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The registers of the singing voice, as commonly understood by singers, refer to the different vocal qualities induced by adjustments at the level of the larynx and of the vocal tract. This explains why register unification can be approached either one or a combination of the following procedures: (1) resonance alignment through vowel modification, (2) register alignment through intensity exercises. The wide-spread acceptance of vowel modification has made singers reluctant in exploring other avenues of register development. If registers are laryngeally derived, there should be another way of register unification, which directly addresses the coordination of the laryngeal muscles. In support of this argument, this thesis investigates the teaching practices of a group of twentieth-century American voice teachers, who rely on intensity manipulation as the primary means for enhancing the register adjustments. Intensity exercises such as the messa di voce has long been practiced in historical pedagogy, but it is not until now that voice science confirmed its significance in register coordination.

For an untold number of years the vocalise has had an integral place in many of the methods used for the training and development of singers. Commonly referred to and used as "warm-ups" in the choral rehearsal, vocalises are considered by many conductors to have a usefulness that surpasses that of simply preparing voices for the singing which is immediately at hand. It remains a tendency in many cases, however, for vocalises to be used in an indiscriminate fashion without a clear understanding of the purposes of the vocalises used and/or using a method of presentation of vocal exercises that can diminish their usefulness or perhaps even have detrimental effects on the singers. A common additional plight facing many choral conductors seems to be the lack of availability of practical, printed resources for choral vocalization. Conductors can feel forced to rely only on exercises passed onto them by colleagues or by their own teachers. Either because of this lack of understanding of purpose or because of a lack of knowledge of vocalise repertoire, or both, a conductor might choose to limit or avoid entirely the use of vocal exercises in the choral rehearsal, depriving the conductor and the singers of what is perhaps one of the best tools for vocal development and conditioning. This study attempts to contribute toward the alleviation of the problems mentioned above. The study provides an extended collection of vocalises arranged with optional piano accompaniments by the author for use in the choral rehearsal, including original exercises, as well as those borrowed from colleagues in the solo and choral music fields and from selected printed sources. In addition, through a review of the writings of noted authorities in the field of voice education, the study discusses the usefulness of vocalises in the development of specific elements of good singing, with reference to the vocalises contained in the collection. Included in this discussion is a determination, based on these writings, of certain principles for the effective use of vocalises in the choral rehearsal. Finally, this study provides a selected list of known, available resource material that specifically contains vocalises for choir.

Scientific knowledge of vocal function and vocal health has increased greatly in recent decades, with new technology capable of displaying the larynx in operation, measuring muscular effort, and acoustically analysing vocal sound. This research addresses five key questions: 1/. What is the current body of voice science knowledge relevant to singing? 2/. What do singing teaching practitioners currently know about the voice? 3/. How do practitioners' understandings of voice influence their teaching of vocal techniques? 4/. How does singing teaching in Australia relate to bel canto precepts? 5/. How does singing teaching in Australia relate to voice science? Data was collected from surveys conducted to answer these questions. Analysis of survey data indicates that practitioners see themselves less as teachers than as singers who teach, and that this role perception carries values that moderate voice knowledge and approaches to teaching. The implications of this conclusion for the professional training of singing teachers in Australia are discussed and suggestions made for further research. In particular, voice scientists and singing teachers need to collaborate more actively in research. Scientific research into singing would have broader application if a model appropriate to both male and female voices were utilised and if larger and better chosen selections of experimental subjects were used. Further research is needed into how the physical skills of singing are best imparted to students / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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No description available.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Mus.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1988.

Nearly every voice teacher is aware of problems encountered by students with tightness in the throat or jaw muscles. Classes in vocal pedagogy attempt to solve problems such as these through indirect inference and mental images using psychological and empirical (observation) teaching methods. In fact, many voice teachers will freely admit that singing is mostly a matter of imagination.Traditional teaching methods in voice (an area open to much charlatanism) generally deny the existence of a direct, explicit solution reached through creative problem solving. The purpose of this study was to supply a comparison (through means of accepted research techniques) between students who received traditional instruction in voice and those who received additional scientific information in the form of electromyographic biofeedback to assist them in overcoming the problems of tension or tightness in the muscles supporting the larynx.The population sample of this study consisted of two groups of college voice students suffering from tension problems in the neck and throat.The experimental group consisted of six males and four females, ranging in age from 19 to 43. The control group was made up of nine females and one male ranging in age from 19 to 32.Each subject in the experimental group participated in 10 biofeedback training sessions of approximately one half-hour in length receiving 15 minutes of actual biofeedback during each session. The control group did not receive biofeedback but did receive pre- post-test electromyograms.Data from the two groups was subjected to statistical analysis using the T-test and F-test and the following conclusions were made. In comparing the pre-test means with the post-test mean of the experimental group, a T-test indicated a significant difference at both the 5% and 1% levels of confidence. An F-test between the post-test means of both the experimental and control groups indicated that variations in data did not appear to be due to chance, but to a cause (biofeedback).The null hypothesis was rejected at the 1% level of confidence as a result of the T-test between the post-test means of both the experimental and control group (assuming that the control post-test mean is the population mean). This allows a restatement of the hypothesis in the positive form: There is a significant difference between singers with tension problems in the laryngeal musculature who receive electromyographic biofeedback training and those who do not.The control group clearly showed no significant difference in the pre-test, post-test means at the 1% level of confidence.

The problem of this study is the development of a theoretical structure underlying a conceptual approach to teaching with special consideration given to vocal teaching.

No description available.