School choirs, bands, and orchestras in the United States have long been guided by exacting standards of performance practice that require high levels of technical proficiency. Such ensembles are also socially situated, requiring interpersonal interaction as participants work toward achieving a shared set of goals. These factors could combine to exacerbate individuals’ perceived pressure to meet goals. Hewitt and Flett (1991) called this pressure socially situated perfectionism. Some researchers have argued that perfectionism might be tempered or exacerbated in certain environments (Damien et al., 2014; Dunn et al., 2012; Flett & Hewitt, 2002; Hewitt et al., 2003; McArdle, 2010; Mouratidis & Michou, 2011). The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of perfectionistic students, particularly their perceptions of expectations, self-worth, and acceptance associated with socially situated perfectionism, in a high school choral classroom. In order to carry out this examination, a multiple case study methodology was employed; three high school students and their choir director were interviewed and observed in choral rehearsals, with students also asked to journal about their experiences. To varying degrees across cases and within cases, participants displayed behaviors that aligned with descriptions of socially situated perfectionism outlined by Hewitt and Flett (1991). The presence of these behaviors suggests that perfectionism may play a role in their music making. It appears likely that the choral classroom environment, as facilitated by the instructor and including instructor critique/feedback as well as peer interactions, merits further study for its potential role in abating or exacerbating perfectionistic tendencies in certain individuals.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of humming as a viable musicking activity based on measures of children's pitch acuity. Students are kindergarteners from a public elementary school in northern Delaware. Based on each participant’s homeroom assignment, these students will be placed in one of two groups during music instruction: (a) singing instruction only and (b) singing and humming instruction. As all kindergarteners will be participating in music instruction, no data will be collected for students who opted out of the study. Students were pretested in their humming and singing accuracy (pitch reproduction acuity), followed by four weeks of instruction. The posttest documented students' humming and singing accuracy using the Wise and Sloboda (2008) rating scale for singing accuracy in song performance. Student data were analyzed through mean, median, and standard deviation, and comparative data were analyzed using a t-test. Findings showed mixed results in the effectiveness of humming as a viable musicking activity. Significant growth was found across all measures in both humming and non-humming classes. However, greater significance was observed for students in classes that had music later in the school year, indicating that time influences kindergarteners' musical growth. Findings also indicated that exposure to music instruction has an impact on kindergarteners' willingness to perform music. / Music Education

Numerous studies exist examining the link in solo singers between timbre and overtone spectra. The purpose of this study is to examine if similar results can be obtained by applying the same techniques to choral singing. The study is aimed at non-scientific readers and therefore introduces the subject with background to the relevant physics. In this study a number of recorded samples of choirs were taken from www.youtube.com and analyzed. The analysis included computation of long-term average spectra (LTAS) and singing power ratio‟s (SPR), which provided an indication of the relative energy in the higher overtone region of every choir. This was compared to a binary value judgment of the choirs. The results indicate that the SPR as applied to soloists cannot be directly applied to choirs. A link between SPR and a perceived “good” choral tone could exist but would have to be interpreted differently than in the case of soloists. It was also found that a possible link could exist between frequency peaks in LTAS and a choir‟s intonation.

The teaching of singing is fraught with psychological problems not met with in the other branches of applied music. The inordinate physical and mental concepts with which the singing teacher must deal result in the necessity that the singing teacher, to be highly efficient, must be a practicing psychologist. In the writer's experience, first as student and then as teacher and observer of the work of other teachers, it has become obvious that in the minds of the majority of pupils, diction problems are so paramount that they supercede the purely vocal aspects of singing. As the language sounds are rightly but a point of departure for the building of a beautiful and expressive singing tone, it seems absolutely essential that the way must be pointed whereby language in singing can find its proper place in the pupil's development, where it can assume the position of a help rather than a hindrance in vocal achievement.

The purpose of this study was to develop a commercial singing guide that could be used as an aid in teaching selected elements of commercial singing. It addressed itself specifically to the following problems: determining how the selected elements of the commercial vocal style are produced, developing a guide for teaching the production of this vocal style to trained and untrained singers and evaluating the effectiveness of the guide.

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No description available.

