Summary
Objective
The breathing technique is a determining factor for the singer's sound quality and
consequently crucial for the choral sound. However, very little is known about possible
influences of the conductor's preparatory gesture on the way choral singers inhale
before the beginning of a piece (respectively every subsequent phrase). The conducting
literature does not discriminate between out- and inward preparatory gestures and
even describes them as equivalent, but previous studies suggest that singers assign
different types of inhalation to different preparatory gestures. It may therefore
be assumed that the type of preparatory gesture has a direct influence on the singer's
inhalation and tone production, and the aim of this study is hence to examine possible
effects of two contrasting preparatory gestures on the singer's inhalation type and
the resulting tone quality.
Methods
In our within-subjects study design, 18 healthy choral singers (9 male/ 9 female)
were recruited to participate in a laboratory experiment. The participants were asked
to sing a tone suitable for their voice register in response to different video stimuli.
These consisted of two conducting-videos, each showing a different preparatory gesture,
and two control conditions with an animated bar and an arrow indicating the desired
breathing type. The singers reacted to 10 sets of videos, each set consisting of the
four stimuli in randomized order. For evaluation of the breathing behavior and vocal
output during the different experimental conditions, chest wall kinematics of upper
rib cage, abdominal rib cage and abdomen were measured via 3D motion capture and voice
samples were recorded. The obtained data were filtered and compared using the repeated
measures analysis of variance and post hoc Tukey test for significant results. The
level of significance was set at P < 0.05.
Results
The results of the study show significant differences in volume of the abdomen between
the two different gestures (F1,17 = 24.04, η2 = 0.59, P = 0.0001), which can be validated by the two control measurements (F1,17 = 21.12, η2 = 0.55, P = 0.0002). An outward preparatory gesture evoked an abdominal breathing type while
an inward-upward movement led to an inhalation with a higher portion of clavicular
breathing. Furthermore, significant differences in timbre and loudness of the produced
tone could be observed. The maximum sound pressure level of the outward preparatory
gesture was significantly higher than in case of the inward-upward movement (F1,17 = 20.4, η2 = 0.56, P = 0.0004).
Conclusions
In contrast to the existing conducting literature, which does not discriminate between
out- and inward preparatory gestures, the results of this study show that the conductor's
choice of trajectory direction and form of the preparatory gestures elicit spontaneous,
gesture-specific reactions in singers’ breathing behavior as well as the corresponding
loudness and sound quality.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 19, 2022
Accepted:
June 1,
2022
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2022 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
