176 | Interview with Whitehead - HD 1080p
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[00:00:00] You're listening to That Music Podcast with Bryson Tarbin, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind That Music Teacher and the Elementary Music Summit. Each week, Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve.
[00:00:23] Show notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found at thatmusicteacher. com.
[00:00:35] Bryson Tarbet: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to that music podcast. I am incredibly excited to welcome back to that music podcast, Dr. Jennifer Whitehead. Dr. Whitehead, thank you so much for joining us again.
[00:00:46] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: So glad to be here, Bryson.
[00:00:47] Bryson Tarbet: So if you did not check out Dr. Whitehead's original episode, it's back in episode 56 back in 2021, which makes it feel like it's been so much longer than it actually has been.
[00:00:57] Bryson Tarbet: But we'll put the link in the description. But for those [00:01:00] of us that are those People listeners that did not catch the original episode. Can you briefly reintroduce yourself and share maybe any updates, um, about what you've been getting into since we last spoke?
[00:01:11] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Sure. So, um, my name is Jennifer Whitehead.
[00:01:15] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: I, uh, hold a doctorate of musical arts from Ohio State University, and I earned that in 2013, um, in my 40s, so I was a little late to that party. But, um, I also, in conjunction with that, earned a certificate in singing health. Um, so I did a lot of research and, uh, took a deep dive into vocal health for singers.
[00:01:39] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: And what I do is I'm a professor of voice and voice related courses at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio. I teach private voice for all kinds of students, musical theater. classical voice. Um, I teach a musical theater history class that may be new since we last spoke and [00:02:00] I teach, uh, diction for singers and voice methods and I do a little bit of stage directing.
[00:02:04] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: So I wear a lot of hats.
[00:02:05] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah. Just a little bit of everything. Right. Um, so we originally met at Ohio Western university when I was an undergrad. Um, so I've had the wonderful pleasure of being able to be in your courses. Um, I'm really excited. I, I, I, I, that is new that music history or music. Musical theater history course.
[00:02:21] Bryson Tarbet: That's pretty cool. Um, so can you give us this like thousand mile view of why vocal health is important for teachers? but especially music teachers.
[00:02:34] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Sure. Well, I think the obvious answer to that question is that as a teacher, your voice is your, your greatest teaching tool. Um, it is the thing that you must have really in a, in a most traditional teaching settings.
[00:02:50] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Um, and I think that a reason that it's important to talk about it and that it is important is that teachers need to learn to see themselves as professional [00:03:00] voice users. We don't tend to think that way. We tend to think of professional voice users as maybe singers or, um, maybe, um, a news anchor. Um, some kind of a TV or a radio or a podcast personality or a singer, we don't tend to look at teaching as a voice professional, but that is exactly what a teacher is.
[00:03:24] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: You're somebody who is using your voice to earn your bread and butter. So you're a professional voice user and that is why it is so important that you maintain your vocal health. Yeah.
[00:03:35] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah. I, I. It's funny because you know, I am a vocal major. I did all the vocal things and it wasn't really until, uh, during COVID when I first started realizing that, Oh, like I need to like, you know, I, I will say I'm one of like the lucky vocalists who'd like just Things just don't happen like it's just it just happens easy and like I can eat all the milkshakes I want before a concert.
[00:03:54] Bryson Tarbet: I will say as I get older that is not not as much the case But like that was kind of my [00:04:00] first reaction like oh like I have I really need to start being careful with this because you know We were teaching through masks. We had you know, we were farther away and things like that So I totally get that and I think it is really important that We talk about all teachers as those voice users, um, but music teachers, especially, I mean, let's be honest, we are, we use their voice a lot more than a traditional teacher, um, which they also use their voice.
[00:04:24] Bryson Tarbet: A lot. Um, so kind of talk, kind of shifting a little bit, kind of, I know, kind of branched into a little of the COVID side of things, but like, how have you, have you noticed any, like, the vocal demands of demands of teachers changing over the past? Um, especially when we've been talking about, you know, shifting between remote in person teaching, um, And things like that.
[00:04:46] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Sure. I, yeah, I think that, um, the remote teaching, I personally found it very hard on my voice. Um, and I think like, even right now I'm thinking about it, like while I'm talking to you, I feel like when we get [00:05:00] online and we're talking in a, in an online format, we have a tendency to feel like we have to talk really loud.
[00:05:07] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: And we really, especially I think when teachers were dealing with a classroom of kids, a virtual classroom, and they're trying to keep these kids engaged. Um, I think the tendency was probably to over, over speak, speak too loudly. Um, I think when we're sitting at a computer and speaking, we're not in the best posture.
[00:05:29] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: all the time. So we're kind of sitting there, um, kind of hunched over, not really supporting our voice. Um, I think another long term, um, both benefit and maybe casualty of COVID is that we learned that we can do a lot of things via an online platform. So that means You can always squeeze in one more meeting or you can always have this one more talk because we've reimagined the fact that we have to get everybody together to do it.
[00:05:59] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: [00:06:00] So you may be, your work day may have been extended a little bit because of the ability, um, and the recognition of the ability to use these kinds of platforms. Um, I also think like you, like you said, talking through masks was a whole, a whole challenge. Um, and I think that wearing masks for, for good reason, I think that's been normalized a little bit now.
[00:06:24] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: So if people are feeling under the weather or, you know, they're going to be around somebody that they don't want, um, that might be immunocompromised, they'll wear a mask. And so that can add another layer to teaching if you're one of those people. And I also think that, The, the whole COVID dynamic hurt kids, um, concept of what classroom etiquette is and how to be in a room with a bunch of other kids and a teacher.
[00:06:52] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: I think it really, it, you know, young kids were already at an age where that was hard for them. And then you send them home [00:07:00] for months at a time and they come back and reining them in is a special kind of challenge. So, yeah, I think COVID had some very wide reaching.
