Title
Identity, Wellness, and Applied Pedagogy for the 21st Century Singer
Speaker
Katherine Rohrer, School of Music, The Ohio State University
Abstract
A singer’s instrument is biologically embedded. Consequently, cultivation of the instrument requires negotiation between oneself and the embedded mechanism. Understanding how central or “salient” the identity as a singer is to one’s own identity as a person, as well as one’s feelings, thoughts, and beliefs about the ideal singer as an identity, may be as critical to determining the impact of vocal identity as vocal talent itself. The identity frameworks and ideas relative to self-concept were combined to probe this concept through developing and validating a Singer Identity and Attitudes (SIAA) questionnaire. Results yielded a reliable questionnaire that could provide profiles of singers with potential risk factors for unhealthy psychological responses. Additionally, a four-factor identity component was established and charted for each participant. Through descriptive analysis these factors may permit early identification of students/singers at-risk for psychosocial issues related to singing and enable more individually-based pedagogy that is related to identity rather than a pedagogical approach that is solely technically-based.
