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Emma Diruf Seiler (1821-1886) was a Bavarian-American voice teacher and scientist who wrote and published Altes und Neues über die Ausbildung des Gesangorganes mit besonderer Rücksicht auf die Frauenstimme (Old and New in the Art of Singing, with Special Attention to the Female Voice) in 1861 while working in Leipzig. It was translated by William Henry Furness and published in Philadelphia as The Voice in Singing in 1868. This pedagogue and her writings are largely unknown to those who study historic bel canto pedagogy. In the opening of Seiler's pamphlet, she explained her purpose for writing was "to bring into harmony things which have always been treated separately, the Science and the Art of Singing..." Aside from brief comments in a few books on vocal pedagogy, Emma Seiler is largely unknown. Neither her contribution to voice science and pedagogy, nor the impact of her integrated philosophy on teaching have been subjected to scholarly scrutiny. The purpose of this document is to explore her philosophy on teaching, her method of female vocal instruction, and her impact on voice instruction. This dissertation historicizes evidence-based pedagogy through Seiler's example.

The phonological comparisons between English and CJK vowels and consonants were provided for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK) singers with an effective means to sing English songs with proper diction. The phonological approach – describing the specific position of articulators – is a useful pedagogical tool for CJK singers. However, if voice teachers, whether they have taught CJK students or not, could share their strategies, it might help future CJK students and their voice teachers as well. Through the survey, which was conducted between April 2013 to May 2013 with members of the Great Lakes Region of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), the following research question was conducted: “What are the perceptions of voice teachers regarding English pronunciation difficulties among native Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students?” This is a convenience sample, but there is no significant difference from the other NATS regions among teachers. I do not believe that I would have received different results from other regions of voice teachers. In order to find solutions, not only should teachers be able to perceive the difficulties, but they also should be able to suggest training methods based on phonological analysis. I compared these two sources of strategies among speech pathologists and voice teachers. The survey results showed that the voice teachers in the Great Lake Region of NATS have considerable perceptions regarding the difficulties of the CJK students. Their teaching strategies focus on demonstrating the correct placement and shape of the articulators in various ways. With these strategies, if they add more specific exercises, which are found in the appendices of this dissertation, it would save time and enable CJK singers to have better enunciation. / School of Music