[00:07:08] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah, and I think quite frankly, a lot of our younger teachers, their, you know, their in classroom experience was changed very drastically because of COVID restrictions.
[00:07:17] Bryson Tarbet: And, you know, I mean, I think about, you know, people that were student teaching in 2020 and all of a sudden they were, but they weren't. And, you know, everyone's trying to figure it out. Um, you know, it's like, I, I think a lot of the times we would learn. In a traditional student teaching or field experience placement, you know, these classroom management things that don't involve us just kind of relying heavily on shouting or, you know, getting above the noise, but who knows if we necessarily got that and I love how you mentioned the, like, when we're on zoom and stuff, we feel like we have to over talk because I actually wear headphones when I record these, not so that I can hear myself and you, we're.
[00:07:51] Bryson Tarbet: Because I, otherwise I would do exactly that. I shout way too loud. And you know, things like doing it, like the elementary music summit, when I'm like talking all day, by the end of the day, I'm like done. [00:08:00] Um, so I doing this, I have a little bit more feedback into myself so I can hear myself talking. So I don't feel like I have to yell.
[00:08:05] Bryson Tarbet: So I love that you brought that up.
[00:08:08] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: You just so think about like, we, we are seeing ourselves in this sort of two dimensional format and we feel like we have to make ourselves really big. Yeah. Um, And it's just, it's just kind of funny. Um, you know, it sort of reminds me of when I was growing up and my grandmother, um, who wasn't used to long distance calls.
[00:08:25] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: If she was talking to you long distance, she would yell into the phone because she loved it. And that's kind of how COVID felt to me. You know, because I think the other thing about it was we were, um, I think we were overcompensating because we knew it wasn't the best format for kids. We knew, um, that holding their attention was that much harder.
[00:08:48] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: And so I think our tendency was to just amp it up that much more and make an already, um, demanding job even more demanding.
[00:08:56] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah. There, I mean, I, I think a lot about. COVID and, you know, [00:09:00] obviously it was awful, um, but some things have come out of that experience that have, have, have been beneficial in the long run.
[00:09:07] Bryson Tarbet: The one thing I think of is a lot of schools upgraded their HVAC systems to help at least Hypothetically remove a lot of the, you know, the allergens, you know, maybe, maybe they found the mold or, you know, things like that, that would could could traditionally hurt, uh, hurt your voice or get you sick more often, which could then could cross more strain.
[00:09:24] Bryson Tarbet: So I'd be interested, you know, can you talk a little bit? I know that's not necessarily. Exactly related to this question, but can you talk a little about the impact of the classroom environment? Um, obviously noise levels are things that are important, um, acoustics and things like that, um, whether or not they have a microphone or any sort of sound system on what that can do or what effect that can have on teachers and their vocal strain.
[00:09:47] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: For sure. Yeah, environment is a huge part of vocal health and vocal health challenges, and I think, um, particularly when people are teaching in maybe a school district that, that is struggling, maybe they [00:10:00] haven't passed their levy, um, And they're dealing with old buildings. Um, you are dealing with things like mold, perhaps.
[00:10:08] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: And you're also just dealing with structural, um, it, it's not an updated space. Um, maybe it's very dusty. Um, maybe you're just kind of in this, this big, sort of, almost like a cave, but it doesn't, it's not good acoustically. Um, you mentioned a microphone. I think a microphone is, um, very key, very, very key for teachers, um, teaching in almost any environment now, um, in, in a music setting, I think it is really, really an important, an important thing, but yeah, I think rooms can be, um, sometimes they're really big.
[00:10:45] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: And so the teacher feels like they're kind of screaming into a cavern. Sometimes they might be small and stuffy. And so because the acoustics aren't good when acoustics aren't good in a room, we do what we tend to do on, on zoom, which is we tend to overspeak. Because [00:11:00] we think we're not very loud because the room isn't giving us any help.
[00:11:04] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: So for sure. And I think crowded conditions contribute to that too. How many kids you've got packed into a room at a time can be a big factor.
[00:11:14] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah. So like I mentioned, I, you know, I I started having more issues with my voice as COVID started flaring up. Um, I never taught with a microphone, but neither of my classrooms had that set up.
[00:11:24] Bryson Tarbet: Um, but once we started working through a mask and quite frankly, I should have gotten a microphone while I was working under the mat through a mask, but I just kind of. Um, and then afterwards I noticed that my voice had really taken some damage, um, and I'm like, I can't, I can't do this anymore. Um, so I was able to get some microphones that were pretty affordable and hooked up to pretty much whatever microphone I have.
[00:11:45] Bryson Tarbet: Um, I'll put the links to my favorites in, in the show notes. Um, but it was, it was the night and day. I mean, it was so much easier. And I talk a lot about access accessibility and making sure that, you know, you're able, students are able to hear you and understand you and make it, you know, have that, have [00:12:00] that kind of accessibility.
[00:12:01] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah. Which is great with this microphone. Um, but then also the teacher health side of things. Um, and one thing I do want to mention is if you get some pushback from your administrator first of all, the one, the options that I'm gonna give are like 50 bucks. Um, so even if you have an administrator that regardless and after all these other things they're like no we can't do it, it's 50 bucks it's worth it I promise.
[00:12:19] Bryson Tarbet: Um, but also like that is a reasonable accommodation in a workplace. Um, a lot of times if you ask your doctor to write something up and say hey, they're experiencing some vocal fatigue This, you know, yadda, yadda, yadda, like that is a thing as an employer that they kind of have to do. So that is, that is a way that you can kind of navigate that.
