Gestures can be a powerful way to maximise learning in the singing studio. Vocal coach and researcher Heather Baker explains why.

Using hand gestures and body language to direct singers is not a new concept. Just think of how musical directors communicate with choir members during performances and rehearsals.

But, gestures can do far more than just indicate what you, as the teacher, want a singer to do. They can be a highly effective way to fast-track learning.

“There are many studies that signpost us towards gesture as a useful tool in our teacher’s toolkit,” vocal coach Heather Baker says.

“When you are trying to develop a new coordination in the voice, adding a gesture is adding an extra modality, an extra input for the brain to understand what it is doing.

“It’s going to help cement learning more solidly in the brain because it’s giving us that extra modality to learn.”

How to use gestures

So, how should gestures be used to achieve the best results?

Heather explored three options as part of her master’s research. She looked at when the teacher performed the gesture, when the singer performed the gesture and when both teacher and student did it.

“I found that when a student sang while watching me do the gesture it was only minimally effective,” she says.

“But as soon as I had the student do the gesture, it became hugely effective.

“However, the most effective method was when the singer did both at the same time – so when they gestured while singing and watched the gesture taking place.

“This is because they’re simultaneously getting auditory, visual and kinaesthetic feedback.

“We used to think that everyone was either a visual learner or a kinaesthetic learner. But we now understand that people, regardless of their preference for one thing or another, will always learn more quickly if they’re delivered information in more than one way at the same time.”

Issues to consider

Gestures are more useful if the singer has prior experience of the sensation or action you’re trying to promote.

If you’re gesturing to a beginner student to use vibrato and they’ve never experienced it before, your efforts may fall short.

Heather also recommends giving the singer a few example gestures and letting them choose the ones that resonate with them.

“Gestures will be more effective if they mean something to the singer,” she says. “It’s about making sure that we don’t put our sensations onto other people because there’s no guarantee that everyone feels the same way as us.”

Four Gestures to Help Singers in Singing Lessons

Take a deep abdominal breath

Push your arms and hands out and downwards in an open motion to indicate you want the singer to take a deep breath.

Heather suggests this is more useful than pointing inwards to indicate that you want a singer to ‘breathe in’.

“From my observations, choirs were more inclined to go for a clavicular, higher breath when the conductor did that ‘breathe in’ motion.

“The choir, on the whole, took a lower, more abdominal breath when the conductor did a wide, down and out motion.”

Vibrato

To encourage the singer to instigate vibrato, move your hand up and down to create a visual wave to indicate the modulation in the pitch that occurs when creating vibrato.

Vocal cord adduction

Make a fist or push your hands together to indicate you want more vocal cord adduction.

Avoid reaching up with a high note

To prevent the singer from reaching up with high notes (or down for low notes), face the palm of one hand upwards, place the other hand on top, and slide it across in a forward motion.

“This is to help the singer picture the sound travelling straight out ahead rather than imagining the sound moving upwards or downwards, which generally leads people into muddy waters.”

See for yourself

If you’d like to see how Heather performs these gestures watch her on the Singing Teachers Talk podcast, which is available now on YouTube.

Learn more

For more in-depth discussions on aspects of the voices, check out all our Singing Teachers Talk episodes.