This thesis is the study of experiences of a group of mainstream secondary pupils identified as having additional support needs within the terms of the Education (Additional Support For Learning ) (Scotland) Act (2004). This means that they have been categorised as having entitlements to whatever support they require to ensure that they can attain good educational outcomes. Prior to the 2004 legislation, practices were based on categorisation of such pupils into separate, often segregated, provision which reflected assumptions about their restricted potential. The 2004 legislation is part of a policy agenda concerned with social justice and equity of educational provision for all pupils. It requires that all barriers to learning are removed for each individual pupil. Such a policy shift, and the move towards an inclusive person-centred approach, seem consistent with Scottish education as it is widely regarded, that is, with a strong tradition of, and a commitment to, egalitarianism. However, there is research which also suggests that Scottish education has been, and continues to be, meritocratic and with a strong focus on academic attainment, and that the belief in the tradition of egalitarianism, which is now regarded as a myth, can still influence perception and policy. It has also been argued that the neo-liberal reforms of the public services since the 1980s have narrowed teachers‟ work, led to a focus on its measurable aspects and led to less time being available for other areas of work, including supporting non-academic learning and attainment. In this thesis I discuss how the influence of the „myth‟, a tradition of meritocracy, and a performativity focus on attainment, shape teachers understandings and practices as they are required to reconcile them with a concurrent policy agenda which has a focus on social inclusion and equity of educational opportunity. To enable the voices of pupils and their teachers to be heard, I use semi-structured interviews and an interpretivist approach to study the experiences and attitudes of 8 teachers and 17 pupils in 2 comprehensive schools in a Scottish local authority. Through doing this I identify factors which might prevent teachers from developing inclusive approaches and support for learning practices which are helpful and acceptable to pupils. I also consider any apparent tensions between a person-centred inclusive policy agenda and a tradition of meritocracy. I found that pupils were generally positive about their experience of learning and identified practices they thought would be both helpful and acceptable to them: peer working; teachers mediating learning through discussion/questioning; work which was interesting to them and/or relevant to life beyond school. There was also a degree of consensus that difficulties associated with the reading/writing tasks they were required to do could be barriers to fully accessing the curriculum. The study also found that the teachers interviewed showed a commitment to provide support to pupils with additional support needs and that they provided a range of in-class arrangements to achieve this. However, they seemed also to be influenced by academic traditions/assumptions and felt that what they were able to do was limited by the agenda created by national examination requirements and it was that which drove the curriculum. The study concludes that the practices and power relations in schools are influenced by the conservative thinking which characterises Scottish education, that these practices and power relations can be oppressive and disempowering to teachers and pupils and that pupils are still labelled, sometimes segregated and treated differently from their peers. It also emerged that while there are no real opportunities for pupils to express their views and challenge the identities ascribed to them, when they are given that opportunity they can have well formed views about their education and what changes to existing practice would better help them to improve their attainment and develop useful skills. Not all of the pupils did express such views, and this may link to effect of the power relations in schools. Of those who did express views about what they would like to see change, the changes they identified seem to be generally possible within the pedagogical and curriculum framework changes as suggested in Curriculum for Excellence documents. However, given the findings of this study about power relations and the persistence of academic traditions and assumptions, it is relevant to note that these changes in themselves will require alterations to existing in-school power relations, working arrangements and conceptualisations of what constitutes educational success and how it is measured.