[00:12:37] Bryson Tarbet: Um, but I see a lot in these Facebook groups about like, hey, we're getting a new building. What would you recommend? And if my first thing is always microphone, a microphone, a microphone, a microphone. Um, I student taught in a classroom that had a built in lapel mic, and it was amazing, and I miss it every single day.
[00:12:54] Bryson Tarbet: Um, Because it's just like you said, it's just so important.
[00:12:58] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: That's awesome. [00:13:00] Yes. And you, you alluded to something a couple of times that I think, um, particularly young teachers need to tap into. Um, when we're young and we're starting out that vocal load, um, particularly if you have a fairly resilient voice, voices are different.
[00:13:15] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Some people can, Really kind of abuse their voice and get away with it for a while. Some people have a more fragile instrument, but regardless what our voices and our bodies can take when we are 25, 26, 27 changes a lot in just the next decade. Um, and as we age, we have to be thinking about the longevity of our career.
[00:13:37] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: You know, a singer would certainly do that. A teacher has to do the same thing and has to start thinking, I've got to take care of this instrument now. Before it's a problem, before, um, I don't bounce back as quickly as I might have when I get a little horse and I'm 25.
[00:13:55] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah, that, I mean, and I will, I will be honest, that is something that I have struggled with.
[00:13:59] Bryson Tarbet: Um, [00:14:00] getting, getting used to that fact because I have always had a very resilient voice, you know, voice I got to take all the time in college, uh, you know, and like, but most of the time, even when I was like, like terrible and like feeling like I was dying, like my voice was fine. I just, you know, I might not have been able to breathe or anything, but like my voice, it never really affected my voice.
[00:14:18] Bryson Tarbet: Um, but now as I get older, like. Everything is affecting my voice. So like, that's definitely something that like, I just, I really had to be like, okay, like I can't pretend that I'm 21 anymore and, and just, you know, saying what, however I want, however long I want, and then just be fine the next morning. Um, I gotta be careful now.
[00:14:35] Bryson Tarbet: Um, so speaking of that last time you were on the podcast, you talked about the importance of warmups and more specifically warmups for. Us as the teacher, rather than like something that we lead for our students. Can you share some specific exercises teachers can use, um, either like in the drive to work or throughout the day that they can use to protect their voices?
[00:14:54] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Well, I'm very big on using the time that you have, because I know that when you're teaching, [00:15:00] um, time is a precious commodity and your day starts right at the top of the day and you hit the ground running. And so we mentioned the car. I think the car is. One of the best places to get yourself ready to teach.
[00:15:12] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Um, so I would definitely say, you know, pay attention to your tension. You know, if you're, if your neck is a little tight, if your shoulders are a little tight, roll that around a little bit in the driver's seat, you know, just let yourself be loose up in the upper part of your body. Um, I would say work on some deep breathing, you know, most of, if we're talking about music teachers in particular, um, Most of them have had an undergrad where they've taken voice lessons.
[00:15:39] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: They, they have learned something about how to breathe. And so you want to breathe deeply, like you are getting ready to sing yourself. And like you would tell your students to breathe and do a few deep breaths and just. in and out and do that a few times. And then I think some sirens are always good to kind of get the [00:16:00] resonance system going.
[00:16:01] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: We have to understand that when we are speaking or singing and we're doing it correctly, we're working with. not against acoustics. And so the acoustical principle of, let's say, you know, if you're singing in a trailer, it doesn't sound as good as if you sing in a cathedral. Why? Because the cathedral has these hard stone surfaces and a tall roof.
[00:16:22] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: So you want to kind of create those optimum conditions in your mouth. So you might start with some hmmm, ooo,
[00:16:38] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: brrrrrrrr just some gentle sirens like that. Um, just to kind of wake your voice up, kind of get the upper. Resonance going in your voice so that, you know, the morning fog is kind of gone. And then you might say some stupid things that kind of help bring the, the, um, focal point of the sound into the sensation, into the front of your face, stuff like [00:17:00] my mom made me marry a millionaire.
[00:17:04] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Mary made me meet Marv. Whom do you choose? How now, brown cow? Anything like that. Where you're just, they're stupid, but they work. Um, and maybe just some very gentle humming or me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, just to kind of get the voice itself.
[00:17:31] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Warmed up and yourself kind of using the voice on the breath the way you do when you sing That's a great way to prepare for your day
[00:17:39] Bryson Tarbet: And I love that a lot of those like they're kind of silly But let's be honest if you ever taken a vocal lesson or walked by a lesson room someone taking a voice vocal lesson We're doing all kinds of random crazy things But they do have a purpose so I love that you you mentioned a lot of different options I get a lot of questions about cool down exercises like all right.
[00:17:58] Bryson Tarbet: I just sit on this entire [00:18:00] day of teaching and I've been singing and shouting and doing all these things. Are there any strategies or techniques for vocal recovery or things that you can do so that you're not just like, all right, I did all these things and now I'm done. Um, so I can kind of take care of it that way.
[00:18:13] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Sure. Um, so I think of starting kind of in the middle of your range and going down, you know, maybe doing that on a vowel, ah, ee, ooh, because if you've been kind of talking at a heightened level, you just kind of want to settle the voice down. Now this one is going to blow your mind because we think of this as a bad thing and I'm going to talk about it a little bit.
[00:18:43] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Later, um, as a bad thing, but vocal fry, which is this sound, uh, can actually be good for vocal recovery. If you just do it a little bit, just a few, just let that go for. Maybe [00:19:00] 20 seconds, uh, just let it, because you're just letting everything relax. You're letting all the tension go away, um, and just settling the cords down.
[00:19:11] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: And so I think stuff like that coming from the top down is great. I think, um, for sure after school when you don't have to worry about going to the bathroom all the time is a great time to start really pushing the water. That's a huge recovery strategy. Drink your water, um, get some herbal tea going, um, start hydrating after your day.
