January/February 2017 309 Journal of Singing, January/February 2017 Volume 73, No. 3, pp. 309–315 Copyright © 2017 National Association of Teachers of Singing THE INDEPENDENT TEACHER Karen Hall, Associate Editor S. Rebeqa Rivers Understanding Musical Identities to Improve Curricular Relevance: An Independent Studio Case Study S. Rebeqa Rivers F or independent voice teachers, selecting content relevant to a student’s real life musical needs remains essential to building a thriv- ing practice. Internationally regarded music educator, David Myers, pointed to a growing relevancy gap between music education and the real life musical engagement and participation of students. 1 Composer Libby Larsen addressed the issue stating, “we have a system that has grown up around a particular repertoire that is a really small percentage of the music that is in our world. [Music education] faces a crisis of relevancy to the musical world in which we live.” 2 Independent voice teachers fnd themselves awkwardly positioned between the desire to present relevant content and the uncertainty of how to do so for diverse clientele. By taking the initiative to understand students’ musical identities and extrastudio musical contexts (musical activities that take place outside of the studio), independent voice teachers can make more relevant curricular choices that encourage lifelong musical engagement and long term studio success. METHOD Patrick Jones, director of Setnor School of Music at Syracuse University observed on behalf of music educators, “Tere is an entire musical under- ground in which our students participate that is completely invisible to us.” 3 To understand students’ real life musical contexts, he recommended examin- ing the demographics and the musical ethnography (i.e., musical culture) for one’s local area and for one’s studio, separately. 4 Comparing studio demo- graphics and musical ethnography to those of the local population can reveal areas for potential improvement. For example, if one teaches in an area with a signifcant population of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) speakers, and yet the studio does not contain any ESL students, this connotes an opportunity to expand one’s market. Similarly, if a teacher discovers a thriving local singer- songwriter scene, yet does not encounter this genre in the studio, it is worth examining whether studio marketing has failed to reach singer-songwriters or whether the studio harbors singer-songwriters who feel compelled to keep this part of their extrastudio musical context secret. Uncovering a clandes- tine singer-songwriter in the studio could reveal instructional opportunities,