Motor Learning Theory in the Studio

I heard about motor learning theory for the first time more than a decade ago at an NYSTA presentation given by Katherine Verdolini Abbott.

The idea of a “declarative” process involving explicit memory and the conscious recall of facts versus a “procedural” process involving implicit memory and the sheer awareness of phenomena made a deep impression on me, resonating with my understanding of the application of principles of Bel canto by legendary voice teachers. They gave their students experiences—put them through their paces—rather than stacks of facts.

Working with what was presented that day, I observed timing as it relates to awareness, not just the ordering of events/experiences given to the student, but also how the student executed those events/experiences in time (now there’s a pun).

I observed that a vocal event like Herman Klein’s “singing position” would ”hold” as long as the beginning student maintained active awareness of it. If the student didn't wait too long, it would even jump across the silence of inhalation after a vocal event and inform subsequent events.

“An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” —Newton’s First Law of Motion

Waiting can be an “unbalanced force” if only because the gesture of inhalation (Inhalare la voce) can be lost, with it, the essential coordination necessary for singing.

(Pro tip: when you have acquired the essential coordination, don’t drop it, interrupt it, or take it for granted.)

The genius of the Italian Classical Song Schools is that the student was made to sing scales and exercises in a prescribed manner for a long period, not only to obtain mastery through repetition and maintenance of motion but also the awareness whereby mastery was accomplished.

Margaret Harshaw once said that singing technique was like spinning plates: you only needed 5 or 6 of them in the air at any given time. Getting them in the air was one thing. Keeping them spinning another.

Her voice teacher, Anna Schoen-René, maintained the vocal technique of the singer must be absolute—a word which would terrify if it also didn’t also confer consummate security.

This takes time and complete awareness.