[00:19:34] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Particularly if you've been in one of those dusty, poorly designed rooms all day, you need to hydrate.
[00:19:42] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah, that, that right there is, is the huge thing. If you learned anything from this episode, drink your water. Um, I know that it's rough. We, I went, my, my schedule my first year as a teaching. Um, there was no time in between and then between classes and then after that or the last few years, I had like five minutes in between.
[00:19:59] Bryson Tarbet: So I'm like, Oh my [00:20:00] gosh, I actually, I can run to the bathroom real quick if I need to and I was just able to drink so much more water and wouldn't you know, my voice at the end of the day just felt so much better because I, I was, I was doing what I was supposed to do. So. Yeah, so important.
[00:20:15] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Yeah. And you can, you know, I know that that's a real issue for teachers.
[00:20:18] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: I know, I know it is. Um, you can try to do some of it like early in the morning, like while you're getting ready so that you, that goes through you before you start teaching. And then, you know, as you can throughout the day, but then that after school time till maybe, you know, seven or eight when it would then possibly keep you up at night.
[00:20:39] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: You want to hydrate as much as you can. You know, it's, it's what you do in a 24 hour period. Not necessarily what you do. right while you're teaching. That would be ideal, but don't think because I can't drink a lot while I'm teaching, it won't matter when I, when I drink in the day, it does matter and it will help.
[00:20:57] Bryson Tarbet: For sure. So we, I [00:21:00] asked, I was going to ask you the question, what are some common vocal care mistakes you see teachers making? But I kind of want to focus it in a little bit more because there are so many teachers that are teaching music, particularly general music. That are not vocal majors or have not gone through any vocal training.
[00:21:15] Bryson Tarbet: So I'm curious, what, what do you see, or what would you have these, you know, maybe instrumental majors who kind of fell into elementary music? What would you recommend or what are some things that they can look out for to make sure that they're not making some common mistakes?
[00:21:29] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Sure, sure. Most of our mistakes, um, come from speaking at a wrong pitch, a wrong volume, a wrong rate, uh, or a wrong duration.
[00:21:42] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Okay, those are kind of the, the keys for vocal fatigue, vocal abuse. Um, and so the way I like to address those things are through what I call the three R's. All right. Number one, the range you're speaking in. All right. So what is a good range for me to speak in? Um, [00:22:00] we want to speak in a natural place for us.
[00:22:03] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: And there are a couple of ways you can find that for yourself. Even if you're not a singer, you can think about The last two or three notes that if you were singing, if you're just goofing around, you know, singing and, um, or you're singing in church or something, about the last two or three notes where it's comfortable, okay, at the bottom of your range, that's about where you should be speaking.
[00:22:24] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: I'm not talking about what you can burp out. Okay. Because like I can sing down here. Ah, but that's not where I'm talking. Okay. That's not really comfortable, but like around, ah, that's about where I speak. Okay, about that last third. Another really good concrete way is to pretend you're answering a question in the affirmative by saying, Mm hmm.
[00:22:47] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Mm hmm. My name is Bryson.
[00:22:51] Bryson Tarbet: Mm hmm. My name is Bryson.
[00:22:53] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: That's right where you speak. So where you do that naturally. Yeah. It's a good tip. Is about. where you should be [00:23:00] speaking. We don't want to be up here with our larynx really lifted. Okay? Um, we get this a lot sometimes with, um, younger female teachers.
[00:23:10] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Okay? We don't want this. And we also don't want, I'm trying to sound authoritative, so I'm going to push my larynx down and I'm going to talk down here. You just want to speak. at a natural range for you. So one R is range. Another R is resonance. We talked about this a little bit, um, with the exercises I was suggesting that you do.
[00:23:29] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Sound should, should generally feel like it's coming forward. It should not feel like you are talking kind of down here. I suggested vocal fry for a cool down, but you don't want to talk like this all day. Okay. Um, this is not good for your voice. It's low energized. It, it doesn't have breath connected to it, which I'm going to talk about in a minute.
[00:23:49] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: You also, like I said, don't want to talk up here in a really nasal voice. Okay. You just want the resonance to be sort of where you would say, mm hmm, or my mom made me marry Marv where [00:24:00] we're aiming the sound out. Um, I think sometimes. There's a stigma around, um, speaking correctly, because I think people, particularly people who've been exposed to singer types, think that it means you have to walk around talking like this, which is ridiculous.
[00:24:18] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: You don't. But you do want to think about healthy, focused, in the right range. So you've got the right range, you've got the right resonance, and then respiration. Okay? It's very easy not to breathe. Alright, when we are talking, especially when we are getting really frustrated with the class and we just keep going and going and going and we don't come up for air and we don't take a breath and I really need you to stop that and then we take a breath.
[00:24:42] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: You need to be breathing about every five to ten seconds. syllables, not seconds, about every five
[00:24:47] Bryson Tarbet: to
[00:24:50] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: 10 syllables would be a decent benchmark. And obviously, I know you're not thinking about that when you've got 20 some kids in front of you, [00:25:00] but it's something you can practice. It's something you can practice, you can practice it just, um, picking up a book and reading it and, and trying to employ these principles of speaking in a good range, speaking with a good resonance, um, so that they become.
[00:25:14] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Habitual. But we need to breathe again. Um, I wouldn't expect, um, a non music teacher necessarily to think about that. So that's why I'm saying it, but even music teachers who've had vocal training forget to breathe.
[00:25:28] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah.
[00:25:30] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: They'll tell their kids to breathe. But they'll forget to breathe. So range, resonance, and respiration, very important.
[00:25:37] Bryson Tarbet: Those, those are the big thing. Again, I know I talked about water being the big point to pull out, but like, that was like, that's the big part of the, this episode.
