Preservice Music Teacher Voice Use, Vocal Health, and Voice Function Before and During Student Teaching

Abstract

Preservice music teachers often use their voices differently during the semesters leading up to student teaching as compared to during the semester itself. Vocal demands often increase and change as students move from a student role to full-time teacher role. Consequently, music student teachers frequently experience vocal distress symptoms that may arise from overuse and increased demand. The purpose of this descriptive study was to obtain self-reports of voice use and health, in addition to acoustical measures of voice function prior to and during student teaching. Data comparisons showed self-reported speaking and singing time increased while acoustic measures of voice function were normal. Participants reported changes in vocal health, difficulty with voice function, vocal fatigue, and increased effort in the falsetto register. Diminished vocal health was mainly attributed to wellness concerns and repetitive overuse as part of the instructional day as well as voice use outside of the instructional day.