Papers by Rockford Sansom
Voice and Speech Review, 2022
![Research paper thumbnail of Being Baffled Is [Not] a Virtue](https://a.academia-assets.com/images/blank-paper.jpg)
Voice and Speech Review, 2021
Teaching voice for the performing arts in the middle of a global pandemic has taught me the value... more Teaching voice for the performing arts in the middle of a global pandemic has taught me the value of clarity. I want to think I have always valued clarity in education (Sansom 2016), but as with many things since March 2020, this idea has been “turbocharged” and heightened to a degree I never thought imaginable. Over the past year, I have taught courses and held coaching sessions virtually, and like so many teachers and trainers this past year, I have stumbled (often) and learned along the way. I have grieved the loss of face-to-face connection with my students and clients. I have found moments of joy in working online. I have discovered new and useful technology and tools. And I have essentially had to reimagine how I teach, coach, and work in the field of voice. Even for instructors who are offering more face-to-face or hybrid instruction now, everything has changed. And we all struggle to teach the arts while acknowledging the tremendous public health, social, and environmental challenges surrounding us. But with the COVID-19 vaccines slowly making their way into society, I am hopefully optimistic for some sense of public health normalcy in the future. With that, my imagination wanders to how I will teach “post-COVID.” Let me be bold, I support that much of vocal training can be taught successfully in a virtual setting, and I do plan to incorporate elements of online learning even after the pandemic. Nevertheless, teaching during this strange and difficult time has made me sincerely appreciate the human connection. It has also renewed my belief that clear teaching is essential to a good education. In building new, virtual voice courses, I have had to ask myself deep and challenging questions about my teaching: What do I truly value as a teacher? What are the most important goals of my course? What do students ultimately need to know to be successful? And as a teacher, how can I communicate all of that in ways students will enjoy and understand? How can I be clear? These questions are not new to educators; these are foundational questions. Yet, they somehow feel new during this time, and I keep coming back to ideas that highlight teaching clarity.
Voice and Speech Review, 2021
Voice and Speech Review, 2020
“Making Voices Heard” became the Voice and Speech Review’s (VSR) motto in 2018. This new motto no... more “Making Voices Heard” became the Voice and Speech Review’s (VSR) motto in 2018. This new motto not only represents the journal’s mission to explore voice training, but this motto also highlights th...
Voice and Speech Review, 2021
In my tenure as editor, I have offered thoughts and tips on writing for voice research in many of... more In my tenure as editor, I have offered thoughts and tips on writing for voice research in many of the Editor’s Notes. The Voice and Speech Review’s (VSR) mission includes supporting and encouraging authors, particularly those new to publishing. In that vein, prospective scholarly authors sometimes show trepidation about writing, asking “How can I write something unique to the field?” Graduate students will sometimes also lament having to “say something new” in their thesis or dissertation. When asked, my response is always this: “new” is relative and not as titanic as it may seem initially. First, no idea exists in a vacuum. All research builds from previous scholarship, and research is commonly a response to problems, challenges, and varying audiences within the field. For anyone dreading the task of creating or writing something “new” for the field of voice, take comfort in knowing that. Generally, all VSR articles require some scholarly engagement, which means that authors need t...
Voice and Speech Review, 2020
Voice and Speech Review, 2018
Voice and Speech Review, 2019
Voice and Speech Review, 2018
Voice and Speech Review, 2019
Voice and Speech Review, 2019
Voice and Speech Review, 2018
This final issue of the 2018 Voice and Speech Review (VSR) contains exceptionally robust and fear... more This final issue of the 2018 Voice and Speech Review (VSR) contains exceptionally robust and fearless scholarship. While all of the articles advance the field of voice research in impactful and important ways, several articles challenge deeply held ideas and beliefs in the voice community, which are sure to ignite debates for years to come. Moreover, this VSR issue also contains a broad scope of articles, including an increased look at global perspectives both in physical location (such as Australia) and in ideology. The issue begins with a special section called "Australian Voice Training." This is the first special section (or themed section) in the journal since 2011, our first with Routledge Press. Admittedly, this special section came as a happy surprise. Journals normally solicit authors for special sections or special issues with formal calls for papers. (For example, our next issue in March 2019 is a special issue that we solicited.) However, this special section on Australian voice training materialized when several authors who live and work in Australia all submitted articles in the fall of 2017. There was no collaboration or plan; rather, the time was obviously ripe for various perspectives on Australian voice training. The special section begins with Melissa Agnew's "The Story of the Australian Voice," which looks at the history of the Australian voice, how that sound has evolved, and the implications of teaching voice in Australia given its history. Simon Masterton continues with "The Role of the Production Voice Coach in Contemporary Australian Theatre." This qualitative research article studies the quantity, nature, challenges, and