[00:25:45] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Sure.
[00:25:46] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah. So I would love to briefly kind of pull out a thread about the connection between mental health, stress, and vocal health. Because I think anecdotally, we know that when we're stressed, our voice tends to be [00:26:00] more, more of a loose cannon.
[00:26:02] Bryson Tarbet: Um, so I'd really be interested in how managing stress can contribute to, uh, better vocal care.
[00:26:08] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Sure. Well, stress manifests itself in a lot of different ways in our body, and some of them we're very aware of, and some of them we're not. We've, we've heard probably the phrase, uh, the body keeps score. So whatever you're going through, whatever stress you're dealing with, um, your body is tuned into that and that can result in different kinds of stress playing out.
[00:26:32] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Um, there's sort of the obvious kind where we get very tense. All right. I see this a lot in singers I work with. There's a lot of different places. People hold tension in their body. Some people tend to hold it in the neck and shoulders. A lot of people hold it in the neck and shoulders. A lot of people hold it in the belly.
[00:26:48] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Some people hold it in the jaw, um, where we're just compressing and tightening. And so when we're stressed, our body kind of goes into those kind of [00:27:00] grabbing, um, postures. And we can put a lot of pressure down on the voice. Um, some people when they're stressed, if it plays out in sort of more of a depression, um, we can kind of go the other way and it can be very low energy.
[00:27:17] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: where we kind of are going back down to that vocal fry. And we just don't, we just don't have the energy to support our sound. Um, sometimes it can, um, just play with our health. Stress is a real factor in getting sick. And then that leads into the whole minefield of having to teach while you're sick. So I think the biggest, the biggest thing to say, none of this is rocket science.
[00:27:40] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: I think the biggest thing to say about the body. Is that whatever is going on in your body is going on in your voice because your voice is your body. Duh. But we forget that. We forget that sometimes. The best part of a voice is that we have this handy carrying case. The worst part about your voice is that you have the [00:28:00] handy carrying case of your body.
[00:28:01] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: So whatever's going on with you is going on with your voice. So if you take care of you, you are taking care of your voice.
[00:28:08] Bryson Tarbet: Love that. So, you actually brought up my next question, which is all about that minefield of teaching when we're sick. Because let's be honest, we have all gone into school when we definitely should not have and we knew that we were only going to make it worse.
[00:28:21] Bryson Tarbet: Um, a lot of my listeners, when we had our previous episode, talked about dealing or asked about dealing with issues. Especially vocal issues when they're sick. What advice would you give to teachers for protecting your voice when you're under the weather but you still, for whatever reason, need to teach?
[00:28:37] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Okay. Well, first of all, um, I want to kind of deal with that elephant in the room and put a couple caveats on that. First of all, you have to define need to teach. All right. Um, obviously I know there's, you know, you're trying to save your, your sick days. You are, um, preparing maybe for a concert. Um, maybe you're just getting to a place with your [00:29:00] class.
[00:29:00] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: It's like early in the year and you, uh, you don't want to break the rhythm. Um, I know there are a lot of reasons to go to work when you're not feeling well as a teacher. And some of those are very legitimate and it's just what you have to do. But I would also say, Don't be a hero. Um, if taking a day off or two days off keeps you from taking the whole week off the next week, take the two days.
[00:29:25] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: All right. If you, um, are sick with a voice related illness, you know, we, we recognize illness when we have a fever or perhaps if we're vomiting, we, we understand, okay, I'm sick. But sometimes if we just have a bad case of laryngitis, we feel kind of guilty because we feel okay. But the voice is sick, um, and it's better to do a little preventative care, um, a day of being really quiet at home.
[00:29:53] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: You'd be amazed what that can do. The voice is actually very resilient. But that being said, that caveat being given, [00:30:00] if you have to teach sick, um, yeah, there are a few things that you can do. I think, um, I have sort of three voice savers for the classroom that I want to talk about. I want to talk about over, under, and into.
[00:30:14] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Okay, so over, this is a technique that almost every teacher learns, you know, you learn it in your student teaching, if not before, get their attention with something other than your voice. Snapping, clapping, tapping, you know, you work out a creative signal. Maybe they, you give them a pattern, you clap a pattern, they clap it back to you, but you work out a signal for getting their intention that does not work, that does not use your voice.
[00:30:39] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Okay? So you're, you're going over that noise with some other kind of noisemaker, all right? That they get used to and they start to recognize, oh, okay, it's time for me to pay attention. So that's over. There's under, under the noise. We want to talk under the noise. Our tendency is always to talk over the noise.
[00:30:57] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: You know, it's good. It's loud. And so we want to [00:31:00] rise to this. Have you ever noticed with a class? I know you're a good teacher, Bryson. I know you taught and I know, and I know, you know, the value of what I'm about to say, sometimes when you get really quiet. It shocks them and they listen. Yeah. If you can talk under the noise sometimes, can you do it all the time?
[00:31:19] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: No, but it's a good technique. Bring it down, wait for them to get quiet and then make them listen to you by talking under the noise. If you need to say something to a specific student or a group of students, you're going to talk under the noise and you're going to use the other one. So we've got over, we've got under, we've got into, you're going to walk into.
[00:31:40] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Your students. All right. I suggest if you can having them in a circle, um, having them around you. Um, I think that's always a good technique, but I think especially when you're not well, then you're not trying to speak to kids who are in rows, two and three rows back. Bad idea. Plus, they're doing, you know, heaven knows what in the back row, right?
[00:31:59] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: [00:32:00] So if you have them in a circle, you can walk into them and you can talk to them and that enables you to talk under the noise. So over, under and into is a good principle. I think when you're under the weather, um, you, you have to get a little bit, um, You have to get a little bit creative. Okay. I'm going to speak from a music teacher perspective, but I'm sure there are parallels no matter what you teach.
