When public schools began teaching music in the 19th century, the church took a secondary role in the education of the church parishioner. The purpose of this study was to examine congregational attitudes about singing before and after an experimental treatment. Two different Churches participated in "hymn of the month" programs, but different approaches were used at each church. The congregation of Erwin Presbyterian Church learned a new hymn through repetition, while the congregation of First Baptist Church learned a new hymn through congregational practice. Surveys using a Likert-type scale were administered at each church prior to and at the end of the month long project, which took place in February 2002. The results showed that while both congregations appeared to have better attitudes toward congregational singing following the project, there was a more dramatic change at Erwin Presbyterian Church.

Although there have been numerous investigations of laryngeal muscle activity during phonation in the chest and falsetto/head registers in trained and untrained classical singers and non-singers, no research has been conducted examining laryngeal muscle activity during phonation in the chestmix register, a register used extensively by many female commercial singers, particularly for the production of higher frequencies. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that commercial singers produce chestmix by maintaining or increasing adduction of the vocal processes and by engaging the thyroarytenoid muscle to a greater degree than they would to produce a head register sound. Simultaneous recordings of thyroarytenoid and cricothyroid muscle activity, videonasendosopy, and audio were obtained from seven female commercial singers (5 trained, 2 untrained) during sustained phonation and song phrases produced in chest, chestmix, headmix, and head registers. Thryoarytenoid and cricothyroid muscle activity was normalized to a percent of mean maximum activity and compared across registers and frequencies both within subjects and across subjects. Video stills of vocal processes adduction patterns were rated for degree of vocal processes adduction and also compared across register and frequency within and across subjects. All audio samples were rated for register by two singing teachers and audio samples of sustained phonation were analyzed via Fast Fourier Transform to measure the number and energy of the harmonics present in each sample. Interjudge and intrajudge reliability tests were performed for both the vocal processes adduction rating and audio sample rating tasks. Results from the study confirmed the hypothesis and showed that thyroarytenoid activity and adduction of the vocal processes was greater for chestmix than headmix or head, particularly during production of higher frequencies, but less than for chest productions. Cricothyroid activity was similar for chestmix, headmix and head during production of lower frequencies, but greater for chestmix during production of higher frequencies.

Le but de cette thèse est d’étudier tout particulièrement le répertoire du chant tripolitain au sein de la tradition musicale libyenne, de façon à mettre en lumière, à la fois, les modèles mélodiques et les modèles rythmiques qui caractérisent ce chant, ainsi que les structures compositionnelles qui s’en dégagent. Une place centrale sera accordée à l’étude de l’évolution/acculturation du chant tripolitain. / The main aim of this thesis is to study in a special form the trabelsi singing in the core of the tradition of the Libyan music with a method explains at the same time, the melodic models and rhythmic models that describe this singing, as well as compositional structures highlighted by these models. In addition, this research will deeply concentrate in studying the development and acculturation of the trabelsi singing.

The author investigates the voice in diverse genres and styles, documenting and interpreting vocal performance through a contextual analysis of specifically chosen repertoire. This repertoire is drawn from collaboration with two musical groups, the Renaissance Players and Coda and from the author's artistic direction and presentation of four diverse recitals: American Songs, Italian Baroque, American Folk and Theatre and Nostalgia. Each recital is treated as a separate case study, in which the process of selecting, rehearsing and performing the repertoire is closely examined. Recordings and selected examples of scores are included to illustrate the findings. The discussion concludes with a synthesis of context and process within the framework of a global perspective celebrating diversity. / Master of Arts (Hons)

Operatic and vocal history in Australia has received, since the 1960s, increasing attention from a body of researchers who have documented Australian performance traditions. Pedagogical traditions in Australia have been largely neglected however, and it is hoped that this thesis will contribute to ongoing studies in this area of Australian musical scholarship. Vocal pedagogy in Australia is largely derived from European models, yet many vocal teachers in Australia of the present day have little or no idea of the origins of their technique. After mapping pedagogical lineages of vocal teachers throughout Australia from 1850 to 1950, an attempt has been made to document and analyse the history of vocal pedagogy in Australia, particularly the influence of the vocal technique originating from the teaching of Manuel Garcia and his pupil Mathilde Marchesi, and other teachers trained in traditional Italian vocal technique. The thesis demonstrates that pedagogical lineages have special meaning and relevance in the historical study of vocal pedagogy and performance practice. / Although the research maintains as its primary focus, the dissemination and influence of the traditional Italian and Garcia-Marchesi technique in vocal pedagogy in Australia, considerable effort has been undertaken to allow as complex as possible an understanding of the broader vocal pedagogical climate in musical centres of Australia.

