Beyond the Master-Apprentice model – empowering teachers AND singers

Dr Gillyanne Kayes breaks down the power imbalance in the Master-Apprentice model in Part 7 of her AOTOS Keynote speech

“We hear a lot about the Master-Apprentice model, don’t we, and we hear a lot about it being ‘wrong’. And I want to unpack some aspects of the Master-Apprentice model that a lot of you, and I certainly, grew up with, and I began my teaching career doing that. Getting my students to do what I’d been taught to do.

It is now widely acknowledged that there is an inherent power imbalance in the Master-Apprentice model. And this can go for choral groups as well. The teacher sets the goals, makes the decisions and assesses the outcomes.

As an example, a teacher I am mentoring right now told me she was approached by a singer at one of her open mics: “I’d like to work with a teacher but I know that you have to break me down before you build me up again”. In 2024!

And this is an example of how our students and singers can ingest the power imbalance and internalise it. This needs to change.

Masterclasses, festivals and exams

The Master-Apprentice model also manifests in our education system, in our exams, sometimes in festival feedback and other types of competition, as well as in commonly use terms such as ‘masterclass and master teacher’. And there’s no finger-pointing here. I’ve done masterclasses, we’re often invited to do masterclasses. It’s just you know when you watch a masterclass that really works, you know that that person is being client-led.

I think the Master-Apprentice model can also manifest in the way we categorise voices and inform our students as to their suitability to sing this or that repertoire. I was desperate to sing Donna Elvira when I was a young singer. “Oh no, I think you’re really, you know, at best, a Zerlina!”

We also need to consider how the Master-Apprentice ‘might’ manifest in models of teaching that are based on predetermined sound templates. There is a danger that a pre-deterministic model of vocal sound takes agency away from the singer right from the get-go. Which, honestly, I don’t think was the original intention of these systems. And there are several of them around.

Again, this is not finger-pointing but as a very generic and common example that I bet many of you have come across – “but am I in Mix?” Does it feel comfortable, is it the sound YOU want to make right here? YOU decide.

Who’s leading the session?

Now flip this issue over. Because if we throw the idea of expertise out of the window completely, what is it that we’re doing when we’re guiding people? And this is something some of our teachers have asked us, particularly when we’ve asked them to read Kittie Verdolini’s Principles of Skill Acquisition [see the link below]. “Is it OK to ‘correct’ my students now? Am I not to tell them what to do to improve?”

We are asked to guide for a reason. Expertise doesn’t need to be thrown out – but we do need to contextualise it.

What is the environment I am teaching in, meaning is it a community choir, is it someone who’s in a conservatoire?

What are the singer’s – the client’s – goals? That includes children and navigating that with parents, which is sometimes a challenge, isn’t it?

And what needs to happen to meet them?

I really love this, thank you to Heather Grace Gallagher. Just take a moment to read what’s on that slide.

She says that it’s so much more than creating the best voice we can. It’s about helping people to find their metaphorical voice. And that’s a really powerful thing that we can offer.”

The legacy of the Master-Apprentice model

“Ok, let’s move on to the next slide. Let’s take a moment to read this. How many hours can you work in one day? Are you visited by impostor syndrome? Oh, I’ve been visited by impostor syndrome and spotted a typo!

Are you visited by impostor syndrome at professional gatherings, or on social media?

So let me talk a bit more about this.

Maybe sometimes you feel upset when your students are solicited by another teacher, and it does happen, doesn’t it?

Maybe you feel jealous or angry that someone else no more skilled, or in your view less skilled, has more clients. This ain’t your fault!

The Master-Apprentice model has written into it a sense of lack. It takes us to a place of competition and disconnection. And then it becomes a race – who’s the most successful, most known, who charges the most, is the most knowledgeable? Oh yes, knowledge too has become currency.

You know what, power and privilege are written in here – and it’s so subtle we don’t even know and we blame ourselves for our shortcomings. Impostor syndrome, (I need to do this course and then…)

So what is the solution?

At the core it’s something that I know you’re doing here and that we foster in our training courses, it’s collaborative working, it’s brainstorming and sharing. And something else we have found on our programme is a powerful session that we’re assisted on by our Associate Trainer Anne Leatherland. It’s a powerful session on your values.

Each cohort we’ve run has told us that this session is a game-changer – because it takes them to a place of confidence, it allows them to review the studio intake, their work-life balance and all of that. And to adjust their goals. Crucially it allows them to do the work that suits THEM.”

 

Gillyanne’s Further Reflections

I have been thinking about this on and off since delivering the keynote. And the more I think about it, the more widespread I see the effects of the Master-Apprentice model on us teachers. The traditional 1-1 private studio business model very often cannot sustain us, leading us to take on additional work such as poorly paid zero hours contracts in schools and colleges. The sense of lack that we feel causes us to withhold our teaching practices and information from other teachers, for fear of losing our USP, and may cause us to speak critically of others’ approaches and their success. 

There are many examples of dismantling the master-apprentice model in our teaching. Our ethos is to empower the student to make their own decisions – we want our students to grow and to leave us. All of our books, DVDs, courses and Webinars are aimed at getting information out to as many people as possible so they can make up their own mind.

Our Teacher Accreditation programme produces a diversity of teachers – we don’t do cookie-cutter models. We work with singing teachers, choir trainers, singing for health leaders, theatre arts business owners, vocal coaches and MDs – all have a solid base of vocal function and accurate physiology, and the ability to diagnose vocal issues and create gradient steps to improve and solve.

We also “translate” voice science and physiology papers and books into plain, easy-to-understand language. Check out Jeremy’s video breakdown of the paper Principles of Skill Acquisition Applied To Vocal Training by Katherine Verdolini

In the next two articles I’m going to move on to two of the solutions to the Master-Apprentice model.

 

 

How can the Master-Apprentice model impact you and your students?

Do you focus on helping your students to make specific “industry sounds” (the deterministic model)? What are they?

Have you had to deal with impostor syndrome (either in yourself or your vocal students)? What happened?

 

Click here for part 6 of Gillyanne’s AOTOS Keynote – Balancing voice science and art: Rethinking vocal pedagogy

Click here for part 8 of Gillyanne’s AOTOS Keynote – Walking alongside: Client-centred singing teaching

 

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