[00:32:26] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Um, find a way to use the time in a way that uses your voice load the least possible. So maybe today we are going to work on playing. We're going to, we're going to play with instruments. Okay, we're not going to do a lot of singing. You're sure not going to do any demonstrating. Maybe you're getting your kids ready for a performance and you've been stopping and starting a lot in rehearsals.
[00:32:51] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Maybe you give them a day and you say, okay, you know what, today I'm just going to let you sing through your music. I'm just going to sit here and, you know, play the piano or, you know, play the road, [00:33:00] play the accompaniment, whatever, and let you sing for me and we'll just see where you are today. And you don't try to make it.
[00:33:06] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Um, the greatest pedagogical feat that ever happened. You literally get through the day. Okay. And you let them sing their stuff. Um, maybe you do some work on a board. You let the kids come up. Maybe you let them play a game. Maybe you work on dance that day. Maybe you, um, kids love, especially, uh, I think younger kids, they like to talk.
[00:33:28] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: They like to share. Um, let them share. Make some kind of a sharing, um, hour where they talk about what they've been learning or where you let a kid play a game that the kids already know and you let them lead the game. Um, just little things like that where you, you shave off a little of your vocal load each period throughout the day.
[00:33:49] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: All right. Um, and that, that does add up, let them listen to some recordings, um, of maybe the stuff they're working on. Um, there's a lot of stuff. I know, [00:34:00] you know, this teachers know this, there's a lot of stuff out there like on YouTube where, um, somebody is teaching a song. Let him let him learn a little bit that way.
[00:34:08] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: You just have to get a little creative and be okay with them learning a different way. The kids don't mind. They're happy to do.
[00:34:16] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah. Yeah. I think, you know, you bring up a really good point, which is obviously there are going to be times where We just need to not come in , but sometimes there are gonna be those times where for whatever reason, we're gonna be here.
[00:34:28] Bryson Tarbet: Um, and I think another good thing that came out of Covid is a lot of people were creating a lot of online resources. Um, so the last few years in the classroom, uh, I, if I had a, you know, needed, needed a day or had a sick day or something, I would bring in quote unquote guest teachers, which is basically utilizing the, you know.
[00:34:45] Bryson Tarbet: YouTube recordings of somebody teaching a new song rather than me teaching the new song having the you know What whoever teacher recorded it for their YouTube channel having them be that teacher Or even you know recordings that I had done for virtual learning that I [00:35:00] repurposed Into something that I can pull out there which can be really good And kind of a tip off of that is I know a lot of times teachers are like, oh my gosh If I take one day off and the whole rotation is gonna be off and it's gonna be this whole mess Give yourself time, or you know, if you're sick, give yourself the ability to teach the sub plan.
[00:35:17] Bryson Tarbet: You know, like it music, like if you have sub plans that are anything that that are related to music and that can bring them closer to that understanding the love and the understanding of the standards and things like that, just because it wasn't what you would normally teach or how you would normally teach, just finish out the rotation using the sub plan.
[00:35:35] Bryson Tarbet: Um, especially if it's something that will also take care of your voice. I think that's something that you give yourself permission to do that. Um, Because I, I found a lot of help once I kind of let go of the it's going to mess up the rotation and just kind of realized, well, we're just, this is what we're going to insert a lesson here.
[00:35:52] Bryson Tarbet: You know, that really helped me, um, especially when, you know, things got a little, little wild and we needed more time off than I expected.
[00:35:59] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: [00:36:00] Well, and it's also part of that is playing the long game to saying to yourself, Hey, if I have to use a sub plan today, um, That is better than me pushing through, pushing through, pushing through, and then ending up really getting myself sick and really wearing my voice down to where I'm out of commission for three or four days.
[00:36:19] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: You have to think that way. It's better to deal with something at the outset because it's cumulative. You know, if you just keep letting yourself get sicker. Another thing I would add here, and this goes for whether you are well or sick, I think one thing music teachers are really bad about doing all the time is demonstrating.
[00:36:36] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: And You don't need to do that all the time. Um, you may need to sing some things for them or with them while you're sort of teaching them, um, the music, but you don't have to do that every day. And I think it's something people do. I don't think people set out to do it. I think it's, it just kind of happens.
[00:36:55] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: But that's especially hard on low voices that are trying to [00:37:00] sing with the very, very high voices of little kids, especially, or, you know, with the sopranos and you have a very low voice. Um, if you need to demonstrate, demonstrate in your own octave, um, and do it briefly. Okay. And you can kind of tell them that I'm not going to keep doing this kids.
[00:37:17] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: We gotta, we gotta learn this music. We're going to learn it. I want you to listen. We're going to sing it back. And then they know that that isn't going to happen every day. Isn't going to be groundhog day. You're not going to come in and keep doing that for them.
[00:37:28] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah. It's one of those things where like, if you are constantly singing with them, they will never feel like they need to be confident singing.
[00:37:35] Bryson Tarbet: Cause they always have you. But like, if you, if you were like, all right, I'm not singing this anymore. We're like, I'll sing. One of the things I would say, listen, I'll sing with you, but I'm not going to sing for you, you know, things like that. And then eventually we'll be like, all right, this is all on you.
[00:37:48] Bryson Tarbet: And the more you do that, not only is this just a good pedagogical tip, uh, but then again, we tend to. Sing with them more than they need us to. Um, so give them credit. Give them the [00:38:00] opportunity to, to take ownership of it. Um, and a lot of times they'll surprise you.
[00:38:04] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Yeah, and voice use is, um, it's a mosaic.