Professional operatic singing can be performed technically for practice and rehearsal, or with heightened emotion through intention to communicate with an audience. Previous studies of respiration in operatic singing have not taken into account the professional performer�s ability to differentiate at will between rehearsal and performance modes of singing. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the differences between singing �with intention to communicate� (as if performing) and singing �technically� (as if in rehearsal). The hypothesis is that this specified change of condition would change the respiratory patterns employed by the singers. Estimation of respiratory patterns was obtained using magnetometers. Performance singing was labelled �IC� (intention to communicate). Rehearsal singing was labelled �T� (technical) and also included �TL� (technical loud) and �TS� (technical soft). Each of the five singers performed two tasks (a free choice aria in Italian, and a set song). Only intra-subject analysis was used. One thousand and one breaths were analysed. These were then matched, so that only complete musical phrases (sung six times by the same singer) were compared with each other. Seven hundred and sixty-two matched phrases were analysed in this way. Measured variables were initiation lung volume (ILV), termination lung volume (TLV), the amount of lung volume expired (LVE), %VC released per second (Flow), the expiratory time (Te), and inspiratory time (Ti). Sound pressure level (SPL) was measured. This study also examined the ability of experienced listeners to distinguish between the T and IC performances from DAT recordings. Findings show that in comparison with T singing, IC singing used more air, with a greater percentage of vital capacity expired per second, but without a simple association with sound pressure level or expiratory time. Listeners were able to distinguish IC from T performances, demonstrating a perceived difference in the quality of the vocal output. These results demonstrate that performance intention to communicate, compared to rehearsal, results in a measurable difference in respiratory parameters, and therefore needs to be specified in future research.

Operatic and vocal history in Australia has received, since the 1960s, increasing attention from a body of researchers who have documented Australian performance traditions. Pedagogical traditions in Australia have been largely neglected however, and it is hoped that this thesis will contribute to ongoing studies in this area of Australian musical scholarship. Vocal pedagogy in Australia is largely derived from European models, yet many vocal teachers in Australia of the present day have little or no idea of the origins of their technique. After mapping pedagogical lineages of vocal teachers throughout Australia from 1850 to 1950, an attempt has been made to document and analyse the history of vocal pedagogy in Australia, particularly the influence of the vocal technique originating from the teaching of Manuel Garcia and his pupil Mathilde Marchesi, and other teachers trained in traditional Italian vocal technique. The thesis demonstrates that pedagogical lineages have special meaning and relevance in the historical study of vocal pedagogy and performance practice. / Although the research maintains as its primary focus, the dissemination and influence of the traditional Italian and Garcia-Marchesi technique in vocal pedagogy in Australia, considerable effort has been undertaken to allow as complex as possible an understanding of the broader vocal pedagogical climate in musical centres of Australia.

<p>Dette studiet undersøkte om det finnes en positiv relasjon mellom korsang og det subjektive velbefinnendet. I undersøkelsen deltok 84 sangere fra 5 kor på både avansert og amatørnivå. Deltagerne fylte i et Mood Adjective Checklist-skjema (MACL: L. Sjöberg, E. Svensson & L.-O. Persson, 1979) før og etter korøvelsen på to forskjellige korøvelser. Resultatene indikerte at korsang påvirket deltagerne signifikant i form av økt velbefinnende, og at sangere mellom 32 og 51 år hadde den største økningen i grad av velbefinnende før og etter korøvelse. Det fantes derimot ingen signifikant forskjell i velbefinnende mellom amatørkor og avansert kor. Resultatene står som et bidrag til tidligere forskning innenfor området, men kan på grunn av det lave deltagerantallet ikke anses være generaliserbart.</p>

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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.