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In early childhood, the first vocal attempts follow the general contours of the target melody. Those attempts gradually improve, turning into a more accurate performance both in melodic shape and tonal stability. The aim of this study was to test some categories disigned to typify children´s vocal development during childhood. These categories involve vocal emission and tonal stability. A group of forty three children were selected between forty and fifty months old in a kindergarten school of La Plata, Argentina. The task consisted of singing two chosen songs: one beginning in an ascendant pentachord and the other in a descendent one. We used a karaoke sound track in a comfortable tonality for the age (D Major). Answers were recorded and the responses were assessed by a team of judges. Melodic and tonal categories were designed to analyze the anwers. The songs were taught by a teacher. The test was supplied twice: each child was recorded singing both songs on two different days. The majority of the children sang with an emission pitch close to the speech mode without a tonal centre. The results show statistical signification and positive correlation between vocal emission and tonal categories in both songs.
Twang-like vocal qualities have been related to a megaphone-like shape of the vocal tract (epilaryngeal tube and pharyngeal narrowing, and a wider mouth opening), low-frequency spectral changes, and tighter and/or increased vocal fold adduction. Previous studies have focused mainly on loud and high-pitched singing, comfortable low-pitched spoken vowels, or are based on modeling and simulation. There is no data available related to twang-like voices in loud, low-pitched singing. Purpose: This study investigates the possible contribution of the lower and upper vocal tract configurations during loud twang-like singing on high and low pitches in a real subject. Methods: One male contemporary commercial music singer produced a sustained vowel [a:] in his habitual speaking pitch (B2) and loudness. The same vowel was also produced in a loud twang-like singing voice on high (G4) and low pitches (B2). Computerized tomography, acoustic analysis, inverse filtering, and audio-perceptual assessments were performed. Results: Both loud twang-like voices showed a megaphone-like shape of the vocal tract, being more notable on the low pitch. Also, low-frequency spectral changes, a peak of sound energy around 3 kHz and increased vocal fold adduction were found. Results agreed with audio-perceptual evaluation. Conclusions: Loud twang-like phonation seems to be mainly related to low-frequency spectral changes (under 2 kHz) and a more compact formant structure. Twang-like qualities seem to require different degrees of twang-related vocal tract adjustments while phonating in different pitches. A wider mouth opening, pharyngeal constriction, and epilaryngeal tube narrowing may be helpful strategies for maximum power transfer and improved vocal economy in loud contemporary commercial music singing and potentially in loud speech. Further studies should focus on vocal efficiency and vocal economy measurements using modeling and simulation, based on real-singers’ data.
The aim of this study was to test a hypothesis that if learners created more precise auditory representation from singing a melody, they could learn piano playing to reach at a higher level of performance. Seven novice piano players of varied ages learned to play novel musical pieces with and without singing their melodies. The time period of practice sessions for learning each melody with and without singing conditions was equalized. After all practice sessions, their performances were recorded to MD. The players themselves and 13 qualified piano teachers as a third party evaluated recorded music based on preciseness of performance with the given score, naturalness of the melody, and appropriateness of expression of the music. In addition, the present experimenter counted the percentages of error-free notes. The mean values of each of these variables for the singing and non-singing conditions were compared within each of the learners. It was found that four of the players attained higher scores under the singing condition than the non-singing condition whereas the others were opposite. The former group of players was found to have greater experience of daily singing than the latter group of players. Within each participant, the results of the evaluation were fairly consistent among the self-judgments, the third party’s evaluations, and the percentage of error-free notes. It was concluded that the auditory representation articulated by singing could play a role in facilitating learning piano playing for the learners having familiarity with singing.
Choral singing as a leisure activity is associated with increased well-being effects. It is also known that women engage more often in singing activities than men do. The objective of the study was to investigate how emotional states vary on pre and post measurements of a regular choral rehearsal in groups of female and male choral singers. Participants were 212 individuals (women n=152, men n=60) from eleven choirs (amateur n=6, advanced n=5). Results showed that in accordance with the literature on emotions and gender, women reported significantly more positive emotional states than men did related to participating in a regular choral rehearsal. However, few differences were found. Moreover, descriptive data pointed at a pattern of gender differences. Women and men reported similar levels of negative emotions, but varied more in changes of positive emotional states on pre and post measurements. The absence of gender differences might be due to the fact that this group of choral singers had been engaged in choral singing for many years and therefore, their experiences and expectations of choral rehearsals were similar.
