Date Available

12-19-2025

Year of Publication

2025

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)

College

Fine Arts

Department/School/Program

Music Performance

Faculty

Everett McCorvey

Faculty

Alaine E. Reschke-Hernández

Faculty

Martina Vasil

Abstract

The experiences one may encounter while matriculating through the K-12 system of education are vastly different from the world of higher education. While one feeds directly into the other, the transition can be a difficult one for young singers also navigating the developmental leap from adolescence to adulthood. This is due to several systematic and instructional differences, compounded with unique challenges encountered by freshman voice students in the first year. Gaps in support systems compiled with new and increasing financial, social, and academic demands can lead to a decline in overall student well-being and an increase in stress.

This increase in stress can lead to more serious mental health issues such as depression and anxiety and as a result, struggles in student performance and retention for university music programs. In addition, the field of vocal pedagogy is still working towards a widely accepted evidence-based framework for the teaching of singing within the university setting. Also, adopting other evidence-based frameworks in the voice studio is not ideal due to its centralization of data and research versus vocal pedagogies reliance on historical and cultural practices that are essential to success in the field of classical singing. Goals and objectives are an integral part of instruction in K-12 education. As freshmen voice students enter the university system, this form of curriculum-based instruction is no longer present.

In the absence of this familiar learning environment, voice professors can implement the GROW model of coaching conversations in the studio as an adaptable framework for goal setting as well as to manage interventions related to overall student well-being. In conjunction with their experiential wisdom and pedagogical expertise, voice professors can implement coaching conversations to build rapport while maintaining professional boundaries in the voice studio. Coaching conversation’s emphasis on intrinsic motivation through feedback and self-assessment can uphold the integrity of the learning process and avoid ethical dilemmas, by allowing voice instructors to operate safely in the bounds of goals related to the voice studio. This can occur while still supporting the needs of the singer as a whole, through tools of empathy found in coaching conversations, such as active listening and powerful questioning. With its highly adaptable nature, this coaching model can be used as a vital tool to aid voice professors as they navigate freshman voice students over the gaps encountered in transition from the K-12 system of education to higher education.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2025.561

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