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Singing and voice training workshop: Helping singers and non-singers to

sing by KeyToSong pedagogy.

Ava NumminenD.Mus, psychologist, singing teacher

************How can singing belong to everyone? International Symposium on Singing in

Music Education April 23rd - 27th, 2014 - Budapest, Hungary

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Ava Numminen, D.Mus., singing teacher, licensed psychologist, principal of the KeyToSong Singing School, Helsinki, Finland.

- 25 years of experience in teaching singing.

- Recently involved in studies about how people with memory disorders benefit from music and singing (Särkämö et al. 2012: Music, emotion, and dementia: Insight from neuroscientific and

clinical research. and Särkämö et al. 2013: Cognitive, Emotional and Social Benefits of Regular Musical Activities in Early Dementia:

Randomized Controlled Study.

- A well-known lecturer and writer, has given several interviews to press and the main channels of Finnish television and radio.

- Works now as an occupational health psychologist in a medical health care company.

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Why don’t we sing enough today?• Perhaps, because in rural societies singing

was often related to physical labour, e.g. caring of cattle. There were no professional models which to compare one’s own singing with because the modern media did not exist.

• The singing test system was widely applied at primary schools and the tradition may continue today. Musicality was (is) linked to an ability to sing. If you failed in a singing test, you were not encouraged to play the piano…

• A singing ability is often seen as an innate, permanent skill, which some people have or do not have.

• There seems to be a lack of knowledge among music and singing teachers on how to proceed with children or adults who have problems to sing in tune. Tuition is not automatically offered to those either.

• However, music and singing activities are part of regular curriculum of every child.

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Why is singing so important?

A modern research and profound experience shows that singing has vast physiological, psychological, and social benefits such as:Development of vocal performance, body posture, breathing, self-expression and performance skills. May release neurochemical transmitters and hormonal changes in the brain and body, which make one “feel good”.Therapeutic aspect and spirituality; alleviation of stress and depression.

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Strengthening of social bonding. Assisting people suffering from neurological

conditions such as different memory disorders, Parkinson’s Disease and Aphasia.

Supporting language learning, concentration, and co-operation skills among children. Especially beneficial for children with attention deficit problems.

A possibility to experience enjoyment, wellbeing, mindfulness > we may cause less climate and other environmental problems when feeling happy with our own mind-body.

Music,

the food of

neuroscience?

Playing, listening to and

creating music involves

practically every cognitive

function. Robert Zatorre

explains how music can

teach us about speech,

brain plasticity and even

the origins of emotion.

Robert Zatorre and

James McGill 2005,

NATURE|VOL 434.

In the academic

dissertation

(Numminen 2005,

Sibelius Academy)

”Helping adult

poor pitch singers

to sing in tune”

singing was

brought up

holistically from the

four standpoints:

The study behind the KeyToSong method

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Ten poor-pitch singers were taught to sing in a group

(average 37,3 hrs/a person) and individually

(average 7,5 hrs/a person).

4. Singing skills as they are understood in a

culture

2. Subjective experiences

1. Physiological processes

3. Cognitive processes

The nature of the participants’ problems were classified under three dimensions:

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Perceptual blocks

Production blocks

Emotional and belief system blocks

Difficulties in differentiating tone frequencies while singing; uncertainty of the correctness of the outcome in singing.

A narrow singing range; problems in shifting to upper register from the chest register.

Feelings of anxiety when trying to sing; misgivings about their general musicality.

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Results briefly (Numminen 2005):• All the participants made remarkable progress >

Singing is a skill that can be helped in adult years from any initial level. Instead of ”poor-pitch singing” the concept ”developing singer” (Welch 1996) is suggested.

• Sensory and motor domains continuously interact in brain > To develop better “musical ear”, start singing!

• A singing skill is not something that one either have or doesn’t have but instead is deeply connected to tradition and concepts of singing which prevail in a given cultural context.

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Today at the KeyToSong school• We have weekly circa 140 students (individuals, groups and choirs) in Helsinki. •Occasionally, we train professionals in the health care sector, as well as school and kindergarten teachers. There are singing groups for people suffering from Parkinson’s disease and stroke patients. In the autumn we’ll start a singing group for COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) patients.•The method is continuously developed by our teachers, feedback from our clients and following international singing research.

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The four core elements of the KeyToSong

method

Feedback :

Building confidence

Enabeling atmosphere: safe, relaxed,

focus on students’ needs

Group teaching – Togetherness

Versatile training

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Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky 1978)

The actual development level is a level where a child manages independently to complete a given task.

The zone of proximal development is the distance between the actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult or more capable peer guidance.