An experienced singer learned Stravinsky’s Ricercar 1, for soprano and small instrumental ensemble for public performance and annotated copies of the score to indicate the location of musical features that she attended to during practice and performance cues that she attended to during performance. During the next five years, she wrote out the words and music from memory six times. Recall was initially perfect, but declined over time as portions of the piece were progressively forgotten. Landmarks in recall were marked by a sharp increase in the probability of recall followed by a gradual, linear decrease as the serial cuing of successive bars broke down. Landmarks occurred at important points in the music (structural boundaries and interpretive performance cues) where retrieval cues provided content addressable access to memory, allowing the singer to restart the chain of associations after interruption by a gap where the music was forgotten. Lacunae occurred at places where the singer attended to the other musicians (shared performance cues for arrival/off). The probability of recall progressively decreased in bars preceding lacunae and then increased again in the bars that followed. Serial position effects in her written recall of the score thus revealed which aspects of the music the singer had attended to during practice.
The objective of this study was to develop a usable working method for therapeutic singing group for the elderly. Since in the near future the amount of the elderly is growing enormously the society has to interact to the changing situation. The therapeutic singing group created in this study is one solution how to offer activities and support for the well being of the elderly. This study is a participatory action research. The study is based on the researches, which have shown that singing has a possible effect on wellbeing. The data for the study was collected from my clinical training material and questionnaires. The important aspect for the case study was the spiral and cyclic working, through which the method for the model was developed. The results show that music is a good working tool to explore issues from the present and the past, to share experiences, to do remembering, to connect people from different backgrounds, to have social interaction and to refresh mind and body and to have therapeutic music experiences. The most important consideration is that music affects both biomedical and psychosocial sides of any human being.
Theories of Embodied Cognition assert that simulation mechanisms underlie inter-subjective communication. On this basis we posit that by solely assessing only visual component of a performance, a naïve audience could make similar judgments to those ones elicited by audiovisual or aural perception. Five vocal performances by performers of different levels of expertise were assessed using various of perception (audiovisual, visual and aural perception) by 90 musically uneducated subjects randomly assigned to a specific modality. Subject’s task consisted of pronounce an aesthetical judgment of the performances using an 11-point scale. Results assessed by ANOVA test of repeated measures showed significant differences between the factors SINGERS (F 16,296 p< 0,000) and CONDITION (F 8,622 p< 0,001) meaning that singers were judged differently among them and that, judgments were quantitatively different through each perceptual modality. Instead, factors’ interaction (SINGERS x CONDITION) was non significant (F 1,090 p<0,372) indicating that each singer was similarly evaluated via the three perceptual modalities. Consequently, results support the idea of a cross-modal correspondence in the reception of vocal performance. Besides, the lack of knowledge of the lyrics and the style of the musical piece on the part of the audience, allows us to suppose that judgments were based on sensory-motor simulations.
There has been a recent upsurge of interest in the neural and cognitive bases of inaccurate singing, commonly referred to as “tone deafness.” Explanations of this deficit have commonly focused on perceptual and motor functions. It is clear, however, that neither of these mechanisms can fully account for deficits in singing. We summarize the results of several studies concerning inaccurate, or “poor pitch” singing. Taken together, the results of these studies argue that the basis for singing-related deficits lies in the link between perception and action, rather than strictly motoric or perceptual factors. Moreover, singing deficits may involve general purpose vocal imitation mechanisms, rather than mechanisms that are specific to music.
