A class of its own: Towards a pedagogical framework for singers of Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM)

Abstract

The twentieth century gave rise to an immense landscape of contemporary commercial music (CCM) styles, facilitated by the unprecedented acceleration of music technology and cross-cultural globalisation. Still now, the CCM industry dominates music markets, and audience demand remains high. This has led to a significant increase in the number of singing students seeking training in CCM across its diversity of styles. Despite the considerable demand for CCM vocal instruction, a pedagogical approach that specifically caters for this ever-evolving group of styles has yet to be developed. CCM, as a topic of pedagogical discourse, emerged in 2000 when the acronym was coined by Jeanette LoVetri. It was around this time that LoVetri and other authors drew attention to the lack of a pedagogical model designed specifically for singers training in CCM styles. Faced with a growth in demand for such training, singing teachers were being challenged to consider the relevance of traditional classical technique and associated voice training methods to the desired vocal production of singers of CCM styles. This remains largely the case today; in many higher education institutions, for example, a one-size-fits-all approach to teaching singing continues to be implemented. In this way, CCM styles have yet to be legitimised from a pedagogical standpoint, and the training of CCM singers continues to be generally overlooked in research studies. Many CCM voice teachers are faced with students who want to be vocally fluent and artistically expressive in a particular CCM style or across a broad range of styles. For CCM teaching to be style-relevant to sustainable vocal production, teachers working with singers of CCM repertoire must recognise the elements, characteristics, vocal effects and nuances of each style, and understand how these can be executed safely. Due to the current absence of a pedagogical framework that is specifically tailored for the CCM singing voice and addresses the myriad of style-related effects and embellishments inherent in the CCM genre, voice teachers often struggle to equip students with a firm understanding of how to successfully and safely produce these sounds and, more broadly, how to develop as competent and confident CCM artists in their own right. Situated within this context, this research explores the teaching beliefs and approaches of nine pedagogues who have extensive experience and/or prominence in the field of teaching the CCM singing voice. The aim of the research is to identify pedagogical beliefs and approaches that may inform the future development of a tailored pedagogical framework for CCM singers. Using semi-structured interviews, this study thematically explores these pedagogues’ teaching approaches and perceptions of CCM in relation to alignment, breath management, breath flow and support, resonance, articulation, repertoire, style authenticity, performance and artistry, and vocal health. This research offers a preliminary pedagogical framework and informed recommendations for teachers, students, and researchers about progressing the field of CCM singing-voice pedagogy. It also suggests how this framework could best serve the voice teaching community to improve student learning outcomes. I advocate for the development of a common shared vocabulary of terminologies that can be used to describe, define, and evaluate various elements relating to singing-voice training, and to the physiology and aesthetics associated with voice production. Based on the findings of this research, I also encourage education institutions to review and, if needed, revise their voice training programs to align with trends in an ever-changing music market and the increasing demand for CCM instruction.