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• When a person is acting in the zone of proximal development, she/he is very vulnerable.

• So, sense of safety in the group forms a precondition for an effective learning environment.

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Enabeling – “you can make it” atmosphere

• A teacher must honestly believe that students can learn to sing regardless of their initial skill level. If a teacher has doubts about the learning potential of the students, they know it intuitively.

• Help students to be patient; to learn to sing is a process, whereby one sometimes succeeds very well, and sometimes almost not at all. To be unsuccessful is part of the normal process.

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Versatile training• A fundamental principle is that all the warm-ups

and exercises can be done perfectly well without needing to sing correctly in tune.

• Different kinds of improvisations, vocal whines, singing games etc.

• Moving and movements included in voice production.

• When singing, different aspects of well known songs are varied: text, loudness, rhythm, feelings etc.

• There is no strict borderline between a person’s singing voice and physiological voice.

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Twinkle, twinkle little star,how I wonder what you are.Up above the sky so highlike a diamond in the sky.Twinkle, twinkle little star,

how I wonder what you are.

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Row, row, row, a boat gently down the stream.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream.

*******

Bruder Jakob, Bruder Jakob,

schläfst du noch, schläfst du noch?

Hörst du nicht die Glocken,

hörst du nicht die Glocken?

Ding dang dong, ding dang dong

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These kinds of exercises

• Help to connect breathing and voice production in a natural, relaxed way; increase voice range and flexibility of voice production.

• Are energizing, creative, and very often funny. Students learn to use their voices in different expressive ways.

• Familiarize a student with her/his own voice without any precise criteria of right of wrong. She/he gets positive experiences with singing which probably leads to a positive self image

“I am a singing person”.

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Climate change • There is a solid scientific proof that climate

change is real and that it is endangering nature, economy and culture globally.

• The Storm Warning Association (Finland, and Sweden) works for energy saving, cleaner and safer technology.

• Musicians are excellent messengers! A Finnish a cappella singing group Rajaton with Kuusisto violin brothers just made a fantastic concert tour Two degrees.

• Join The Climate Reality Project/Al Gore. Google Singer & Song Writer Jason Mraz.

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References: • Anderson, S., Himonides, E., Wise. K., Welch, G., Stewart, l.

2011: Is there potential learning in amusia? A study of the effect of singing intervention in the congenital amusia. Ann. N.Y. Sci. 1252 (345-353).

• Bruner, J. 1996: The Culture of Education. Harvard University Press. USA.

• Cohen, A.,J. (editor) 2011. psychomusicology: music, mind & brain. Special double issue, Singing and Psychomusicology. Vol 21, 1&2.

• Clift, S. & Hancox, G. 2010: The significance of choral singing for sustaining psychological well being: findings from a survey of choristers in England, Australia and Germany. Music Performance Research, Vol 3 (1) Special Issue Music and Health: 79-96.

• Knight, S. 2011. Adults identifying as “non-singers” in childhood: Cultural, social, and pedagogical implications.

• Levitin D. 2007. This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession.

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• Numminen, A. 2005: Helping adult poor pitch singers learn to sing in tune. A study of stumbling blocks confronting developing singers and means of surmounting them. Doctoral Dissertation. Sibelius-Academy (Published in Finnish, Abstract in English).

• Ries, A. 2004:The child singing voice as a social construct: Physiological, pedagogical and sociological perspectives

• Small, C. 1998: Musicking. The Meaning of Performing and Listening. Wesleyan University Press. USA.

• Sacks, O. 2008. Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain.

• Särkämö, T., Laitinen, S., Tervaniemi, M., Numminen,A.,Kurki, M., and Rantanen, P. Music, Emotion, and Dementia: Insight From Neuroscientific and Clinical Research. Accepted in Music and Medicine.

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• Vygotsky,L., S. 1978: Mind in Society. The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Edited by Cole, Michael & John-Steiner, Vera & Scribner, Sylvia & Souberman, Ellen. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, MA.

• Wan, C. Y., Rüber, T., Hohmann, A., & Schlaug, G. 2010: The therapeutic effects of singing in neurological disorders. Music Perception, 27, 287–295.

• Welch, G., F. 1985: A Schema Theory of How Children Learn to Sing in Tune. Psychology of Music. 13, 3 - 18.

• Welch, G., F. 1996: The Developing Voice. ASME-Conference Papers and Abstracts.

http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/education/asme/confs/hed.asp

• Whidden, C. 2009: The Adult Non-Singer: Connection,

Context and Culture. University of Calgary, Alberta.• www.keytosong.fi