This study intends to provide some evidence about the body involvement in the meaning production in song performance. It analyzes body actions that are not basic requirement for sound production, during the elaboration process of an interpretative performance of a work. These actions are observed in relation to structural and emotional-expressive content of the piece. A professional soprano sang an opera aria four successive times (as a rehearsal), making both technical and expressive adjustments and delineating a personal interpretation along the repetitions. Performances were filmed and micro-movements were analyzed assisted by Diglo 12.0 system. The analysis of the climax phrase of the aria reveals: (i) the first two performances with the singer’s movements showing particular common features on the highest and longest tones in the passage (always associated to some sort of expansive action); (ii) these features are elaborated and incorporated in the following trials; (iii) Expansion is not always elicited with the same gesture (as it is understood as both the shape and the physical resources of the movement), but it is identified in different axes and body parts; therefore, (iv) it is not a stereotyped gesture emulating a given feeling or dramatic content; on the contrary, (v) as its expansive qualities remain while the gesture itself is always different. Observed actions are discussed as pre-conscious and sub-personal. The singer’s intentionality does not focus on them. The action refers to a particular expressive content of music. It is a particular way of feeling. Thus, meaning come to light from non-conscious bodily movements and perceptions. Intended meaning comes out from the way in which the body shapes (feels) the dynamic qualities of the performance.
This paper presents evidence on choral singers’ perceptions of the physical health benefits of choral singing. It is based on a thematic analysis of answers given to a single open question included in a questionnaire survey of over 1,000 choral singers in Australia, England and Germany: ‘What effects, if any, does singing in a choir have on your physical health?’ The question was carefully worded to be as open as possible, to allow respondents to say that singing has no effects or to identify both positive and negative effects on health. Four findings stand out from this study. Firstly, many respondents did not answer this question or expressed a belief that singing does not have effects on physical health. Secondly, there was a clear spectrum of confidence in the substantive answers respondents gave when identifying effects – usually benefits. Some answers were given very tentatively, whereas others were given with a great deal of confidence. Thirdly, with respect to the positive benefits identified by choristers, four areas stand out most clearly: effects on breathing and lung function; posture and body control; relaxation and stress relief, and physical activity and energy. And finally, the analysis of choristers’ answers has helped to suggest some of the hypothetical mechanisms at work which link the activity of singing to aspects of physical health. The limitations of this study are considered and recommendations made for future research.
This study assesses the interaction of the postural control system and the production of expressive vocal behavior during speech and singing. In particular, we focus on the head, whose motions have been implicated for both postural control and spoken language production. How does head motion behavior simultaneously serve posture control and linguistic communication during vocalization? This study examines the interaction of these two subsystems by measuring the effects of different levels of vocal effort (loudness) on speech and singing. We show that as vocalizations becomes louder the correspondence between measures of head motion and speech acoustics become less complex and better coordinated spatiotemporally. In order to show that the head-voice coordination indeed concerns posture control, the same coordination effects are demonstrated for time-varying measures of body posture, measured with force plates under each of the performer's feet.
"Words as Events introduces the tradition of short, communicative rhyming couplets, the mantinádes, as still sung and recited in a variety of performance situations on the island of Crete. Recently, these poems have also entered modern mass media and they are widely being exchanged as text messages by Cretans. Focusing on the multi-functionality of the short form, Sykäri demonstrates how the traditional register gives voice to individual experiences in spontaneous utterances. The local focus on communicative economy and artistry is further examined in a close analysis of the processes and ideals of composition. By analyzing how the “restrictions” of form and performative conventions in fact generate impulses of creativity, the author creates a theoretical approach that is sensitive to the special characteristics of the short, rhymed poetic traditions. In this interdisciplinary study, the reader is invited to become familiar with the current folklore theory of oral poetry, which has a long tradition in Finland. The author combines the results of earlier folkloristic and anthropological insights, and extends the theoretical concerns further to address questions of spontaneity and individual agency. The research data has been produced in communicative interactions during long-term fieldwork. As a result, the short, rhymed poetry, often neglected by scholars in earlier research paradigms, can now be seen in new light – specifically as dialogic poetry – through its extended, multi-layered dialogic qualities."
