The field of biological acoustics has witnessed a steady increase in the research into overtone singing, or “throat-singing,” in which a singer utilizes resonance throughout the vocal tract to sing melodies with the overtones created by a vocal drone. Recent research has explored both how a singer vocalizes in order to obtain rich harmonics from a vocal drone, as well as how further manipulations of the vocal apparatus function to filter and amplify selected harmonics. In the field of phonetics, vowel production is quantified by measuring the frequencies of vocal tract resonances, or formants, which a speaker manipulates to voice a particular vowel. Thus, an investigation of throat singing is closely linked to human speech production. Formants are usually detected in vowel spectra obtained using Fast Fourier Transform algorithms (FFTs). An alternative method that provides much higher frequency resolution is external excitation of the vocal tract and measurement of the pressure response signal at the mouth’s opening, which can be used to calculate the acoustic impedance spectrum. We demonstrate the use of such an “acoustic impedance meter” to measure the formant frequencies of common vowels as well as the oscillatory modes of simple resonant pipe systems. The impedance meter accurately measures fundamental pipe modes and a variety of formant frequencies with an uncertainty of 1 Hz. Finally, we assess how the impedance meter may be used to measure the unique resonances achieved by qualified throat singers.

The typical high school choral director of today is expected to know a great deal about the various types of music that exist as well as the appropriate techniques to create those genres in such a way that their student’s performances are realistic and stylistically accurate. What most undergraduate students are taught in pursuit of a choral music education degree misses the mark in that the show choir genre is nearly ignored throughout the curriculum. Yet, the nation’s new teachers are expected to strike out into the world of teaching and often find themselves in very large, competitive programs with the show choir at the very center. This study begins by identifying a number of questions that a first year teacher with no show choir directing experiences might ask, identifying the “how and why” of the daunting task of creating an artistic product in this new American modern choral genre. These questions also served as a guide to formulate a profile of the ideal show choir director. Then utilizing the established profile of the ideal show choir director, several experts – those who have an established reputation for a high level of success – were interviewed and their responses were documented, studied, and organized into categories that correspond with those found in the profile of the ideal show choir director. The correlation of these elements provided an in-­‐depth look into the processes of these successful directors that have proven to be effective over the course of many years, giving the reader a revealing look into how to build a program from the beginning, and to see it through to the end with ultimate success. As young teachers attempt to create musical experiences that are appealing to their students, they often find themselves competing with an idea that singing in choir should be like what can be seen on television in shows such as GLEE or American Idol, and other similar programs. While this is not an entirely real reflection of what choral music education is about, there is some truth to what is shown, and to a degree, what can be done. The focus of this project is to provide our new teachers a knowledge base to draw from that can assist them in their own development toward becoming a truly well balanced musician and educator. This project can assist these young teachers in developing into those who have knowledge of the show choir art form, and know how to teach the various techniques necessary to engage students and keep them interested in singing choral music. / Access to dissertation permanently restricted to Ball State community only / School of Music

The origin of the acoustic emissions from a bed of musical grains, impacted by a pestle, is sought in a boundary layer at the leading front of the pestle. The frequencies of the shear modes of vibration in such a layer are compared with the observed frequencies. It is assumed that such a layer is the result of the fluidization of the grain asperities due to the high stress level at the front end. Such a boundary layer can also account for the emissions from plates of sand sliding on a dune surface and from grains shaken in a jar.

Throughout our history, the singing voice has been a fundamental tool for musical expression. While analysis and digital synthesis techniques have been developed for normal speech, few models and techniques have been focused on the singing voice. The central theme of this research is the development of models aimed at the characterization and synthesis of the singing voice. First, a spectral model is presented in which asymmetric generalized Gaussian functions are used to represent the formant structure of a singing voice in a flexible manner. Efficient methods for searching the parameter space are investigated and challenges associated with smooth parameter trajectories are discussed. Next a model for glottal characterization is introduced by first presenting an analysis of the relationship between measurable spectral qualities of the glottal waveform and perceptually relevant time-domain parameters. A mathematical derivation of this relationship is presented and is extended as a method for parameter estimation. These concepts are then used to outline a procedure for modifying glottal textures and qualities in the frequency domain. By combining these models with the Analysis-by-Synthesis/Overlap-Add sinusoidal model, the spectral and glottal models are shown to be capable of characterizing the singing voice according to traits such as level of training and registration. An application is presented in which these parameterizations are used to implement a system for singing voice enhancement. Subjective listening tests were conducted in which listeners showed an overall preference for outputs produced by the proposed enhancement system over both unmodified voices and voices enhanced with competitive methods.

