Article by Herbst and Meyer on ’Critical Appraisal of Science-Informed Voice Pedagogy Publications’ Published in the Journal of Singing

May 2, 2024

Visiting Adjunct Professor of Voice Science Christian T. Herbst, Ph.D., and Director of the Janette Ogg Voice Research Center and Associate Professor of Voice (Baritone) and Voice Pedagogy David Meyer, D.M., collaborated to publish a peer-reviewed article in the Journal of Singing. The article, “Critical Appraisal of Science-Informed Voice Pedagogy Publications,” helps the reader evaluate singing voice pedagogy publications, particularly those that incorporate scientific (or pseudo-scientific) content. It is available online at https://doi.org/10.53830/sing.00044.

The six-part evaluation framework proposed by Herbst and Meyer addresses: (1) the Singing-Voice-Production-Chain (SVPC) describing the teacher’s possibilities for affecting the student’s voice production; (2) descriptive, correlational, and causal types of observations; (3) subjective versus objective information; (4) factual correctness; (5) describing how singing is or how it should be; and (6) usefulness of the information in a teaching situation. This framework can help both readers and authors alike to develop techniques to best serve our students. When singing teachers are empowered to independently evaluate treatises, we may see a shift from “faith-based science” to “scientific science.”

Herbst has been an active voice pedagogue for more than two decades, and has taught over 5,000 voice lessons. He is a member of several research teams, including the Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology at Vienna University and the Janette Ogg Voice Research Center at Shenandoah Conservatory. The focus of Christian’s work is on basic voice science, singing voice production and pedagogy, and mammalian bioacoustics. He published over 70 papers in international peer-reviewed journals (three in the distinguished Science journal). Visit www.christian-herbst.org to learn more about Dr. Herbst.

Visit www.davidmeyervoice.com to learn more about Dr. Meyer.