In singing, the perceptual term 'voice quality' is used to describe expressed emotions and singing styles. In voice physiology research, specific voice qualities are discussed using the term phonation modes and are directly related to the voicing produced by the vocal folds. The control and awareness of phonation modes is vital for professional singers to maintain a healthy voice. Most studies on phonation modes have investigated speech and have used glottal inverse filtering to compute features from an estimated excitation signal. The performance of this method is reported to decrease at high pitches, which limits its usability for the singing voice. To overcome this, this study proposes to use features derived from the modulation power spectrum for phonation mode classification in the singing voice. The exploration of the modulation power spectrum is motivated by the fact that, in singing, temporal modulations (known as vocal vibrato) and spectral modulations hold information of the vocal fold tension. Since there exists no large publicly available dataset of phonation modes in singing, we created a new dataset consisting of six female and four male classical singers, who sang five vowels at different pitches in three phonation modes (breathy, modal, and pressed). Experimental results with a support vector machine classifier reveal that the proposed features show better classification performance compared to state-of-the-art reference features. The performance for the current dataset is at least 10% higher compared to the performance of the reference features (such as glottal source features and MFCCs) in the case of target labels and around 6% higher in the case of perceptually assessed labels.
This article discusses the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on singing with children in schools by providing a descriptive analysis of a comparative look at children's experiences of their singing habits and emotional well-being during the first Covid-19 lockdown. Covid-19 has established itself as (for now) an ever-present variable in our daily lives. This paper offers a descriptive analysis of a comparative study of the Covid-19 lockdown(s) influence on children's singing habits and emotional well-being in Italy, Austria, and Finland. A survey was carried out on children and young people aged 10-20 from Austria, Finland, and Italy on how the Coronavirus lockdown has impacted their everyday lives and their general well-being. Attributes analysed are age, gender, emotional response on the change of singing habits, singing habits before and after Covid-19 lockdown. Until it is certain that rehearsals and communal singing can take place without health risks, alternative options should be explored to effectively plan online teaching in the future. It is the hope that this research, which is only but a start, will spark further research into the matter and contribute to the development of systems and platforms where children can continue their educational and music educational growth by ensuring an uninterrupted singing experience.
Acoustic signals of birds have two basic functions: mate attraction and territory defense, which are interrelated. Noise waves interact with bird’s song, resulting in reinforcement and interference or reverberations, i.e. noise hinders clear sound transmission. It forces birds to either adapt to high noise levels or to move to another area. Earlier studies showed that some bird species increase the frequency or amplitude of their songs, change the time of singing, and reduce song length to cope with urban noise. However, the Whitethroat (Sylvia communis) was not among the studied species in that topic. The aim of this research was to study the effects of urban noise on singing of the Whitethroat, based on nine selected parameters: minimum element frequency, maximum element frequency, maximum spectral frequency of an element, length of elements, song length, total number of elements in a song, number of different elements in a song, singing activity, and length of pauses between songs. Singing males were recorded for ten minutes per male in two study areas: Sebezh city (urban) and Sebezhsky National Park (rural). Songs from both study areas were compared using song spectrograms on the nine study parameters. The study showed that acoustic communication of the Whitethroats is also affected by noise. Recorded males in urban area had shorter song elements and shorter pauses between songs than in National Park. Other parameters were not statistically different. However, several aspects that could affect the results were not included in this research, such as level of noise, age of the male, mating status, presence of singing neighbors, developmental history, and resource abundance. Besides, larger sample sizes could provide more reliable conclusions. Despite the fact that the difference in singing of the Whitethroats in urban and rural areas was found, further studies would provide a better understanding of the effects of urban noise on singing of the species.
