The Australian book, Perspectives on Teaching Singing: Australian Vocal Pedagogues Sing Their Stories, is in press. That’s the one in which I have two chapters: ‘Singing Teaching as a Profession’ and (with Di Hughes) ‘Advocating for change: interdisciplinary voice studies in Australian school education’. If you order prior to release you get it for $54.95, that’s a 20% discount off the RRP. Email your contact details to: earlyrelease@australianacademicpress.com.au.
At the end of April I gave a workshop for the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir – great fun and they seemed to get a lot out of it.
The next workshop will be for Springboard Performing Arts in August and then, in early October, a joint workshop with Pat Wilson at the conference of the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing in Brisbane.
Much of April was taken up by completing three book chapters: one for the new Oxford Handbook of Music Education (OHME), edited by Professor Gary McPherson and Professor Graham Welch, and two for a publication by the Australian National Association of Teachers of Singing (ANATS) on singing teaching in Australia, edited by Dr Scott Harrison.
The OHME, to be published in the United States, is an exciting and timely project. It’s planned to be the most comprehensive resource ever compiled in music education, with around 80 chapters, plus section commentaries, that is updated every 8 to 10 years, and an accompanying website that is continuously updated to provide the latest information and thinking on each topic covered within the handbook.
The mission of the Handbook is to update and redefine music education as a discipline, based on the view that music is basic to human design and that music education should therefore involve multiple entry and exit points throughout the human lifespan that allow individuals to maximize their potential for meaningful engagement in music. The OHME is designed to celebrate the diverse nature of music education internationally and to encourage new insights into educational effectiveness. This broader vision of music education goes well beyond the years of formal, school music education that is typical in most current literature in the discipline.
It was about a year ago that I was invited to write the chapter on solo voice pedagogy. Initially it was suggested that Richard Miller might assist me. Given that Richard Miller was THE GURU on vocal pedagogy in our time, I got quite a lot of amusement out of the idea of HIM assisting ME. But then he died. Then Shirlee Emmons and Lisa Popeil joined me. The handbook is pitched at practising teachers/educators, university students, musicians who are interested in music education, as well as academics who would use it as a comprehensive resource covering many key aspects of music education. To write, within the strict word limit, a chapter that addressed this wide audience and covered the field was quite a challenge. We finished a few weeks ago, and then, sadly Shirlee died. Think twice about doing any collaborative work with me!
Next comes the website. The idea is that it will display supplementary resources (videos, additional written materials, photos, discussions, commentaries) around the themes and chapters of the handbook. It will have an integrated search component and links to other sites.
The Harrison book, provisionally titled Perspectives on Teaching Singing: Australian Vocal Pedagogues Sing Their Stories, will be launched at the ANATS Conference in Brisbane at the end of September. For it I’ve written a chapter on singing teaching as a profession and, with Di Hughes, a chapter on advocating for voice education within the school system.
These three chapter all had to be finished in April – quite a task on top of the usual teaching.