Microspeakers can overheat and break if not monitored and regulated. This monitoringis usually done by adding a pilot tone that introduces energy to the signal.A problem with this approach is the slow update rate of the temperature estimate.This in combination with a fast temperature rise could result in an audible regulationof the input. By simulating the voice coil temperature these problems couldbe mitigated. In this thesis, two existing grey box models and one novel black boxmodel are estimated for different speakers and evaluated using different signals.The results are promising and indicate that all models can estimate the voice coiltemperature with a mean error below one degree. The tests show that a correctinitialization of the model is crucial. Therefore the suggestion to Cirrus Logic,who hosted this thesis project, is to combine a feedforward model with eithertemperature sensor data from the mobile device or a pilot tone. / Mikrohögtalare kan överhettas och gå sönder ifall temperaturen inte övervakasoch regleras vid behov. Denna övervakning sker med hjälp av en pilotton somtillför energi till högtalarens insignal. Ett problem med denna lösning är att övervakningenär relativt långsam. Detta gör att en snabb temperaturökning kan geen oönskad hörbar reglering av insignalen. Genom att modellera spolens temperaturkan detta problem hanteras. I detta examensarbete tas två fysikaliska modelleroch en konfektionsmodell fram och testas på olika högtalare och signaler.Resultaten är lovande och visar att alla modeller kan skatta spoltemperaturenmed ett medelfel under en grad. Utvärderingen visar att initiering av modellensstarttemperatur är viktig. Därför är förslaget till Cirrus Logic att kombinera en simuleringsmodellsom initieras med antingen temperatursensordata från mobileneller med hjälp av en pilotton.

Voices are used as a vehicle for language, and variation in the acoustic properties of voices also contains information about the speaker. Listeners use measurable qualities, such as pitch and formant traits, as cues to a speaker’s physical stature and attractiveness. Emotional states and personality characteristics are also judged from vocal stimuli. The research contained in this thesis examines vocal masculinity, aesthetics and personality, with an emphasis on the perception of prosocial traits including trustworthiness and cooperativeness. I will also explore themes which are more cognitive in nature, testing aspects of vocal stimuli which may affect trait attribution, memory and the ascription of identity. Chapters 2 and 3 explore systematic differences across vocal utterances, both in types of utterance using different classes of stimuli and across the time course of perception of the auditory signal. These chapters examine variation in acoustic measurements in addition to variation in listener attributions of commonly-judged speaker traits. The most important result from this work was that evaluations of attractiveness made using spontaneous speech correlated with those made using scripted speech recordings, but did not correlate with those made of the same persons using vowel stimuli. This calls into question the use of sustained vowel sounds for the attainment of ratings of subjective characteristics. Vowel and single-word stimuli are also quite short – while I found that attributions of masculinity were reliable at very short exposure times, more subjective traits like attractiveness and trustworthiness require a longer exposure time to elicit reliable attributions. I conclude with recommending an exposure time of at least 5 seconds in duration for such traits to be reliably assessed. Chapter 4 examines what vocal traits affect perceptions of pro-social qualities using both natural and manipulated variation in voices. While feminine pitch traits (F0 and F0-SD) were linked to cooperativeness ratings, masculine formant traits (Df and Pf) were also associated with cooperativeness. The relative importance of these traits as social signals is discussed. Chapter 5 questions what makes a voice memorable, and helps to differentiate between memory for individual voice identities and for the content which was spoken by administering recognition tests both within and across sensory modalities. While the data suggest that experimental manipulation of voice pitch did not influence memory for vocalised stimuli, attractive male voices were better remembered than unattractive voices, independent of pitch manipulation. Memory for cross-modal (textual) content was enhanced by raising the voice pitch of both male and female speakers. I link this pattern of results to the perceived dominance of voices which have been raised and lowered in pitch, and how this might impact how memories are formed and retained. Chapter 6 examines masculinity across visual and auditory sensory modalities using a cross-modal matching task. While participants were able to match voices to muted videos of both male and female speakers at rates above chance, and to static face images of men (but not women), differences in masculinity did not influence observers in their judgements, and voice and face masculinity were not correlated. These results are discussed in terms of the generally-accepted theory that masculinity and femininity in faces and voices communicate the same underlying genetic quality. The biological mechanisms by which vocal and facial masculinity could develop independently are speculated.

This was a study of the relationship of situational anxiety to vocal solo performances of college freshmen voice students.