Naisten populaarikulttuuri on usein liitetty kulutukseen, ei niinkään tuottamiseen. Lukuisat tutkimukset ovat kuitenkin osoittaneet, että työskennellessään yhdessä sekä pienissä työpajoissa, että tehdasteollisuudessa naiset todennäköisesti laulavat miehiä useammin ja he myös laulavat yhdessä eivätkä ainoastaan yksinään. Juuri nämä naisryhmät ovat jääneet vaille työlaulujen kerääjien huomiota, eivätkä kerääjät ole myöskään olleet kiinnostuneita yhdessä laulamisesta. Tässä artikkelissa haluankin tarkastella juuri yhteislaulamisen dynamiikan kehittymistä työpaikoilla. On jossain määrin paradoksaalista, että tähän dynamiikkaan usein liittyy jopa niinkin henkilökohtaisia asioita kuin sopivan puolison valinta. Nauhoitetun musiikin toistamisella työpaikoilla on tietty funktio, kun taas Belfastissa tehty tutkimus osoitti, että naisten oma laulaminen ei ole ainoastaan voimaannuttavaa vaan myöskin vastavuoroista. Naisten työlaulujen on todettu palvelevan kolmea tarkoitusta, jotka ovat aikajärjestyksessä: rytmin luominen työprosessiin, yhteisöllisyyden rakentaminen ja ryhmäidentiteetin aikaan saaminen. Laulut loivat usein diskursiivisen kontekstin, jossa naiset itse puhuivat eivätkä tarvinneet ketään puhumaan puolestaan. He itse toimivat symbolisen minuutensa siirtämisessä puhujaan. Artikkelissa esitän, että työlaulujen kaltaiset sosiaaliset käytänteet voivat syntyä ja elää ainoastaan kiinteässä yhteisössä, jonka jäsenet viettävät yhdessä tuntikausia työnsä ääressä tai toimiessaan yhdessä työn ulkopuolella mielenosoituksessa tai karnevaaleissa.
Monissa tutkimuksissa on osoitettu, että ikääntymiseen liittyvä kognitiivinen heikkeneminen heijastuu auditoristen tapahtumasidonnaisten herätepotentiaalien (ERP) P1- ja N1-vasteiden sekä poikkeavuusnegatiivisuuden (MMN) muutoksiin. Niin ikään musiikillisen aktiivisuuden, erityisesti ammattimaisen muusikin harjoittamisen, on osoitettu heijastuvan näihin vasteisiin. On esitetty hypoteeseja, että musiikilliseen toimintaan osallistuminen (esim. soittaminen, laulaminen) suojaisi aivoja ikääntymisen vaikutuksilta. Tämän poikkileikkaustutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli tutkia, voisiko pitkäaikainen kuorolauluharrastus heijastua yleisiin (P1, N1) tai muutokseen liittyviin (MMN) auditorisiin herätevasteisiin yli 60-vuotiailla henkilöillä (N = 54). Tutkimuksessa käytetyt ärsykkeet olivat sinimuotoisia ääniä. Poikkeavat ärsykkeet erosivat standardiäänistä taajuudellaan tai sijainniltaan. Perustuen aikaisempiin tutkimuksiin oletettiin, että kuorolauluharrastus suojaa henkilöitä ikääntymiseen liittyvältä kognitiiviselta heikkenemiseltä heijastuen kuoroharrastajien ryhmässä matalampina P1- ja suurempina N1-vasteina, sekä vahvistuneina MMN-vasteina kontrolliryhmään verrattuna. Tilastollisesti merkitsevä vuorovaikutus ryhmän ja ERP-vasteen välillä voitiin ANOVA-analyysissä havaita P1-vasteessa sijainniltaan 36° ja 72° standardista poikkeavien äänten kohdalla. Tutkimushypoteesin vastaisesti kuorolaulajien ryhmässä P1-vaste oli suurempi kuin kontrolliryhmässä; efektikoko oli keskikokoinen kaikilla kolmella tarkastellulla aivoalueella (frontaali-, keski- tai parietaalialue). Muuten ryhmät eivät eronneet toisistaan merkittävästi. Tutkimuksen avulla ei pystytty osoittamaan oletushypoteesin mukaista vaikutusta. Tämä voi selittyä sillä, että tutkimukseen osallistuneet kuorolaulajat olivat taidoiltaan heterogeeninen, ammattilaisten sijasta harrastajista koostuva ryhmä, mikä heikentää ryhmän mahdollista vaikutusta ammattilaisista koostuvaan ryhmään verrattuna. Mitään vaikutusta ei havaittu, kun ryhmien ERP-vasteita tutkittiin ikäryhmittäin (nuoremmat/vanhemman seniorit). Post hoc -regressio-analyysissä havaittiin, että mitä pitkäkestoisempi kuoroharrastus koehenkilöllä oli, sitä parempi oli erotuskyky standardiäänestä yhden tai kahden kokosävelaskeleen poikkeamille (suurempi MMN-vaste). Malli toimi parhaiten keskimmäisessä tutkituista aivoalueista (ROI C). Vastaavaa ei havaittu helpompien, taajuudeltaan tai sijainniltaan standardista poikkeavien äänten kohdalla. Tämä antaa viiteitä siitä, että pitkäaikainen kuorolauluharrastus voi mahdollisesti vaikuttaa auditoriseen sävelkorkeuden muutokseen liittyvän informaation prosessointiin.
