Teaching Popular Music Styles

Abstract

As the newest of the singing styles to be taught in music institutions and private studios, the pedagogy for teaching popular singing is in its early days relative to other styles of singing, i.e. classical, jazz and musical theatre. Nonetheless, given that there are now pop stars celebrating career lengths of over 50 years, pop singing has been in existence sufficiently long that, for teaching purposes, a cohesive picture of the desired ‘pop voice’ is emerging. While contemporary singing shares commonalities with other singing styles, the specifics are distinctive and non-generic, requiring a level of specialized knowledge, training and competence by the people teaching it. Though not intended to be exhaustive, a broad overview of the main requirements for teaching contemporary singers is the purpose of this chapter, presented under three main headings: Technique, Musicianship and Interpretation.