Ru
EnE. Alimova
Academic singer in the space of pop and jazz music: towards the problem of a new professional specialization reclaiming
This article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the actual problem in contemporary music education and performance practice: the process of academic singers turning to pop and jazz repertoire. The significance of this topic is steadily increasing in the context of overcoming rigid genre boundaries, the expansion of the modern labor market for vocalists, and the growing individual demands of artists for creative self-realization in the musical space of the modern era. This problem requires a systematic study, in-depth understanding, and classification of the entire set of objective and subjective barriers impeding such a professional transition. The author’s research allows for the identification and detailed analysis of three main sets of problems. The first is physiological and acoustic, related to fundamental differences in the mechanisms of sound production, respiratory function, laryngeal position, and the use of resonance. The second complex is musical and stylistic, encompassing the difficulties of learning specific rhythms (swing, numerous syncopations), intonations (blues sounds, the zonal nature of intonation), melismatics, and improvisational techniques. The third complex is psychological and semiotic, driven by the perceived need to change one’s performing role, overcome internal aesthetic constraints, and master specific skills in stage presence and audience communication. The final section of the article notes that successful assimilating of this role requires not the adaptation or simplification of academic skills, but a targeted deconstruction of the corresponding vocal technique and the construction of a new functional system based on an integrative pedagogical methodology. The need to develop specialized syllabuses focused on the consistent overcoming of the difficulties that accompany the successful overcoming of each of the identified professional barriers is emphasized.
Key words
academic vocal art, popular and jazz singing, vocal technique, performing interpretation, contemporary educational syllabuses.
For citation
Alimova E. Academic singer in the space of pop and jazz music: towards the problem of a new professional specialization reclaiming. In: South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2025. No. 4. Pp. 143–148.