This thesis aimed to explore the correlation between group singing and personal as well as community well-being. It focused on the emotional, cognitive, social, and physical aspects of well-being. Additionally, participants emphasized the significance of its spiritual dimension. The research sought to raise awareness of the well-being aspects of singing and emphasize the potential of arts-based events in promoting the development of a healthy community. For this thesis qualitative research was conducted with five participants of the six-month singing course held mostly biweekly. The target group were private individuals aged 18 and above, coming from diverse backgrounds and without professional musical education. Data collection involved open interviews which were recorded, transcribed, and later analysed. The results proved that group singing has a beneficial effect on personal aspects of well-being, consequently contributing to the community’s well-being. All five participants expressed a positive influence on their emotional and social well-being, emphasizing terms such as joy, togetherness, trust and support. Cognitive and physical dimensions of well-being were less evident, while the spiritual dimension was characterized by a sensation of peace, balance and a sense of belonging to something greater. Furthermore, participants unanimously agreed that the benefits of group singing could be extended within their communities. These findings align with an existing knowledge base, confirming the positive effects of group singing on overall well-being.
Voice teachers’ concern of children’s deficiency of voice control and its consequences on children’s use of voice was the premise for research. The purpose of the thesis was to detail what kind of voice challenges were discovered in primary pupils singing. The research also provided answers to the following questions: Were there any similarities in the challenges of children´s vocalism? What kind of issues of vocalism should be paid attention to when have the children sing? Also an answer was received to the question if people working with prima-ry pupils singing felt that children´s vocalism had changed during their careers. The study was carried out as a qualitative research using the survey and new survey research method. Research material was collected through an online survey. The survey included both open questions and multiple choice. Answers to the survey were obtained from 36 professi-onals involved in children’s singing. According to the survey´s results, children perceived to have challenges with vocalism while singing. It also pointed out that lowered and diminished register and porous sound were congruent features in children’s use of voice while singing. Those working with primary pupils singing, experienced that during their careers children’s register was lowered and voice lea-kage was increased. As children’s voice teaching increases and because of the noticed changes in use of children’s voice, more education for this topic is needed in the future. Research and literature about challenges of children’s use of voice and voice teaching in general is increasingly needed.
The primary aim of the study was to assess the effects of choral class singing on vocal performance in primary school children. In particular, changes of the singing voice in terms of voice range profiles (VRP) and dysphonia severity index (DSI) were measured over the period of one school year. A further aim was to compare the effects of choral singing and regular music curriculum. A total of 50 5th-graders were assigned to two groups. Tuition of the choral singing group (n = 32) entailed a focus on singing in class as well as weekly 30-minute-sessions of special vocal training in small groups. Children in the regular music tuition group (n = 18), which also included singing, were given extra playtime. VRP and DSI were measured individually at the beginning and end of the school year. The two groups did not differ at baseline. Significant increases in the dependent measures were detected a year later in choral singing children only. There were no significant changes of vocal development in those children receiving regular music tuition. This study suggests that special training in choral singing supports children’s vocal development. Singing education thus may have differential effects on vocal plasticity in post-lingual children.
Singing plays an important role in a vocal musician’s wellbeing. Literature on singing training focuses more on the prevalence of performance anxiety and voice science. On the other hand, therapy case studies often do not include assessments specific to the voice and singing. Focusing on MPA of singers may overlook aspects of singing that are as pertinent in therapy. The present study aimed to explore the feelings and attitudes of Finnish singing majors towards solo singing, which may need to be addressed in therapy. Four validated Likert questionnaires relating to perceptions of singing from the fields of psychology and voice medicine were compiled to assess vocal musicians’ perspectives more thoroughly. Invitations were sent to the 8 Polytechnic universities in Finland offering the degree Musiikkipedagogi AMK. Thirty students responded to the survey. Comparison of means and correlations were performed and discussed. Intrinsic and identified motivations correlated with the perceived psychological benefits from singing and vocal image. Perceived vocal fatigue correlated with vocal image. Further investigations may elucidate the positive and negative aspects of solo singing in the Finnish culture. Standardized questionnaires specific to singing revealed the involvement of vocal function and vocal image in a trained singer’s wellbeing state. Further studies are warranted to formulate an extensive questionnaire suitable for solo singers undergoing therapy.