[00:38:09] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Okay, it's, it's, it's not, it's a bunch of little pieces together. So doing little things to help yourself, they add up. Okay, not demonstrating, isn't going to save your voice. Just drinking water isn't going to save your voice. Talking under, over, into, but you put all that together and you use some judicious microphone use in there too, um, you're starting to create a classroom that is sustainable for you from August through May.
[00:38:40] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Okay, because that's what you've got to think. You've got to be, you've always got to be playing the long game through the year, through the next year, for however long you want to teach. Um, it's, it's playing the long game and little things really do add up. And they add up the other way too. They add up, little bad things add up too.
[00:38:58] Bryson Tarbet: So we've talked a lot about [00:39:00] like, Do this, not that. Do this, not that. Do this, no. At what point, or, you know, what things should teachers look out for when they, when it's too far for them to fix? Like, at what point should they, should they seek expert, you know, medical care? And, and at that point, do they, like, go to their general doctor?
[00:39:16] Bryson Tarbet: Do they go to urgent care? What's kind of, what would you recommend in that way?
[00:39:19] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Yeah. Well, I would say that generally, and I, this comes from, um, the doctors that we worked with during that singing health specialization. We were working with laryngologists. Laryngologists are a subset of an ear, nose, throat doctor.
[00:39:35] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Okay. So they are specialists. They are throat specialists. So we talked to them and they said, their general rule for people was anytime you have something going on with your voice for two to three weeks that you can't trace to something else, you should go and see a doctor. So here's what that means. If you have bronchitis.[00:40:00]
[00:40:00] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: And you are coughing your head off and you've been to your GP and you're on an antibiotic and you're still hoarse and you're coughing, guess what, you're hoarse and you're coughing because you have bronchitis. All right. And you're going to get better and you just need to give it a minute, right? If your allergies are terrible, probably you're just dealing with your allergies.
[00:40:17] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Take your allergy medicine. It's when your hoarse with kind of out without a cause. that you need to start to be concerned. All right. When your voice is just tired all the time, scratchy all the time, you're hoarse all the time, and you're, you're doing all the things, you know, you're drinking your water, um, you're doing all the good classroom things, um, you're budgeting your voice outside of the classroom and you just can't shake it, that's when it's time to go see somebody.
[00:40:48] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: All right. Um, what, depending on your insurance, you might be able to just go to a laryngologist. Um, some plans will make you go to your GP first. [00:41:00] Um, and you would just go in and say, you know, this is what's going on. And I really think that I need to see. I would like to see an ENT and they can usually, um, help you make that happen.
[00:41:11] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: And, um, I think a lot of people don't do this. There's a lot of reasons. We don't like to go to the doctor. Nobody likes to go to the doctor. Um, it's scary and, um, we don't want to take the time, but What happens is when it's something going on with our voice, because we are, as teachers, professional voice users, we're worried about it.
[00:41:30] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: I'm hoarse. I can't shake it. What am I going to do? And that drama builds in the mind, and instead of just going to the doctor, we get more and more worked up about going to the doctor. So we don't go to the doctor, so the symptoms get worse, so we don't go to the doctor. Just go. Um, probably it's not something super serious.
[00:41:51] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: It's probably not. Um. It's probably acid reflux. I was just going to say that. A lot of people have acid reflux. Um, where it's basically just stomach [00:42:00] acid that kind of comes up into the esophagus, usually overnight. Irritates your cords. Um, that's tied to diet. It can be tied to heredity. It can be tied to stress.
[00:42:10] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: But there's good meds you can take to really help you with that. That's a very common thing. I, I myself have had voice students where, In my head, I didn't tell them this, but I thought to myself, I think something is really wrong with, with those vocal cords. I'm very worried. And so I wanted them to go see the doctor.
[00:42:29] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: And then I come back, they come back and I'm very concerned what they're going to say. And it was reflux and it was just a lot of irritation in the cords from that acid. And they were able to get a medicine and get better. Um, even if it's some swelling or, um, a little. Growth that has started. If you go early, a doctor, a speech pathologist, there's usually a team in conjunction with your doctor that's a speech pathologist.
[00:42:55] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: They can give you tips and tricks and help you, um, [00:43:00] know what to do. And voice exams, they aren't the most fun. They're, they're not a day at Disney, but they're quick and they're, they're not really painful.
[00:43:08] Bryson Tarbet: Just a little uncomfortable. Yeah. I, I would feel like the word that I always used, subscribe. It was just weird.
[00:43:13] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah. Like I didn't enjoy it. I wouldn't recommend doing that like recreationally, but like, you know, it's not terrible.
[00:43:21] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: It's not terrible. It's not terrible. And it's very quick. They're in and out and you get to see your vocal cords. And so, yeah, I would say anything that goes on for a couple weeks where you're just not able to shake it, I would go see, I would go see a doctor.
[00:43:38] Bryson Tarbet: Yeah, and I say I will say I've done it a couple both the way both ways on different insurances where I had to get a referral first and I literally just walked and said, Hey, I'm a voice. I'm a music teacher. I want to get my voice scope and they're like, okay, cool. Um, and then I've also done it where I just said, Hey, I, you know, called up the.
[00:43:54] Bryson Tarbet: I'm like, Hey, I'd like to do my voice scope. I'm like, all right, cool. Let's do it. Um, so that's a good thing. And what's great is [00:44:00] when, if you're able to do it, they're able to have kind of a baseline. Um, so that way, if you have any issues down the road, you have something to compare it to. Um, cause literally it's just like, it's like a video and like a strobe video and pictures of your instrument, which first of all, Yeah.
[00:44:15] Bryson Tarbet: It's kind of cool to see as someone who doesn't get to, you know, pick out a new mouthpiece or, you know, figure out, you know, is my French horn going to have the horn that comes off, you know, like be able to actually see her in front is kind of cool. Um, so Dr. Whitehead, you are going to be leading a workshop inside of that music teacher community in March.
