The Coastal Carolina University Department of Music has established a Center for Group-Voice Pedagogy and Research to advance the field of group-voice pedagogy through innovative research, professional development, and community engagement. The center will offer a three-day Summer Intensive for voice instructors from July 20-22, 2023.

The center is under the direction of Amelia Rollings Bigler, assistant professor of voice and voice pedagogy, who was recently named the first winner of the Clifton Ware Group-Voice Pedagogy Award given by the National Association of Teachers of Singing. She has more than a decade of experience, research, and scholarship in group-voice pedagogy.

“Some might assume that group-voice means choral singing,” said Rollings Bigler. “While group-voice teaching can occur in a number of settings, including choir or a university voice class, it can also be added to applied one-to-one voice lesson curricula as a way to develop solo voices through small and large group lessons.”

Rollings Bigler’s unique approach uses group voice lessons to provide students with more instructional singing time and an opportunity to learn from each other in a fun, social way.

“It’s about effectiveness and efficiency,” said Rollings Bigler, who is also developing a textbook on the topic and recently conducted multiple research studies on these pedagogical strategies.

“The students love our group classes, especially small group,” said Rollings Bigler. “Small group offers a great blend by being focused on the individual in a smaller setting while still keeping the social benefits of group learning. I cannot think of another pedagogical approach that has been more transformative for my students or my teaching.”

The center’s first outreach program will be the Summer Intensive, which will focus on pedagogy and methodology for teaching voice in group formats across a wide-range of vocal styles and genres. The program targets instructors of all levels and contexts: K-12 music educators; independent voice studio teachers; and academic voice faculty. In addition to instruction in group-voice pedagogy, participants will apply these new ideas with singers.

“In the mornings, we’ll teach the teachers,” said Rollings Bigler. “In the afternoon, the singers will come, and the teachers will get actual hands-on experience and feedback, so it’s not just theoretical, but application-based.”

Dale Cox, visiting assistant professor in the Department of Music, will participate as an instructor in the intensive. Cox said the intensive will uniquely offer participants both voice teaching content and training in group-voice pedagogy.

“Our goal is to demystify group teaching,” said Cox. “We want to make sure voice teachers have the confidence to take a group of singers and innovatively teach them in a way that students get the long-term individual benefits of voice building and voice development within a group setting.”

For more information on the Summer Intensive, contact Rollings Bigler at arollings@coastal.edu.