Today, music is a familiar component of people’s daily sound environment, and a significant amount of popular music contains English vocals. It has been established by various studies that music can aid language learning, but the studies have mainly been concerned with the effects of purposefully using music to boost learning. The aim of this study, however, was to investigate whether it is possible to acquire English pronunciation through listening to English music (= music with English vocals) and singing in English during one’s spare time without the intention of learning. The study examined 44 lower secondary school English students in Southwest Finland via a questionnaire and a picture description task (PDT). The PDT produced speech samples that were evaluated by a jury of nine native speakers of English based on three pronunciation criteria: accuracy, fluency, and intelligibility. The results of the study suggested that the English music people consume in their spare time could actually be beneficial for the development of their English pronunciation both directly and indirectly. The direct factors included natural language input and versatile output opportunities, whereas the indirect factors had to do with music’s capability to influence the learner’s motivation and affect, such as mood and attitudes. Especially singing in English seemed to be linked to better English pronunciation. The aim of this study is to inform people about the subconscious benefits of the day-to-day English music consumption as well as to encourage English learners to engage in English language music if they wish to improve their English pronunciation.
Vapaa-ajasta on tullut suomalaisille yhä tärkeämpää (Liikkanen 2004; 2009,7). Harrastukset rentouttavat, virkistävät ja mahdollistavat jopa henkilökohtaisen kehittymisen (Hanifi 2005, 129). Tämän opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena on toteuttaa kehittämistyö, jonka avulla lauluharrastuksen palvelut muodostuisivat asiakaskeskeisimmiksi ja siten tuottaisivat asiakkaille parempaa arvoa. Kehittämistyön tavoitteena on luoda asiakaskeskeisiä palvelukonsepteja ja ideoita laulun opetukseen. Kehittämistyön lopputuotoksena syntynyt ”ideakatalogi” luovutetaan helsinkiläismuusikko MB:lle, joka voi halutessaan hyödyntää sitä mahdollisen laulunopetusliiketoiminnan kehittämisen yhteydessä tulevaisuudessa. Työn teoreettinen viitekehys pohjautuu asiakaskeskeisen liitetoimintalogiikan ja motivaation tutkimuksen periaatteisiin. Työn molemmat teoreettiset kulmakivet korostavat ihmisen ja asiakkaan käyttäytymisen taustalla olevien tiedostettujen ja tiedostamattomien ”metaprosessien” ja ympäristön vaikututuksen ymmärtämisen kompleksisuutta. Motiivit ohjaavat ihmisen käytöstä (Ruohotie 1998, 36) ja ihmisten motivaatioiden ymmärtäminen muodostuu tärkeäksi, kun asiakkaille suunnitellaan ja kehitetään lisäarvoa tuottavia palveluita. Motivaation tutkimuksen ja asiakaskeskeisen liiketoimintalogiikan tietoperustan lisäksi palvelumuotoilun ja palveluajattelun menetelmät ohjaavat kehittämistyön toteutusta. Kehittämistyön projektin toteutus seuraa Double Diamond -palvelumuotoiluprosessia hyödyntäen lukuisia palvelumuotoilun menetelmiä, kuten haastattelua, taustatutkimusta, affinity diagram -kaaviota, persona-profiileita, sailboat-menetelmää, asiakaspolkukarttaa, ideointia, hyödyllisyys-toteuttettavuus-analyysiä, sekä konseptikortteja. Isoa osaa menetelmistä käytettiin työpaja-työskentelyn aikana. Kehittämistyö osoittaa, että