Voices of Influence

Exploring the Journey of a Teacher and Student in the Voice Studio

Brian Manternach

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2025
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9798765146132
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

Brian Manternach examines the dynamic relationship of influence between teacher and student in the voice studio. Relating personal stories and formative experiences, the book is part pedagogical guide, part memoir, and part exploration of how vocal philosophies and practices evolve as they are passed from teacher to student.

Part One introduces readers to noted voice professor Robert J. Harrison, exploring biographical elements that have formed how he thinks, what he believes, and how that has informed his life as an artist and as a teacher. Part Two examines Harrison's teaching approaches, including tactics he used in the voice studio to address aspects of respiration, phonation, resonance, registration, and articulation. It also discusses how Harrison taught artistry, from how he defines his own musical tastes and sensibilities to how he taught communicative singing. Part Three presents the complicated idea of "legacy," considering how we might remember teachers and their influence once their formal instruction has concluded. Manternach also considers how to contextualize the work of teachers from previous generations to fairly assess their contributions.

Along the way, Manternach describes how he has been influenced by Harrison now that he is a teacher himself. He outlines areas of pedagogical agreement as well as disagreement and indicates how-through the educational chain of succession-some of Harrison's practices are passed on practically verbatim while others have necessarily evolved in order to serve the current generation of students.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Preface
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Introduction: Like Teacher, Like Student: Pedagogy through Story and Personal History
• Like Teacher, Like Student: Pedagogy through Story and Personal History
• Part I: The Journey
• Chapter 1: When the Student Is Ready, the Teacher Will Appear: Finding the Right Fit
• Chapter 2: Early Influences and Examples: The Importance of Curiosity, Mentors, and Role Models
• Chapter 3: Professional Life: First Jobs, Dealing with Rejection, and Personal Sacrifice for Professional Gain
• Part II: Lessons, Philosophies, and Practices
• Chapter 4: Embracing Eccentricities: “Sometimes, to make a point, you have to make a circus.”
• Chapter 5: Learning via the Senses: Developing a Detail-Oriented Mind
• Chapter 6: “What Is an Art Song, Anyway?”: Intellectual Enlightenment and Musical Bias
• Chapter 7: Selfless Communication: Teaching Artistry
• Chapter 8: Respiration: No Air, No Sound
• Chapter 9: Balanced Phonation: SOVTEs, Negotiating the Passaggio, and Exercising the Whole Voice
• Chapter 10: A Vowel-Based Approach to Resonance: Assessing Pressure versus Flow
• Chapter 11: Choosing Purposeful Exercises: Listening as the First Step to Problem-Solving
• Chapter 12: Learning, Questioning, and Dealing with Doubt: “Verify It”
• Chapter 13: Prioritizing Teaching: Professing Truth
• Chapter 14: What Makes a Good Student? What Makes a Good Teacher?
• Part III: Legacy
• Chapter 15: On the Shoulders of Giants: Assessing, Evaluating, and Citing
• Chapter 16: How to Fairly Evaluate: Contextualizing a Career
• Chapter 17: Judicious Emulation: When to Turn Away from What We Were Taught
• Chapter 18: Conclusion: My Teacher’s Student
• Appendix I: Nacht und Träume
• Appendix II: A Brief Timeline of the Life and Career of Dr. Robert J. Harrison
• Appendix III: Final Quotes
• Bibliography
• Contributors
• Index