PERNA, NICHOLAS (D.M.A., Vocal Pedagogy and Performance) Effects of Nasalance on the Acoustical Properties of the (May 2008) Tenor Passaggio and Head Voice Abstract of a doctoral essay at the University of Miami. Doctoral essay supervised by Professor David Alt and Professor Rachel L. Lebon. No. of pages in text. (73) This study aims to measure the effect that nasality has on the acoustical properties of the tenor passaggio and head voice. Not to be confused with forward resonance, nasality here will be defined as nasalance, the reading of a Nasometer, or the percentage of nasal and oral airflow during phonation. A previous study by Peer Birch et. al. has shown that professional tenors used higher percentages of nasalance through their passaggio. They hypothesized that tenors used nasalance to make slight timbral adjustments as they ascended through passaggio. Other well respected authors including Richard Miller and William McIver have claimed that teaching registration issues is the most important component of training young tenors. It seemed logical to measure the acoustic effects of nasalance on the tenor passaggio and head voice. Eight professional operatic tenors participated as subjects performing numerous vocal exercises that demonstrated various registration events. These examples were recorded and analyzed using a Nasometer and Voce Vista Pro Software. Tenors did generally show an increase of nasalance during an ascending B-flat major scale on the vowels [i] and [u]. Perhaps the most revealing result was that six of seven tenors showed at least a 5-10% increase in nasalance on the note after their primary register transition on the vowel of [a]. It is suggested that this phenomenon receive further empirical scrutiny, because, if true, pedagogues could use nasalance as a tool for helping a young tenor ascend through his passaggio.

This master thesis will examine the role of falsetto in structuring the male singing voice. The author will examine both Czech and international literature of the 20th century concerned with pedagogy of singing with regard to the use of head register. Works that are cited in this thesis were chosen based upon their authors' common view that it is the contribution of head voice that should play major role in structuring the singing voice. Czech authors in this thesis include Antonín Mařík, Jiří Bar, Rudolf Vašek and Přemysl Kočí. Foreign authors are represented by Anthony Frisell. This thesis strives to summarize main pedagogical concepts of the above mentioned authors. Based upon citations, it lists and explains their most common views. Apart from explaining thoughts and opinions that are shared by a majority of listed authors, this thesis also mentions views and opinions that are in some way radical or significantly different from the rest of the group. These pedagocial concepts of head voice training are later compared with the current method of chest voice training. Here, the author draws not only on the literature but also on his experience from his studies of classical singing at the Prague Conservatory. This work will also strive to summarize and compare terms such as register, head voice,...

The purpose of this study is to determine appropriate choral literature for the adolescent male. Historically, scholars have focused on the lowering of the maturing male voice into the newly-formed chest register. During the change process, the male voice is unpredictable and can have a limited range. While a vast amount of repertoire for the adolescent male accommodates this downward progression and anticipates the narrow range, most adolescent boys are, in fact, capable of singing pitches above the chest register.Registers will be identified in this study. Discussion will pertain to registration shifts between chest register, head register, and falsetto in the adolescent male. I will investigate the use of the head register, which is a legitimate and vital component in healthy singing during adolescence. I will then compare registration to the historical knowledge of the male changing voice, which focuses mostly on the range and development of the newly-forming chest register.I will apply the concept of registration to choral repertoire taken from the 2005 and 2007 American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) national convention reading session packets. I will identify music that best and least facilitates the use and mixture of head-register and chest-register singing. Music for treble voices in various combinations (SA, SSA, SSAA, etc.) and three-part mixed music (SAB) will be examined. Each category presents a set of advantages and disadvantages for the adolescent male. Specific musical examples will illustrate the discussion. Careful repertoire selection with registration as a criterion is a key factor in unlocking male singing potential during adolescence. Although boys have unpredictable ranges, as it will be shown, registers are constant.

The aim of this study is to gain insight into how experienced children’s choir conductors work with the development of voices in the elementary school age. The work primarily focuses on aspects of vocal production such as finding and matching pitch, intonation, tone quality, resonance and falsetto singing. Because of the inherent complex nature of singing, the work also to some extent covers other aspects of choir singing such as breath, posture and organisation. Three experienced Swedish choir directors were interviewed with a qualitative method. The results show that the directors’ methods were similar, emphasizing good voice quality of the director, high registry singing, and enhancing listening skills over detailed work with resonance and tone quality. The results also show that the choir directors were coherent with and to some extent relied on the same method literature that forms the backbone of this work. This study brings to light what methods are used by todays children’s choir directors and further underscores the relevance of existing literature. / Uppsatsens syfte är att ge inblick i hur erfarna körledare arbetar med röstutveckling hos barn i lågstadieåldern. De huvudsakliga områden som undersöks är körledarnas arbete med tonträffning, intonation, tonkvalitet, resonans och huvudklang. På grund av körsångens komplexa natur avhandlar arbetet även i viss mån övriga aspekter såsom andning, hållning och organisering av kören. Uppsatsen bygger på material från tre kvalitativa intervjuer med erfarna körledare. Resultatet visar att de tre körledarna använder sig av likartade metoder. Samtliga betonar vikten av att körledaren själv har en god röstkvalitet, att körsången sker i ett högt register anpassat till barnens röster och att körundervisningen bör fokusera på gehörsutveckling snarare än detaljarbete med resonans och tonkvalitet. Resultatet visar även att körledarnas metoder till stor del överensstämde med och i viss mån även utgick ifrån de källor som tas upp i uppsatsens litteraturkapitel. Uppsatsen visar på vilka metoder som används av erfarna barnkörledare och understryker även relevansen av den befintliga litteraturen i ämnet.

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