perception of voice coaching in Australian theatre; it seeks to clarify and improve the role of the vocal coach and has implications worldwide. Andrea Moor's "The Authentic Actor: An Examination of Vocal Training within the Australian Conservatory Model" looks at pedagogy and specifically curriculum in Australian conservatories and advocates for a more holistic training model in order to reach authenticity for the actor. Luzita Fereday ends the special section with "Field Notes for an Australian Production of The Beautiful Game: A Case Study in Coaching Challenges." These field notes add to accent coaching literature about Australian actors with a pragmatic discussion of vocal coaching issues specific to Australian students and others. These four articles offer both theory and praxis on Australian voice. They are a welcome addition to the Voice and Speech Review's literature, and these articles speak to the ever-widening and global scope of the journal. The four other peer-reviewed articles in this issue are similarly engaging, many of which challenge the status quo in voice training. In "Finding a Way: More Tales of Dyslexia and Dyspraxia in Psychophysical Actor Training," Daron Oram proposes a radical paradigm shift in actor training as he critically examines how teachers work with dyslexia and dyspraxia in the conservatory. Melissa Tonning-Kollwitz and Joe Hetterly present the findings from their detailed mixed-methods study, "The Current Use of
Voice and Speech Review, 2016
Abstract The article discusses how the direct instruction versus constructivism debate in educati... more Abstract The article discusses how the direct instruction versus constructivism debate in educational literature relates to the voice pedagogy field. Outlining three spoken (or well researched) debates in the field, the article traces the history of voice and speech pedagogy and explores how direct instruction versus constructivism acts as a dominant and unspoken dispute within the discipline. The central argument states that all instructors prefer either direct instruction or constructivism teaching methods. The author offers a question-and-answer case study and concludes that voice instructors should teach to a variety of learning styles, incorporating both direct instruction and constructivism practices. Insisting that students only learn in the preferred learning style of the instructor is the sacred cow of the conservatory.
Theatre Topics, 2015
social mobility. Snyder-Young’s self-consciousness around the classroom’s power dynamics informed... more social mobility. Snyder-Young’s self-consciousness around the classroom’s power dynamics informed her response to a participant who insisted that “real men” do not walk away from their women (57). Rather than imposing distinct values on the participant, Snyder-Young offered her critique of the scenario that the participant described as one of many interpretations in the room. While this particular approach honors participant agency, it deflects the radical social change that motivates many applied theatre artists.
Voice and Speech Review, 2014
The master class remains a profoundly used but rarely researched topic in performing arts educati... more The master class remains a profoundly used but rarely researched topic in performing arts education, and no formal curriculum exists for this kind of educational experience. When colleges and universities ask professional artists to offer a master class, the range of educational objectives and instructional formats are overwhelmingly wide. Universities throughout the world routinely offer master class experiences to performing arts students (Nordlinger 2001). Nevertheless, these events remain largely unanalyzed. In order to fill this gap in educational literature, I devised this study to explore a fuller range of instructional possibilities. With master class curriculums reaching across the entire performing arts spectrum, a theater-oriented voice curriculum required specific consideration. As a theater artist and educator, I saw this need as especially important since master classes originate from the music education tradition and not within the theater field (Nordlinger). The article that follows has two distinct components. (a) I describe the process of how I collected data about master classes. Using formal educational research strategies, I explain the background of this study, the method of how I investigated the topic, and the results of my study. (b) The second part of this article is a large Addendum, which is the voice master class curriculum I developed as a part of this study. My hope is that educational institutions and teaching artists can use my findings in this study and the curriculum I developed.
Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 2010
The fundamental nature of a voice master class is traditionally unclear. Using the qualitative re... more The fundamental nature of a voice master class is traditionally unclear. Using the qualitative research paradigm was used to create a curriculum and a formative evaluation tool. To do so, this study asked the following research questions: (a) What is the fundamental nature of a voice master class, including its purposes and goals? (b) How is a voice master class structured and implemented? (c) What are the roles of the parties involved? (d) What are the critical design features of a voice master class curriculum? (e) What are the critical features of an effective tool for evaluating the voice master class curriculum? A four-phased research design was used to address the study's questions and build the curriculum and the evaluative tool, which concluded with a researcher-lead implementation of the voice master class curriculum. Significant themes were presented for each pertinent phase of research along with the data from the final evaluation. A conclusion and recommendations for future research were also included.
Uploads
Papers by Rockford Sansom