‘Anecdotal Is Not a Dirty Word’ When It Comes to Singing Terminology ⏱ 3 Mins

August 12, 2024

Professor Ken Bozeman says we should ‘stop dissing subjectivity’ when it comes to the singing terminology we use in the studio.

He’s a pioneer of vocal acoustics who can discuss in scientific detail everything from formants and frequencies to registrations and resonances.

But just because Professor Ken Bozeman can explain the minutiae of vocal acoustic pedagogy doesn’t mean he always does so with his students.

Instead of overwhelming them with complicated academic terms, he encourages students to tune into what they feel when they sing.

“For example, I always talk about a relaxed neck,” he says. “We don’t want to feel effort in the neck; inefficiency is primarily felt as effort in the neck right where the larynx is.”

Procedural versus declarative knowledge

Professor Bozeman divides his knowledge into two categories: declarative and procedural.

Declarative knowledge is the stuff you find in textbooks and research papers. “But we don’t sing with that do we?” he says.

“We sing with procedural knowledge which is what it feels like to do the thing. Procedural knowledge is utterly sensorial and therefore subjective.”

‘Stop dissing subjectivity’ and treating anecdotal as a dirty word

This leads us to a point Professor Bozeman makes on the Singing Teachers Talk podcast when discussing the best singing terminology to use with students.

There are differing views in the singing community about how best to talk about the voice and the appropriate singing terms to use. (Read more here.) In particular, some people take umbrage with terms like head voice and chest voice.

But Professor Bozeman encourages teachers to remember that “subjective is not a bad word”.

“It’s way more reliable than people like to think. As voice teachers we are looking for repeatable, reliable knowledge, right?

“We don’t want something that will be all over the map. We’ve got to use something that will work more or less – with a little adjustment – for everybody.

“We need to stop dissing subjectivity as if it’s not helpful. We use ‘anecdotal’ as a dirty word. ‘Oh, that’s just anecdotal’. Well, everything is anecdotal; everything is a case study.

“But if you find patterns that repeat over and over again, why ignore that? How did they come up with the term head voice and chest voice?

“Well, a hell of a lot of people felt stuff in their head when they were doing that thing and they felt a lot of stuff in their chest when they were doing that other thing. It was a case of saying ‘Oh well just call this head voice and that chest voice’. It’s very reliable.

“Now, it wasn’t very specific – that’s why you need a coach and a teacher – but it’s reliable and repeatable.

“And to ensure you’re not forcing your perceptions or presumptions on to the singer you can always ask them: ‘What does it feel like to you?’

“You can use a student’s subjective perceptions as well, but patterns will emerge that are predictable and common over time.”