Teaching What We Were Taught: A Survey of Choral Music Educators on Vocal Health, Anatomy, and Pedagogy

The purpose of this investigation was to assess if prior education influenced current teaching practices of choral music educators in terms of vocal health, anatomy, and pedagogy. We utilized a four-part online questionnaire to inquire about music educator’s a) personal experience in voice education and teaching/conducting practice in b) general vocal health, c) vocal anatomy and function, and d) healthy vocal pedagogy and perceived amount of rehearsal time spent on these topics. All responses were disaggregated by years of teaching and types of choirs taught. In total, 56 choral teachers/conductors of 65 choirs comprised the results. We applied statistical analysis to determine the extent to which participants’ prior education explained teaching behaviors. Two of the three regression analyses proved statistically significant. The non-significant results for the regression concerning the teaching of general voice health in the choral rehearsal illustrated the possibility that choral teacher/conductors spoke about vocal health in the rehearsal regardless of their personal education. The two statistically significant regressions alluded to a moderate correlation between the teacher/conductor’s prior education and teaching of vocal anatomy and pedagogy in the choral rehearsal. Results are discussed in terms of teaching vocal health, anatomy, and pedagogy in the choral rehearsal and ideas for future research.