Joanna Sear

A professional singer of Popular Music (PM) genres for 30 years, and a teacher of them for 16 years, Jo’s research is driven by a desire to promote the value of PM voice training and elevate its educational status in the UK. Her PhD, supervised by RNCM Music Education specialists John Habron-James and Robbie Gardiner, aims to determine what is being asked of professional singers in this field by the industry, and how we should train singing teachers to pass this onto their students. Ultimately, her goal is to research and design an accredited programme for training teachers from a variety of backgrounds to teach PM styles safely, effectively and with respect for their origins.

This work aims to build on the research that Jo completed during her voice pedagogy MA (Voice Study Centre and the University of Wales, Trinity St. David), for which she achieved a Distinction in 2021 and which has been published as a peer reviewed paper in the Journal of Popular Music Education in 2023.