Manual of Singing Voice Rehabilitation: A Practical Approach to Vocal Health and Wellness

First Edition

Leda Scearce

Details: 444 pages, B&W, Softcover, 7" x 10"

ISBN13: 978-1-59756-568-4

Companion Website

View Sample Pages

For Instructors

Request 90 Day Exam Copy

Purchase

Print Book $99.95

eBook $99.95

Add to Cart

About

Manual of Singing Voice Rehabilitation: A Practical Approach to Vocal Health and Wellness provides speech-language pathologists and singing teachers with the tools to lay the foundation for working with singers who have voice injuries. Singing voice rehabilitation is a hybrid profession that represents a very specific amalgam of voice pedagogy, voice pathology, and voice science. Becoming a singing voice rehabilitation specialist requires in-depth training and thorough preparation across these fields.

This text presents a conceptual and practical basis for interacting with singers in an effective and supportive way, identifying factors to address, structuring singing voice rehabilitation sessions, and ensuring that singers are getting adequate exercise while allowing their injuries to heal, as well as resources and materials to provide to singers to optimize the outcome of their rehabilitation.

Each chapter exposes readers to important concepts of singing voice rehabilitation and the elements that need to be addressed in the singing voice rehabilitation process, which include medical factors, emotional factors, vocal hygiene, vocal pacing, and vocal coordination and conditioning. This text contains information for developing exercises and interventions to target specific vocal problems and guidance in customizing vocal exercises based on injury, singing style, skill level, professional level, and the particular vocal demands of each singer.

Key Features

Rehabilitation and therapy exercises
Clinical case studies to illustrate real-life examples and practical application
Downloadable educational handouts available on a PluralPlus companion website

While the intended audience for this book is speech-language pathologists and teachers of singing who are accomplished performers, experienced pedagogues, and clinically and scientifically well-informed, there is information herein that will be of value to all singers, physicians interested in learning more about the behavioral side of singing voice rehabilitation, nonsinging speech-language pathologists, or anyone seeking knowledge about singing health, including music educators, music therapists, conductors, vocal coaches, worship leaders, or music directors.

Interviews

In the Summer 2017 issue of Classical Singer magazine, Brian Manternach speaks with Leda Scearce about vocal injuries and the role of the singing voice rehabilitation specialist within a multidisciplinary voice care team. Read the interview here.

Leda Scearce stops by the VocalFri Podcast. A must listen for anyone considering transitioning from a singing career into Speech Language Pathology. Listen here.

Reviews

"Named to Doody's Core Titles in the Health Sciences - Speech, Language & Hearing 2020 list."
—Doody's (May 2020)

"Although intended primarily for the academic reader, the Manual of Singing Voice Rehabilitation is a bonanza of information for the vocal coach, voice teacher, and music director in all vocal styles. For anyone working with singers, the scope of Ms. Scearce's book and the wealth of knowledge found in its pages will be invaluable. Her lifelong curiosity and love for the voice informs her writing, and in turn, us."
—Jamie Schmidt, MM, BMEd, Associate Conductor, Lion King National Tour

"With this assiduously rendered tome, the Manual of Singing Voice Rehabilitation, Leda Scearce, equal parts scientist, shaman and sherpa - ushers a fledging field out of the darkness and into a bright new era of 'response-ability'. The wealth of knowledge, research and life experience (both clinical and performing) Ms. Scearce weaves together in this lucid manual is staggering, but it is compassion and respect for the artistic lives of actual singers that lights these pages and the path she invites us to follow. I found the information and exercises contained enlightening, practical, and eminently applicable in my work as a professional singer and voice teacher."
—Kate McGarry, Grammy Nominee, Faculty of Manhattan School of Music

"The Manual of Singing Voice Rehabilitation is is an important and timely book, aimed at those coming into the nascent profession of the singing voice specialist, and also useful for veterans at rehabilitation of the singing voice. Ms. Scearce provides a thorough foundation for the beginning of a career, from the basics of voice disorders to specific exercises and approaches to use for all kinds of singers and all kinds of voice disorders. Despite the many examples of exercises and case studies, this is not a cookbook. Theoretical underpinnings of all therapeutic activities are discussed thoroughly, not only from their anatomic, physiological, and acoustic basis, but also using hot-off-the-press applications to principles of motor learning, and guidance for progressing beyond the provided material. From the psyche of the injured singer to the basics of sound equipment, and more, Ms. Scearce's book provides a complete manual for now, and for years to come.
—Deirdre D. Michael, PhD, CCC-SLP, Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota

"This is an excellent resource for speech-language pathologists and singing teachers who seek to improve their care of singers with voice problems. For this population, highly specialized care is required, and this book provides the information necessary to support the development of expertise in this area. The chapters convey research-based information in a well-organized and relevant manner. Headings and call-outs help readers in understanding key concepts. Abundant tables and figures are excellent resources. In addition, cases and specific examples are presented throughout. A comprehensive index adds to the accessibility of topics. Electronic copies of the appendixes are provided on the online companion website."
—Julie M. Estis, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of South Alabama

Foreword by Margaret Baroody
Acknowledgments
About the Editor
Contributors

Part I. Setting the Stage

Chapter 1. Singing Voice Rehabilitation: A Hybrid Profession

Chapter 2. It Takes a Team: Multidisciplinary Voice Care for the Singer

Chapter 3. Voice Disorders
Alissa Collins and Seth M. Cohen

Chapter 4. Medical Problems and the Performing Voice
David L. Witsell and Mirabelle B. Sajisevi

Chapter 5. Vocal Hygiene for Singers

Chapter 6. Preparing the Singing Voice Rehabilitation Plan

Chapter 7. Taking a Closer Look: Specific Populations and the Rehabilitation Plan

Part II. Emotional Factors

Chapter 8. Supporting the Singer's Emotional Needs: Working With the Psychological Impact of Voice Problems

Part III. Vocal Coordination and Conditioning

Chapter 9. Shaping Voice

Chapter 10. Stylistic Considerations in Singing Voice Rehabilitation: Classical and Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) Singing

Chapter 11. Designing Vocal Exercises for Singing Voice Rehabilitation

Chapter 12. Customizing Vocal Exercises for Singing Voice Rehabilitation

Chapter 13. Speaking Voice Therapy for Singers

Part IV. Vocal Pacing

Chapter 14. Vocal Pacing: Spending the Interest, Not the Principle

Chapter 15. Getting Back on the Horse: When, Where, and How to Return to Performing

Chapter 16. Vocal Pacing Case Studies

Part V. More Tools for the Toolbox

Chapter 17. Aging Voice and the Singer
Chad Whited, Jarrod Keeler, Leda Scearce, and Seth M. Cohen

Chapter 18. What the Singing Voice Rehabilitation Specialist Should Know About Sound Equipment
Matthew Edwards

Chapter 19. Using Apps in Voice Rehabilitation
Caroline Warren Banka

Chapter 20. Singing Voice Rehabilitation Documentation: The Importance of Clinical Language

Chapter 21. An Ounce of Prevention: The Singing Voice Rehabilitation Specialist as Vocal Health Educator

Index

Authors

Leda Scearce

Soprano Leda Scearce has been featured in leading roles with the National Opera Company, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Long Leaf Opera Festival, Triangle Opera, the Ohio Light Opera Company, and Whitewater Opera Company, and has appeared as a concert soloist with orchestras including the North Carolina, Toledo, and Honolulu Symphonies. An active proponent of new music, Ms. Scearce has given world premiere performances of works written for her with the Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players, Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra Nashville, Mallarme Chamber Players, the American Chamber Music Festival, and Chamber Music Hawaii. A winner of the Birmingham Opera Vocal Competition, Ms. Scearce has also been a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Ms. Scearce is a graduate of Indiana University with both bachelor's and master's degrees in vocal performance. A voice teacher for more than 25 years, Ms. Scearce has served on the artist faculties of Bowling Green State University, Meredith College, Brigham Young University of Hawaii, and the University of Southern Maine.

Ms. Scearce obtained a master of science degree in speech-language pathology from Boston University, where she completed an internship in voice disorders and voice rehabilitation for the performing voice at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. She is currently singing voice specialist, clinical associate faculty, and director of performing voice programs and development at the Duke Voice Care Center, where she provides rehabilitation therapy to singers, actors, and other vocal performers with voice injuries. Ms. Scearce is a frequent speaker on the topic of the singing voice at national and international voice conferences, including the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, the Voice Foundation, National Association of Teachers of Singing, the International Conference on the Physiology and Acoustics of Singing, The National Center for Voice and Speech, the McIver Lecture in Vocal Pedagogy, and the North Carolina Regional Chapter of the Acoustical Society of America. She is a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the Voice Foundation, National Association of Teachers of Singing, the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and is a founding member of the Pan-American Vocology Association. Ms. Scearce maintains an active performance career.

Learn More