[00:44:33] Bryson Tarbet: So that's going to be really exciting because you're going to dive in even deeper on to, into vocal health. Um, but beyond that, which by the way, the link will be in the show notes. Uh, do you have any recommendations for resources, books, courses, or anything else that you would recommend for teachers that are wanting to dive in a little bit deeper into mental or into vocal health?
[00:44:52] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Sure. Um, I will give you some of those resources, but there is one other thing I want to say. Um, if you'll bear with [00:45:00] me first that I didn't go ahead, that I didn't get to say, uh, as explicitly as I want to. One thing that we have to do as professional voice users is we have to budget our voice. Okay. Um, we have to look at it as a finite commodity.
[00:45:15] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: We all understand, especially teachers that we have to budget our money cause we're not making a lot of it. Um, and we understand that. We understand that we grow up with that idea, but we don't seem to put our voice in the same category. So what I mean by that is, and I'm probably speaking perhaps mostly to younger teachers who, um, you know, once you, when you, if you're older, you have a family, you've got all these responsibilities.
[00:45:39] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Some of this takes care of itself because you're just so tired. But, you know, it's. It's um, you're young, maybe you still want to go out and do things on the weekends, and it's not that you can't have any fun, but if your voice is tired, you need to shut up. That's the best medicine for a tired voice. Shut up.
[00:45:58] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Go home after [00:46:00] work and shut up. Um, even if you're an extrovert, even if you want to go have some drinks with friends, don't do it when your voice is tired. Give yourself a night or two nights off. Monday's going to come whether you're ready for it or not. So don't go to a sporting event on Saturday and yell your head off.
[00:46:17] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Go to the event, have a good time, but be aware, be, be constantly aware that you are a professional voice user. That's something I really want to get across to your listeners, Bryson, that when they're teaching, that is exactly what they are. They are somebody who uses their voice professionally and they need to treat it as such.
[00:46:35] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: So really think about how you can budget. Your voice. Um, as for some resources, there are a couple really good books out there right now. And then one other exciting thing that I want to tell you about, there's a book called vocal health for singers by Dr. Anthony Yan. Um, he is a professor and a laryngologist at Mount Sinai, um, medical center in New York city.
[00:46:57] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: He works with a lot of opera singers. Um, he works with a [00:47:00] lot of professional singers. And so you think, Oh, how is that a book for me? I'm, I'm a teacher. Well, his book, um, Is in the form of question and answer and there's a hundred. I love
[00:47:10] Bryson Tarbet: that.
[00:47:10] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: It's great. There's a hundred questions in there that singers have submitted.
[00:47:14] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: So some of them are very specific to singing, but they encompass a lot of things. They talk about diet. They talk about what you're drinking. They talk about, um, humidifying and steaming your voice. Um, so there's some good answers in there, even for a non singer. That's a, that's a great text. Um, there's a book that just came out in February of this year called the working voice.
[00:47:35] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: It's, uh, Vocal Health and Effective Communication, um, it's by, uh, Stephanie Martin and Olivia Darnley. Um, Martin is a speech pathologist and Darnley is a professional actor and voice coach, um, and they've put together this, this, uh, book that's kind of from that practical angle of, um, a more broad brushed approach to voice use, the professional voice user in a lot of ways.
[00:47:59] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: [00:48:00] Um, There's another book by Maria Franca, also pretty new, came out in 2023, called Vocal Health in Professional Voice. Um, those are some, some written resources I'd recommend. You can go on YouTube and you can find a lot of on just basic voice care. Um, you know, there's, um, there's some people that don't know what they're talking about.
[00:48:26] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: There are a lot of people who do, and, and most of it, a lot of it is basics that would be good for, for a teacher. Um, maybe not for an opera singer at an elite level, whatever, but they would be great for a voice professional in a teaching profession that just wants some tips. Um, And one really exciting thing that has been developed over the last year is an app called Singer Savvy.
[00:48:49] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: And this app, um, can help you track your voice use and track your voice load and track how you're breathing. Um, you can, [00:49:00] there's a, there's a device, um, a professor at Northwestern University invented it. Um, it comes with this little device called a voice minder and it's like a little patch that you wear.
[00:49:10] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Like on your, on your neck. Um, it's not big. It's like you could wear it under a shirt. And it, you can link it to the app. And it will tell you how naughty you're being with your voice. And even without that, that particular linking device, the, the app itself is great. It's got a lot of information on how to care for your voice.
[00:49:33] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Helps you track things like water. And um, it's a good, it's a good tool. So those are a couple, I love that.
[00:49:40] Bryson Tarbet: I have, I have to look into that. I'm really excited about the singer savvy app and once again, you, we will be having Dr. Whitehead giving a wonderful masterclass inside. That means to teach your community in March.
[00:49:53] Bryson Tarbet: So be sure to check that out as well. Uh, Dr. Whitehead again, we could take this conversation so many different ways [00:50:00] and I'm so glad we could have you back here on the podcast. Um, thank you so much. Thank you so much for doing what you do and being who you are. Um, but also thank you for sharing your expertise with our listeners today.
[00:50:11] Dr. Jennifer Whitehead: Well, it was my pleasure, Bryson. It's always great to talk to you.
[00:50:14] Bryson Tarbet: So thank you so much for joining us for this episode of That Music Podcast. If you have not left a review, please do us a favor and leave a review wherever you're listening. That really helps us understand what we want more of and what we need to dive into a little bit deeper.
[00:50:27] Bryson Tarbet: If you would like to join us in that music teacher community, be sure to check out the show notes and description. And as always, in case no one has told you lately, thank you so much for making a difference in the lives of the students that you teach.
