Leon Thurman

“1983 articles [in The Choral Journal] suggested that the choral cart (music) was in front of its horses (voices).[…]Were the 1980s the decade of the voice for choral conductors? Is the horse before the cart at the beginning of the twenty-first century?” –Page 4

This paper analyzes and evaluates several explicit and implicit assumptions that are embedded in the concepts, terminologies, and practices related to vocal registers. A reconciliation of the varied and conflicting register concepts, terminologies, and practices is proposed, including: 1. a brief historical context of vocal registers, 2. a documented science-based theory that accounts for vocal register phenomena from perceptual, physiological, and acoustical perspectives, 3. criteria for selection of science-based categorical word labels for register phenomena and suggested colloquial English terms that meet the criteria, 4. how the theory can be beneficially applied to the learning of efficient, skilled singing and speaking when guided by music educators, choral conductors, singing teachers, speech teachers, theatre directors, and when applied to therapeutic clinical settings.

Music makes it possible for human beings to express what our experiences have put in our hearts; to share what it means to be a human being on this earth with our fellow human beings. Music can entertain us away from the daily concerns of our lives-and that is good. It can arouse us, engage us, dance us, calm us, restore us, make us weep, and even help heal us when we are ill- and that is good. The roots of what we call singing began before language, with expressive sound-making. Mothers and fathers lulled their babies to sleep. Whoops, shouts, and rhythmic leaping erupted at the kill of an animal that would feed several families. The wailing moans of a man or woman that poured out at the death of a mate. These human roots of singing are the important reasons that we do what we do. For the most part, this paper will address how neuromuscular skills and brain-compatible teaching can serve those roots, helping self-expression through music become richer and deeper in expressive power....

Star of the North is an online magazine newsletter of the Minnesota division of the American Choral Directors Association. The published version of this article is only online at the following web address: http://www.starofthenorth.net/human-compatible-learning-and-teaching-choral-music-what The article provides a condensed version of a theory of learning and teaching that is based in scientific studies of the neuropsychobiology of human beings, with applications to choral music education. Formulation of the theory began with the following question: What differences could happen in human learning and teaching practices if educators (parents and schooling teachers) held fairly deep knowledge about what happens inside human beings when we say we have: 1) Perceived through the senses (inside and outside conscious awareness)? 2) Experienced moods, emotions, and feelings? 3) Formed and consolidated memories and then recalled them? 4) Formed conceptual frameworks and component concepts (i...

Thurman, Leon and Welch, Graham and Theimer, Axel and Klitzke, Carol (2004) Addressing Vocal Register Discrepancies: An Alternative, Science-Based Theory Of Register Phenomena. In: Second International Physiology and Acoustics of Singing Conference of ...