This thesis examines the historical significance of the vocal methods employed from the middle of the seventeenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century in what became known as the bel canto era. It provides further exploration into the pedagogical procedures of the bel canto technique through a study of the premier instructors and singers from this period. The resurgence of interest in this tradition is addressed along with its impact on current vocal pedagogy. The vital role that vocal agility played as one of its most distinguishing traits is the primary factor under investigation. A discussion of the bel canto teaching styles in relation to their approach to agility is a major point of inquiry. By maintaining a link between present artists and pedagogues and the old Italian school, it helps the singer understand the historical implications of vocal agility as an integral part of healthy vocal development.

The study introduces the Cornelius Reid Archive and provides biographical and functional context for Reid’s teaching method, which he referred to as functional voice training. Biography, summary of Reid’s ideas on environmental control and vocal registration, together with descriptions taken from Reid’s own writings of the function and purpose of various exercises transcribed from the Archive, constitute the primary chapters. Appendices include complete transcription of ca. 170 exercises and several illustrations of Dr. Douglas Stanley’s overt teaching methods.

The aim of this paper is to explore the philosophies, attitudes and beliefs that surround the teaching of breath. Voice and speech teachers want students and actors to be versatile; able to adjust to the demands of any role, and each student enters the classroom with a myriad of mental and physical breathing habits. Many voice and speech trainers, however, only address a limited number of breathing habits and primarily teach "deep breathing." Why has deep breathing dominated voice training, and how do we effectively teach breath for all students and all habits? I will examine six major voice practitioners: Arthur Lessac, Patsy Rodenburg, Kristin Linklater, Catherine Fitzmaurice, F.M. Alexander, and Jo Estill and their philosophies about breath. I will also investigate my own experiences with each practitioner, both in my own training, and in my teaching. I will conclude with my personal philosophy about breath; what an ideal breath is, and how to teach it.

TITLE: Therapy of voice disorders AUTHOR: Michaela Horáková DEPARTMENT: Department of special education SUPERVISOR: Mgr. Miroslava Kotvová ABSTRACT: This diploma thesis deals with the voice disorders and their treatment options. The character of the thesis is mostly theoretical and the thesis is divided into four general parts. The first one elaborates the anatomy and physiology of the vocal tract as a basis for understanding mechanisms of voice pathology development, the second one is devoted to voice disorders and their categorization, and the third part deals with their therapy, as the czech literature reflects it. The last part of this thesis is dedicated to voice disorders therapy in the United States with a practical focus on therapeutical program Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT) widely used abroad during the treatment of voice disorders especially connected to Parkinson disease. The program is considered to be very effective and it is really popular outside of the Czech republic. LSVT is not well known in the Czech republic yet and there is actually only limited information devoted to this type of voice therapy. For this reason the thesis is based on analysis and comparison of the available foreign texts in order to inform the czech public about its theoretical basis, structure and system,...