Zugl.: Heidelberg, Univ., Diss., 2006 u.d.T.: Mecke, Ann-Christine: Der Stimmwechsel und die deutsche Chorpraxis im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert

Thesis (MDram)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The actor's work consists of communication, in other words the transfer of intellectual and emotional ideas. The voice is undoubtedly the most important means of auditory communication. The development and maintenance of the actor's voice is, therefore, an essential requirement for effective communication. The vocal development of actors and singers is aimed at releasing the breathing process, the passage of sound through the body and the organs of articulation, as well as the elimination of obstructive psychophysical inhibitions. The same body parts are used for the production of sound in both speaking and singing. The vocal instrument may be divided into three parts, namely the respiratory system, the glottic system and the resonators. The structure and functioning of the voice as an instrument is in many respects somewhat complex. Knowledge of the structure and functioning of the vocal system facilitates the prevention and elimination of speech problems. Speech and singing, as subdivisions of voice production, are both closely linked to the functioning of certain body parts, and it is for this reason that singing helps to improve speech. For instance, because singing demands a larger breath capacity and greater breath control, singing techniques contribute positively to the development of the actor's voice. Various voice production errors and problems encountered in actors, such as breathing-related problems, defective resonance adaptations and defective projection, can be eliminated by means of technical exercises. An analysis of the techniques for speech and singing reveal such a strong coincidence that they can both be classed as voice production techniques. A singing-based approach to vocal training will, therefore, have only a positive effect on the actor's voice production. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die akteur se werk behels kommunikasie, dit wil sê die oordra van intellektuele en emosionele idees. Die stem is meestalonontbeerlik as ouditiewe kommunikasiemiddel. Daarom is die ontwikkeling en instandhouding van die akteur se stem van wesenlike belang. Die fokus van stemontwikkeling by akteurs en sangers word gerig op die bevryding van die asemhalingsproses, die klankgang deur die liggaam, die artikulasieorgane en die uitwissing van stremmende psigo-fisiese inhibisies. In spraak en sang word dieselfde liggaamsdele vir klankproduksie aangewend. Die vokale instrument kan in drie verdeel word, naamlik die asemhalingstelsel, die glottale stelsel en die resonators. Die bou en werking van die stem as instrument is in vele opsigte kompleks. Kennis van die bou en werking van die vokale instrument kan egter tot die voorkoming of verbetering van stem- en spraakprobleme lei. Spraak en sang as onderafdelings van stemproduksie skakelonderling met betrekking tot die betrokkenheid van sekere liggaamsdele en hul funksies, en derhalwe ondersteun sangoefeninge spraakproduksie. Aangesien sang egter 'n groter asemkapasiteit en sterker asembeheer verg as spraak, kan sangtegniese oefeninge positief bydra tot die akteur se stemontwikkeling. Verskeie stemfoute en stemprobleme van die akteur kan verbeter word met behulp van tegniese oefeninge, naamlik asemverwante probleme, gebrekkige resonansie-aanpassings en gebrekkige projeksie. 'n Ontleding van die tegnieke van spraak en sang dui op so 'n sterk ooreenkoms dat beide as stemtegnieke geklassifiseer kan word. Daarom sal 'n sangtegniekmatige benadering tot stemopleiding die spraakstem van die akteur positiefbeïnvloed.

Estelle Liebling (1880-1970) was a phenomenally successful voice teacher who occupies a place in the chain of succession of voice teachers devoted to the ideals of the bel canto. Turning out over seventy-five Metropolitan Opera stars over the fifty-plus year span of her teaching career, she was regarded during her lifetime as one of the most distinguished voice teachers in America. Her editions, compositions, and pedagogical writings exerted an influence on the world far exceeding the boundaries of the New York professional musical sphere in which she operated. Despite this, almost nothing has been written to date that documents her contribution to the world of singing. Much of Liebling's pedagogical outlook was derived from that of her immediate predecessor, Mathilde Marchesi, and direct comparison of Liebling's Vocal Course to Marchesi's Theoretical and Practical Vocal Method shows this relationship. Liebling herself acknowledged Marchesi's influence, but the pedagogy she espoused was by no means a carbon copy of that of Marchesi. Important differences exist, distinguishing Liebling's pedagogy as separate and individualized, a legitimate successor to the Marchesi Method. Liebling's legacy consists not only of her teaching and pedagogical writings, however. The tremendous body of vocal literature which she edited, arranged, and composed, mostly for coloratura soprano, is enough in of itself to justify her place in music history. Additionally, her catalogue work of cadenzas and ornamentation for coloratura soprano literature still stands today as the monumental work on the subject.