How to play it like a singer sings it for the singing string student: lessons for the application of vocal techniques and concepts in string instrumental study and performance

The intention of this project is to provide a guidebook of 16 voice lessons for upper-level collegiate students, graduate-level learners, and professional string musicians who are interested in learning more about how the vocal instrument operates. Instrumentalists are often asked by teachers and conductors to “sing your line how you would like it to be played” or “play your part like a singer would sing it.” However, without proper training or explanation of the how the voice functions, such prompts can leave the student confused and incapable of successfully and confidently connecting their musical intentions to their own vocal production.

The First 12 lessons of this text are designed to tackle how a Singing String Student can “sing their line how they would like it to be played” by focusing on building vocal technique through the explanation of vocal concepts, comparisons to their string experience, and practice exercises to help strengthen vocal skills. Then, the remaining 4 lessons address how to “play their part like a singer would sing it” by improving upon their newfound understanding of vocal technique to apply vocal concepts, such as the execution of articulation, the use of text, and the expression of emotions, to their own string playing. Therefore, the goal of this text is to provide a cross-disciplinary perspective into strengthening a string player’s musicality through a vocal experience with the human instrument.