Choral Pedagogy

Third Edition

Brenda Smith, Robert T. Sataloff

Details: 344 pages, B&W, Softcover, 6" x 9"

ISBN13: 978-1-59756-535-6

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About

Choral Pedagogy, Third Edition, is the ideal text for voice teachers, choral conductors, church musicians, and professional and amateur singers who wish to develop strategies for lifelong singing. It concisely and clearly presents the principles of voice pedagogy from the perspective of both conducting and voice science in a user-friendly fashion, including helpful charts and simple anatomic diagrams. In addition, it offers teaching methods from history and philosophy, medical and voice science, and pedagogical concepts from active musical experts. Special attention is given to the needs of amateur singers and conductors. Topics covered include choral diction, posture and seating, rehearsal practices, and matters of vocal health.

For the third edition, the authors have completely revised the text, updating the medical information and expanding the exercises. They have also added three new chapters:

A chapter entitled "Singing in the 21st Century" that considers the vocal/choral demands of the choral repertoire being written in this century.
A chapter on teaching young boys to sing written by Vic Oakes, the conductor of the Chattanooga Boys Choir.
A chapter entitled "The Value of Lifelong Singing."

With its updates and additions, Choral Pedagogy, Third Edition, is a valuable resource for students of choral conducting, music education, church music, and choral singing.

Reviews

"...Care has been taken to explain the principles of vocal function in user-friendly language via a series of questions as sub-headings; similarly for the chapter on medical care of voice disorders. A new and extensive chapter on hearing loss offers a clear and accessible exposition of the hearing system, and an informative section on different categories of hearing impairment. A chapter on seating problems is short and sweet but worth attention with its practical (and inexpensive) suggestions for eliciting a more forward sitting posture to avoid back pain and maximise breathing efficiency when seated for rehearsal. The chapter on choral pedagogy and vocal health gives sound advice and specifics on appropriate warm up and cool down exercises for choirs. It is also encouraging to see a chapter on the ageing voice, with suggestions for ways to adapt music, part singing and pitch range for older singers, to keep them active in the choral community. ...I was happy to see a clear directive to conductors of separating the tasks of rhythm and melody in music learning, this advice given in chapters on training for adults as well as children.

...I particularly liked the chapter on voice building for choirs, which gives a range of exercises for specific situations in response to questions used as sub-headings. There is also a chapter on rehearsal techniques, similarly structured, offering an excellent resource to choral conductors.

Overall, the book is well-written, clearly structured and packed with information, definitely a useful resource. ..."
—Dr. Gillyanne Kayes, in Communicating Voice, The British Voice Association (2014)

Preface
About the Authors
Contributors

I. Introduction
1 Amateur and Professional Choral Singers
2 The Rehearsal Process

II. Vocal Health and Pedagogy
3 Anatomy and Physiology of the Voice
4 Medical Care of Voice Disorders

Robert T. Sataloff and Mary Hawkshaw

5 Hearing Loss in Singers and Other Musicians

Robert T. Sataloff, Joseph Sataloff, and Caren J. Sokolow

6 The Aging Voice

Margaret Baroody and Brenda Smith

7 Performing Arts Medicine and the Professional
Voice User: Risk of Nonvoice Performance
8 Seating Problems of Vocalists

Richard Norris

9 Historical Overview of Vocal Pedagogy

Richard Miller

10 Choral Pedagogy and Vocal Health
11 Voice Disorders Among Choral Music Educators

Brenda Smith

12 Singing in the 21st Century

Brenda Smith

III. The Vocal Approach to Choral Music
13 Choral Singing and Children
14 The Young Singer

Vincent Oakes

15 Voice Building for Choirs
16 Choral Singing: The Singing Voice and the Choral Tone
17 Choral Singing Techniques
18 Choral Diction
19 Rehearsal Techniques
20 The Value of Lifelong Singing

Brenda Smith

Bibliography
Glossary
Index

Authors

Brenda Smith

Brenda Smith, DMA, a lyric soprano, teaches studio voice, singer’s diction, and vocal pedagogy at the University of Florida in Gainesville. She is widely recognized for her contributions to the concept of lifelong singing through proper voice care. Brenda Smith’s most recent publication is Diction in Context: Singing in English, Italian, German, and French. She is the author of So You Want to Sing for a Lifetime: A Guide to Performer, a publication sponsored by the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Dr. Smith and Dr. Robert T. Sataloff have collaborated on a variety of projects to promote vocal health through choral singing. They are the co-authors of two textbooks, Choral Pedagogy, Third Edition and Choral Pedagogy and the Older Singer that unite voice science, vocal pedagogy with choral conducting. Brenda Smith serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Voice and is a Consulting Editor for Plural Publishing. In recognition of demonstrated excellence in teaching and her interest in voice science, Dr. Smith received the Van Lawrence Fellowship in 2000, presented by The Voice Foundation and the NATS. Before joining the University of Florida faculty, she taught at Westminster Choir College, Dickinson College, and Rowan University.

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Robert T. Sataloff

Robert T. Sataloff, MD, DMA, FACS, is Professor and Chair, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Academic Specialties, Drexel University College of Medicine. He also holds Adjunct Professorships in the Departments of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine; and he is on the faculty of the Academy of Vocal Arts. He serves as Conductor of the Thomas Jefferson University Choir. Dr. Sataloff is also a professional singer and singing teacher. He holds an undergraduate degree from Haverford College in Music Theory and Composition; graduated from Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University; received a Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice Performance from Combs College of Music; and he completed Residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and a Fellowship in Otology, Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery at the University of Michigan. Dr. Sataloff is Chair of the Boards of Directors of the Voice Foundation and of the American Institute for Voice and Ear Research. He also has served as Chair of the Board of Governors of Graduate Hospital; President of the American Laryngological Association, the International Association of Phonosurgery, the Pennsylvania Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and the American Society of Geriatric Otolaryngology, Vice President of the Eastern Section of the Triological Society, and in numerous other leadership positions. Dr. Sataloff is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Voice; Editor Emeritus of Ear, Nose and Throat Journal; Associate Editor of the Journal of Singing; on the Editorial Board of Medical Problems of Performing Artists and is an editorial reviewer for numerous otolaryngology journals. He is a member of the Editorial Panel of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. Dr. Sataloff has written over 1,200 publications including 78 books, and he has been awarded more than $5 million in research funding. His h-index is 48 (as of March 2025). He has invented more than 75 laryngeal microsurgical instruments distributed currently by Integra Medical, ossicular replacement prostheses produced by Grace Medical, and a novel laryngeal prosthesis (patent pending). He holds a patent on unique thyroplasty implant. His medical practice is limited to care of the professional voice and to otology/neurotology/skull base surgery. Dr. Sataloff has developed numerous novel surgical procedures including total temporal bone resection for formerly untreatable skull base malignancy, laryngeal microflap and mini-microflap procedures, vocal fold lipoinjection, vocal fold lipoimplantation, and others. Dr. Sataloff is recognized as one of the founders of the field of voice, having written the first modern comprehensive article on care of singers, and the first chapter and book on care of the professional voice, as well as having influenced the evolution of the field through his own efforts and through the Voice Foundation for over 4 decades. Dr. Sataloff has been recognized by Best Doctors in America (Woodward White Athens) every year since 1992, Philadelphia Magazine since 1997, and Castle Connolly’s “America’s Top Doctors” since 2002.

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