We aim to help all vocal practitioners translate the mind-opening power of contemporary voice science into a manageable resource such that whatever their method, they can continue to seek freshness in their search.
We aim to help all vocal practitioners translate the mind-opening power of contemporary voice science into a manageable resource such that whatever their method, they can continue to seek freshness in their search.
 | Science, however, is much less about knowledge, and much more about a process of addressing the world. By comparison to non-scientific approaches, where the instructor holds all the cards, and those cards are few and difficult to communicate, science has the potential to empower everyone in the learning process through clarity. |
Science doesn’t have all of the answers, in fact, science relishes questions more than answers. What it has is a structured process for how to ask questions, how we build on what is known, and how we include others in the process.
And what do we call it? Well, the Scientific Method, of course, and here are the steps:
And what do we call it? Well, the Scientific Method, of course, and here are the steps:
| 1) Ask a Question: “why can’t my baritone student sing an F4 as loudly as my other male singers?” |  |
| 2) Do background research: “what do other people know about the male voice, about the passaggio, about resonant strategies, laryngeal strategies, and breath pressure?” | 3) Construct a hypothesis: “given what I know about the voice, I’m going to guess that his current resonant strategy is compromising his volume output.” |
 | 4) Test your hypothesis with an experiment: “I’d like to see what his resonant strategy looks like, so I’m going to have him sing each of the three vowels [a] [i] and [u] into a spectral analyzer and see what harmonics he emphasizes.” |
5) Analyze your data and draw a conclusion: “it looks like his upper harmonics are very faint, but stronger on the [a]. I’m going to surmise that if he can make the upper harmonics stronger, that he can increase his volume. Given what I know about the voice, that may mean that he needs to improve his vocal fold adduction in that range.”
| 6) Communicate your results: “We’ll start with adduction-focused exercises (glides, whines, fries, etc.) and see if we can increase the presence of upper harmonics, and then we’ll go back to the resonant strategy question.” 7) Ask another question. |  |
Can you use the scientific method without a voice analyzer? Of course, the point isn’t that you have special tools or even special knowledge, but that you are open to not knowing the answer, and to taking measured steps to explore potential answers such that you can refer back to them over time. Scientists like to take good notes too.
That’s what we’ve done with VoiceScienceWorks:
taken good notes, and translated them into quickly digestible information so that you don’t have to read everyone else’s long-form research in order to get started.
When we choose to approach our voices using the scientific method, we find that our hunger for knowledge increases, and we’re much more likely to look for hard scientific answers to help us build our hypotheses. Eventually, we realize that there are questions that no one has yet found answers to, and that’s when the real fun starts!
And what about the question of emotion? Can you be a scientist and still offer a sensitive, emotionally-charged performance? We’ve found that not only can you, but that an organized physical training process such that the scientific method provides communicates much more seamlessly with our emotions. This is because clarity creates confidence so that we aren’t worried about what’s happening physically, and are much more able to focus on training our emotional responses too.
That’s what we’ve done with VoiceScienceWorks:
taken good notes, and translated them into quickly digestible information so that you don’t have to read everyone else’s long-form research in order to get started.
When we choose to approach our voices using the scientific method, we find that our hunger for knowledge increases, and we’re much more likely to look for hard scientific answers to help us build our hypotheses. Eventually, we realize that there are questions that no one has yet found answers to, and that’s when the real fun starts!
And what about the question of emotion? Can you be a scientist and still offer a sensitive, emotionally-charged performance? We’ve found that not only can you, but that an organized physical training process such that the scientific method provides communicates much more seamlessly with our emotions. This is because clarity creates confidence so that we aren’t worried about what’s happening physically, and are much more able to focus on training our emotional responses too.
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