Title from PDF of title page. / Document formatted into pages; contains 50 pages. / Thesis (M.A.)--University of South Florida, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. / Text (Electronic thesis) in PDF format. / ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study was to review and summarize selected choral music education research published between 1996-2002. Four major research surveys in this area were previously published by Gonzo (1973), Hylton (1983), Phillips (1992), and Grant and Norris (1998). Each of these authors stressed a need for research in all areas of choral music education beyond the dissertation level and called for research that mimicked "real-world" experiences that would benefit choral music educators. This study investigated the following: (a) whether research studies in choral music education have increased beyond doctoral dissertation studies; (b) whether previous research studies have been replicated and/or expanded; and (c) whether current research attempted to solve real-world problems in choral music education. After reviewing the selected literature, the author categorized it into the following broad areas: (a) vocal technique/pedagogy, (b) descriptive studies, and (c) assessment/evaluation. The literature was identified in reviews of American, professional peer-reviewed journals by way of computer database searches in ERIC, Education Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, International Index to Music Periodicals, RILM Music Abstracts, and Wilson Select Plus. Due to the nature and scope of the study, the literature excluded doctoral dissertations unless they were later published in American, peer-reviewed journals. Notable findings in this literature review include: (a) a current trend toward more choral music education research in general, both at the doctoral level and beyond, (b) continued studies on vocal pedagogy and rehearsal/conducting techniques, (c) increased studies on curriculum and assessment, and (d) increased numbers of experimental studies. Though the research has shifted from primarily dissertation studies, most of these were preliminary in nature and need to be expanded and/or replicated. In addition, a larger variety of research methods are needed, especially longitudinal and qualitative studies. Although choral music education studies are more organized and systematic than in the past, many areas are yet unexplored and many questions remain unanswered. / System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on December 28, 2009) Thesis advisor: Dr. Glenn Leshner. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Mus. Arts)--University of Washington, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 290-299).

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to examine SLPs' preparation to work with singers by examining their knowledge and training levels regarding vocal hygiene, assessment and treatment for singers, vocal pedagogy and competency in working with singers. Method: A 66-item survey designed to address the research questions was distributed via email to possible participants found through American Speech Language Hearing Association's (ASHA) "Find a Professional" service. Each email contained a password-protected web link to the survey, which was hosted on Survey Monkey. Results: The majority of participants reported low amounts of academic and clinical exposure to singers. The largest percentage demonstrated adequate knowledge of vocal hygiene, but had difficulty with knowledge items regarding assessment and treatment considerations for singers and vocal pedagogy. The majority expressed low levels of competency in working with singers. However, these effects appeared to be mediated by voice specialization. Voice specialists (VS), a subset of the total participants, were found to have received significantly more total hours studying voice and had significantly more voice clients, including singers, than non-voice specialists (NVS). A combination of academic and clinical exposure at the graduate level was found to lead to continued study regarding voice disorders and vocal function for singers. VS also reported higher levels of training in vocal pedagogy and performance and demonstrated significantly higher knowledge levels regarding assessment and treatment considerations for singers and vocal pedagogy than NVS. Similarly, they also reported higher overall competency in working with singers than the NVS. Conclusions: This preliminary data suggests that overall preparation to work with singers is somewhat lacking in most graduate programs. The majority of SLPs appears to retain information regarding vocal hygiene, but does not appear to remember some basic facts about the treatment of voice disorders. Improvements towards education in voice would serve as a worthy goal in improving SLP's service delivery in general to voice clients and singers. Additionally, providing more opportunities to work with voice clients and singers would also help better prepare SLPs as a whole to work with singers. Finally, a structured accreditation process to become a singing voice specialist (SVS) is sorely needed to ensure optimal service delivery to this unique population. / text

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In this thesis we describe two instances of the nonlinear interaction between a fluid and an elastic solid to mimic or explain some phenomenon seen in nature. We focus on the phenomena of singing of small song birds and swimming of small fish. Song birds show a versatile range of tones and compositions that have highly complex spectral structure, while fish cut through water with amazing ease. The complexity of the Navier Stokes Equations that describe the fluid coupled with large deformation elasticity equations, makes analytic attempts intractable. Hence experiments were carried out with simple physical models to explain these observations. In the first case a cylindrical elastic tube (2.5cm long, 2.5mm diameter) was used to model the vocal organ, the syrinx, of a song bird. Muscle action was mimicked using a linear motor that implemented a squeezing action and the action of the lungs was modeled by a constant source of air flow. The combined fluid-elastic system behaved like a nonlinear dynamical system and produced sound under certain conditions of external parameters. Moreover the structure of the sound created depended sensitively on the control parameters, which in this case was dominated by the position of the linear motor. The motor was dynamically controlled to produce a range of songs from simple tonal ones of the Vireo to the complex chaotic songs of the Zebra Finch. In the second instance, a cantilever (5cm long, 1cm wide)suspended between and driven by magnetic coils arranged in an anti-Helmholtz configuration, was used to mimic the dynamics of the caudal fin of a small fish. Three different gaits were observed as a function of the control parameter, the drive frequency. One of these gaits maximized thrust and hydrodynamic efficiency, and velocities unto 6 body lengths per second were measured. / Engineering and Applied Sciences