In this age of a multitude of course options, musicians are often forced to choose between vocal and instrumental music. Although this abundance of choices presents students with wonderful opportunities, being forced to choose between vocal and instrumental music can be a difficult decision. Vocal and instrumental training each has unique strengths that help students develop in different ways. But perhaps the better question is if we should choose at all?
The Freedom of Vocal Music
The voice is a uniquely free instrument with unparalleled control over manipulating its performance. Whether working with dynamics, pitch, tone, or timbre, the voice has a flexibility that no other instrument can replicate. Therefore, vocalists gain an excellent education in learning to create highly nuanced musical performances. Instrumentalists may protest that vocalists aren’t the only ones who can produce nuanced performances (and I agree), but the flexibility of the voice makes it naturally suited to the study of musicality, and studying voice can greatly improve an instrumentalist’s performance as well.
One of the exercises that I have found most helpful in my instrumental studies is singing through phrases. When singing, I let go of the technical demands of playing and focus solely on musicality. This exercise helps me sketch my vision of the line so that I can replicate it on my instrument. Because our voices come from our bodies themselves, it’s easier to create nuance while singing, so use the voice for its strengths and learn to apply its lessons to your instrument.
Another lesson from vocal studies is proper breathing technique. Depending on your teacher’s priorities, you may or may not have studied breathing as an instrumentalist. Although breathing is vital to both instrumental and vocal performance, the voice’s dependence on breath makes studying breathing a much higher priority. Studying vocal music and learning the correct physical breathing technique and breath management can have outstanding results for instrumentalists, especially for wind players. And for those whose instruments don’t require breath, studying breathing can improve your phrasing by helping you find the natural breath of musical phrases that wind players and vocalists are forced to recognize out of necessity.
The Discipline of Instrumental Music
Whereas vocal music’s strengths lie in its freedom and flexibility, the strengths of instrumental music lie in its discipline. One of these strengths is the discipline of music reading. Of course, many vocalists read music well, but instrumental music is almost equally visual and aural; therefore, instrumentalists tend to be excellent music readers. Playing in a large group with dozens of other parts demands reliance on printed music, which naturally leads to greater music literacy. This strength of instrumental music has obvious benefits for vocalists who, by studying an instrument, enhance their music reading abilities which enables them to learn new pieces more quickly and accurately.
Because of the highly visual nature of instrumental music, instrumentalists also tend to be more self-sufficient in performing written music precisely. By saying this, I don’t mean that vocalists lack precision, but the primarily aural nature of vocal music instruction tends to make vocalists more dependent on their conductor. Because vocalists spend much of their time practicing and performing without looking at written music, choirs are dependent on their conductor to dictate elements such as entrances and cut-offs that instrumentalists often navigate on their own. In this area, vocalists can learn from instrumentalists to become more self-sufficient in performance by engaging both aural and visual faculties. When singing, I try to visualize the printed music so that I can anticipate entrances and know the exact length of notes without having to depend on the conductor. This practice has helped me to be more confident and precise in my vocal performances.
Whether you consider yourself primarily a vocalist or an instrumentalist, each of us can learn a great deal by studying the other side of our discipline. From vocalists, we can learn the freedom of nuance and musical expression, and from instrumentalists, we gain the discipline of advanced reading and precision. On its own, each side of the discipline makes wonderful music, but together they create the beautiful harmony of well-rounded musicianship.
Start cross-training in vocal and instrumental music today by signing up for lessons with one of our amazing instructors, online or in-person!
- Jordan Koehlinger, Music Instructor at Vibe Music Academy.