Actuellement interprétée par des musiciens spécialisés, la musique du Moyen Âge subit un processus de décontextualisation et de recontextualisation qui la mène du cloître ou du château vers la salle de spectacle. Cette thèse tente d’approcher cette problématique par le biais de l’analyse. En prenant l’exemple de Rose tres bele, création pluridisciplinaire de l’ensemble Diabolus in Musica, il s’agit de comprendre comment les spécificités musicales et poétiques d’un pan du répertoire médiéval, en l’occurrence la lyrique féminine en langue d’oïl, induisent une organisation spécifique des différents éléments du spectacle, en particulier les corps et le dispositif dans lequel ils prennent place.Le premier chapitre présente le matériau médiéval, poèmes, musiques, images, utilisé dans le spectacle.Le second chapitre en décrit le déroulement, sous-tendu par les poèmes chantés, dont les textes constituent un véritable fil conducteur pour la représentation. Leur analyse permet de distinguer des particularités poétiques éclairantes pour le spectacle : celui-ci se fonde sur les lieux communs de la poésie courtoise ainsi que sur la notion bien particulière de personnage que celle-ci construit. Cette analyse littéraire débouche, au troisième chapitre, sur une analyse du spectacle proprement dit, notamment en ce qui concerne la relation texte-image. Le quatrième chapitre envisage les enjeux esthétiques de la pluridisciplinarité dans cette création. Il revient notamment sur la question du corps et de son rapport à l’écriture. Le cinquième chapitre retrace la filiation médiévalisante de Rose tres bele, dans une perspective allant du XIIIème au XXIème siècle en passant par le XIXème. / Medieval Music, currently performed by specialist musicians, undergoes a process of decontexutalization and recontextualization. This PHD attempts to approach such problematics through analysis. Rose tres bele is a newly devised pluridisciplinary show by the ensemble Diabolus in Musica that presents one aspect of the Medieval repertoire, the female voice in langue d’oil Medieval lyric. Through its case study, this thesis tries to understand the ways in which the specific musical and poetic elements of this genre induce a specific organization of the different performance elements, particularly in terms of physicality and of the configuration the physical bodies take in space. The first chapter introduces the medieval material: poems, music, images used in performance. The second chapter gives the show’s structure, underpinned by the sung poems, whose texts establish a real narrative line for the performance. The analysis of these poems allows one to single out characteristic poetic elements that shed some insight into the performance. The performance is based on the conventions of courtly poetry, as well as on the specific notions of characterization this poetry expresses. This literary analysis leads to an analysis, in the third chapter, of the show itself, particularly as far as the text-image relationship is concerned. The fourth chapter considers the aesthetic issues raised by this devised show’s pluridisciplinarity. The chapter goes back, notably, to the question of physicality and its relationship to writing. The fifth chapter retraces the origins of Rose tres bele’s Medieval aesthetic, in an overview that goes from 13th. to 21rst century and includes 19th. century.

In this research I present a conceptual analysis of conceptions of child and childhood. These conceptions largely point to a worldview that sees childhood as a universal construct, and I argue that the conceptualisation of childhood differs in cultural, historical, political, philosophical and developmental psychology domains. I argue that what is common to many of these discourses is that concepts and conceptions of child and childhood reveal differences in how one views the dichotomy between adult-child. I also go on to discuss the implications of these conceptions of child, childhood and child’s voice in a school context. The many discourses of childhood are underpinned by beliefs and assumptions about the experience and purpose of childhood, and therefore inform policies and shape educational practice. How a community or society conceptualises childhood is implied in the practices and policies of that community or society. While some researchers agree there is a need to reconceptualise childhood, consensus dissolves around the diverse definitions of child and childhood and how child’s voice should be included in educational contexts. I explore the positioning of child in historical and contemporary constructs and discuss emerging trends of how child and childhood is conceptualised. I examine arguments with regards to opening up debates that suggest that if child and childhood is reconceptualised there is potential to move beyond normative policies, practices and pedagogies that remain entrenched in our current educational contexts. Drawing on my own experiences in working with children I use these experiences to argue that there has been a shift in my own thinking about child and offer through the literature that many authors suggest alternative constructions of child as a being, with capabilities of giving voice. To consider what the concept voice means in terms of including child’s voice in educational contexts, links emerge with the discourse of children’s rights and the diverse and complex conceptualisations of child and childhood. Researchers, educators and policy-policy makers need to examine their meanings of child and childhood and critically engage with the assumptions thereof in order to reconceptualise hegemonic dominance of policies and practices based on one definition of child. Children’s rights have been part of a legal framework, while understanding of what it means to be child run deeper into theories of childhood underpinned by moral, socio- economic and political agendas that are part of child’s world. Advocates of the children’s rights discourse argue that a contemporary crisis in childhood has emerged, causing a power struggle between adult-child relationships, as child is acknowledged as a powerful individual whose experiences are to be taken seriously.