Perspectives on popular music voice teaching : A systematic mapping review of recent literature

Abstract

This systematic mapping review explored scholarly and educational literature on popular music voice teaching (PMVT) published in English, Finnish and Swedish between 2014 and 2020. The mapping included 177 publications, including peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, dissertations and educational books. The literature was categorized into four so-called dispositions, the findings suggesting that PMVT is perceived either as an independent field of work or as part of the broader disciplines of voice teaching (VT) or instrument teaching. The literature was also organized into seven key areas and 33 topics, encompassing disciplinary issues, education, genre-specific singing, pedagogical methods and tools, voice students, voice science, and health and well-being. The analysis highlights the influence of author context and acknowledges an English-language bias, resulting in an Anglo-American emphasis in the reviewed literature.