Critical Appraisal of Science-Informed Voice Pedagogy Publications

This column proposes a six-question framework to help the voice teacher critically appraise science-informed voice pedagogy publications. The evaluation framework 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 will empower the reader to scrutinize the structure and quality of science-informed voice pedagogy texts more deeply, thus helping to move toward evidence-based information.