Studiens syfte är att undersöka sånglärares syn på röstbenämningar och röstkvaliteter inom sångundervisning samt deras beskrivningar av arbetet med röstregisterbenämningar i undervisningen. Studiens teoretiska ramverk utgörs av diskursanalys med en diskurspsykologisk ansats. Datainsamlingsmetoden har utgjorts av fokusgruppssamtal där lärare från olika typer av sångundervisningssammanhang har samtalat om sin syn på röstregister. Samtalen skedde via videosamtal och spelades in med ljud och bild. Efter transkriptionen av samtalen analyserades materialet med diskursanalys för att urskilja diverse tolkningsrepertoarer. I resultatet framgår ett antal tolkningsrepertoarer där sånglärarnas formuleringar kring, användande av och erfarenheter kring röstregisterbenämningar lyfts. Resultatet visar att sånglärarna anpassar benämningarna beroende på elevernas förståelse, vilket pekar mot en individualisering utifrån ålder och nivå. I sånglärarnas uttalanden framgår en kontrast vad gäller sätt att arbeta med röstbenämningar i undervisningen, det vill säga som något uttalat eller som något outsagt. I resultatet framgår hur vissa av lärarna konstruerar och argumenterar för begreppen som knutna till musikaliska inriktningar. Dessutom lyfts en uppfattning att sångläraren hellre lär ut något som denne själv är väl bevandrad i, vilket tydliggör ännu en möjlig slutsats: att sångläraren lär ut inom området som denne kan, snarare än vad som eleven är mest bekväm i.I lärarnas uttalanden framgår en tolkningsrepertoar i hur sånglärarnas egna frustrationer och erfarenheter av svårigheter blivit en drivkraft för deras undervisning. I diskussionen lyfts de i resultatet mest framträdande tolkningsrepertoarerna och diskuteras i relation till det teoretiska perspektivet och tidigare presenterad relevant litteratur och forskning. / The purpose of this study is to examine voice teachers’ perspective on terms regarding voice registers and their descriptions of the work with voice registers in voice education. The theoretical framework of the study is discourse analysis with a discourse psychological approach. The method for data collection was focus groups, where voice teachers from a variety of voice educations talked about their views on voice registers. The conversations were conducted via a video call and were recorded with both audio and video. After the transcription, the material was analysed with discourse analysis to distinguish various interpretative repertoires. The result shows a number of interpretative repertoires as the voice teachers describe their constructions, uses of and experiences regarding voice registers. The result shows that the voice teachers adapt the terms depending on the understanding of the pupils, which indicates an individualization based on age and level of education. In the voice teachers’ statements a contrast is evident in ways of working with register terms, that is, as something articulated or unarticulated. The result shows how some of the educators construct and argue for the use of concepts in relation to musical genres. In addition, a view is raised that the voice educator rather teachssomething in which he or she is familiar with, which clarifies yet another possible conclusion: that the voice educator teaches in the field that he or she is mastering, rather than what the pupil is most comfortable with. In the statements of the voice teachers an interpretative repertoire appears in how the voice educators' own frustration and experience of difficulties have become a driving force for their own teaching. In the discussion, the most prominent interpretative repertoires are raised from the results and discussed in relation to the theoretical perspective and previously presented relevant literature and research.

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.

Die Physik der Lauterzeugung (Phonation) wurde mit Hilfe der Theorie der Nichtlinearen Dynamik untersucht. Digitale Hochgeschwindigkeitsaufnamen von Schwingungen in menschlichen und nichtmenschlichen Kehlkoepfen, digitale Bildanalyse, Signalanalyse und Modenanalyse wurden zur quantitativen Beschreibung nichtlinearer Phaenomene eingesetzt. Es wurden nichtlineare Phaenomene bei stimmkranker (pathologischer) menschlicher Lauterzeugung untersucht, wie auch in stimmgesunden Singstimmen und in Kehlkoepfen von nichtmenschlichen Saeugetieren mit Stimmlippen-Membranen. Durch Bifurkationsanalyse eines einfachen mathematischen Modells fuer Stimmlippen mit Membranen konnten beobachtete Lautmuster nichtmenschlicher Saeugetiere qualitativ "nichtlinear gefittet" werden. Die Schwerpunkte dieser Arbeit waren: 1. die Klassifikation von Lautmustern in zeitgenoessischer Vokalmusik, um Erzeugungsmechanismen fuer komplexe Stimmklaenge zu erklaeren, die im kuenstlerischen Kontext vorkommen. Im besonderen war die Rolle der Quelle-Trakt-Kopplung von Interesse; 2. Instabilitaeten in Stimmpatienten, die durch Asymmetrien in einzelnen Stimmlippen wie auch zwischen den Stimmlippen verursacht wurden; 3. dynamische Effekte von duennen, leichten und schwingenden Stimmlippen-Membranen, vertikalen Fortsaetzen der Stimmlippen bei Saeugetieren. Stimmlippen-Membrane finden sich in Kehlkoepfen von Fledermaeusen und Primaten, wo sie einerseits zur Ultraschallerzeugung verwendet werden und andererseits fuer eine grosse Lautvielfalt sorgen. Ein Stimmlippen-Membran-Modell wurde entwickelt, um dieses diverse Lautrepertoire zu reproduzieren. Dieses Modell zeigte zwei Stimmregister. Ueber die Geometry der Stimmlippen-Membrane konnte der subglottale Einsatzdruck minimiert werden und der Druckbereich fuer Phonationen vergroessert werden. Numerische Simulationen demonstrierten, dass das phaenomenologische Stimm-Membran-Modell das Lautrepertoire von Fledermaeusen und Primaten qualitativ reproduzieren konnte. / In this thesis, the physics of phonation was discussed using the theory of nonlinear dynamics. Digital high speed recordings of human and nonhuman laryneal oscillations, image processing, signal analysis, and modal analysis have been used to quantitatively describe nonlinear phenomena in pathological human phonation, healthy voices in singing, and nonhuman mammalian larynges with vocal membranes. Bifurcation analysis of a simple mathematical model for vocal folds with vocal membranes allowed a qualitative ''nonlinear fit'' of observed vocalization patterns in nonhuman mammals. The main focus of the present work was on: 1. the classification of vocalizations of contemporary vocal music to provide insight to production mechanisms of complex sonorities in artistic contexts, especially to nonlinear source-tract coupling; 2. pathological voice instabilities induced by asymmetries within single vocal folds and between vocal folds; 3. the dynamic effects of thin, lightweight, and vibrating vocal membranes as upward extensions of vocal folds in nonhuman mammals. In nonhuman mammals, vocal membranes are one widespread morphological variation of vocal folds. In bats they are responsible to produce ultrasonic echolocation calls. In nonhuman primates they facilitate the production of highly diverse vocalizations. A vocal membrane model was developed to understand the production of these complex calls. Two voice registers were found in the vocal membrane model. The vocal membrane geometry could minimize phonation onset pressure and enlarge the phonatory pressure range of the model. Numerical simulations of the model revealed instabilities that qualitatively resembled observed vocalization patterns in bats and primates.