The Perceived Vocal Health of Male Elementary Music Educators in Maryland
School of Music, Liberty University
How they used Delve
A doctoral candidate at Liberty University's School of Music used Delve to code interviews and surveys with male elementary music educators about vocal health, keeping the study's codebook in the tool after member-checking each transcript with its participant.
“With the individual confirmation, transcripts will be uploaded to the Delve Tool for coding. Delve Tool will manage the codebook for the collected data.”
- Field
- Music education / vocal health pedagogy
- Data
- Eight male elementary general music and choral educators in Maryland, through surveys and Google Meet interviews, transcribed and returned to each participant for confirmation before analysis
- Approach
- Qualitative case study combining surveys and interviews; transcripts member-checked with participants for accuracy before upload, then coded by organizing text into chunks and keywords representing categories, with the codebook maintained in the software
- Data types
- Interviews, Open-ended survey responses
Abstract
There is a notable lack of research and expertise on the vocal well-being of music educators. Vocal health issues, even among accomplished vocalists with extensive vocal training, have highlighted a notable lack of literature on the subject. Nowhere is this issue more apparent than among male elementary music educators. Significantly, vocal-range similarities between female elementary music educators and their students place male educators at a performance disadvantage, which may encourage male music educators to adopt unhealthy vocal practices, such as prolonged use of falsetto. This study aims to investigate the impact of vocal health pedagogy on male elementary general music and choral teachers. This qualitative case study research will explore the vocal health of male elementary general music and choral educators, as well as the supports used to promote a healthy adult voice. Perspectives on the vocal health implications for male elementary general music and choral educators have emerged from the existing literature. This study will examine the effects of vocal health on male elementary general music and choral educators, employing a qualitative case study model that incorporates surveys of these educators. The results may indicate that male elementary general music and choral educators encounter greater challenges when teaching adolescents to sing, as well as the perceived vocal health issues associated with the overuse of singing in the primo passaggio.
Citation
Adam Samuel Beres (2026). The Perceived Vocal Health of Male Elementary Music Educators in Maryland. Digital Commons (Liberty University).