palveluntarjoajien on tärkeää sekä ymmärtää asiakkaan elämän konteksteja että pyrkiä löytämään keinoja osallistua asiakkaiden jokapäiväisiin käytäntöihin ja toimiin, sillä vain näin voidaan kehittää palveluita, jotka luovat todellista arvoa asiakkaille. Kehittämistyön tulosten pohjalta voidaan todeta, että pääasialliset haasteet laulun opetukseen osallistumisessa ovat olennaisen ja riittävän tiedon, harrastusmahdollisuuksien ja oikean opettajan löytäminen. Lisäksi kipupisteiksi voivat muodostua rahan haaskaus oikeaa opettajaa ja ryhmää etsiessä sekä kiireisen ja epäsäännöllisen elämän ja lauluharrastuksen yhteensovittaminen. Laulun opetuksen tarjoajat voisivat hyötyä näiden tunnistettujen haasteiden huomioimisesta liiketoiminnassaan. Kehittämistyön osana toteutetussa työpajassa ideoitiin neljä palvelukonseptia vastaamaan edellä mainittuihin pääasiallisiin haasteisiin: vertaisarviointiportaali, ilmainen kokeilukerta, eritasoiset ryhmätunnit sekä verkkovaraus ”Endless Music”. Samankaltaisia palveluita ja ideoita hyödynnetään jo monilla eri palvelualoilla. Kehittämistyön johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että näiden ideoiden hyödyntäminen laulunopetuksen palveluiden kehittämisessä näyttäisi olevan kannattavaa, sillä ne tarjoaisivat ratkaisuja asiakkaiden haasteisiin. Toisena kehit-tämistyön johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta, että laajentamalla ja syventämällä asiakaslogiikan ja motivaation tutkimuksen tietoperustaa voitaisiin luoda uusia kehittämistyön mahdollisuuksia mille tahansa palveluliiketoiminnan alalle.
Työn tarkoituksena on auttaa laulunopiskelijaa raskauden ajan opintojen ja äitiysloman suunnittelussa sekä opintoihin palaamisessa. Työn tehtävänä on antaa myös tietoa raskauteen ja synnytyksestä palautumiseen liittyvissä kysymyksissä laulunopettajalle. Monelle korkeakoulussa opiskelevalle laulajalle lapsen hankkiminen on iän ja elämäntilanteen puolesta ajankohtainen asia. Raskaus aiheuttaa kuitenkin suuria muutoksia laulajan kehossa. Palautuuko keho ennalleen? Entä miten opiskelu onnistuu pienen lapsen äidiltä? Voiko äidistä tulla hyvä laulaja? Olen lähestynyt aihetta haastattelemalla ammattikorkeakouluopintojensa aikana lapsia hankkineita laulajia. Kaikki haastateltavat ovat Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulun opiskelijoita (tosin haastatteluajankohtana koulun nimi oli vielä Helsingin Ammattikorkeakoulu Stadia). Lisäksi haastattelin asiantuntijanäkökulmaa saadakseni kahta laulunopettajaa. Haastatteluissa esiin nousseiden asioiden tueksi etsin sitten tutkimustietoa. Tärkeimpiä kysymyksiä olivat mm. miten hyvin ja kuinka pitkään voi laulaa, ja kuinka nopeasti keho palautuu synnytyksen jälkeen. Yleinen raskauden aikainen kokemus laulajilla oli se, että laulaminen tuntui jopa helpommalta ainakin keskiraskauden aikoihin. Jotkut kokivat löytäneensä sellaisen tasapainon keskivartaloonsa, että siitä oli hyötyä vielä myöhemmässäkin elämässä. Mitään huomattavia muutoksia limakalvoissa ei oltu havaittu, vaikkakin joskus loppuraskauden aikoihin saattoi olla lisääntynyttä limaneritystä ja turvotusta. Myöskään imetyshormonien ei oltu koettu vaikuttaneen laulamiseen. Palautumisvaiheessa tärkeimmäksi koettiin lantionpohjalihasten ja poikittaisen vatsalihaksen harjoittaminen lihasten palautumisen edistämiseksi. Palautumisvaihe kesti kahdesta viikosta puoleen vuoteen. Ennätys laulutunnille palaamisessa oli yksi viikko ja esiintymään palaamisessa kolme viikkoa. Lyhyimmillään äitiysloma kesti yhden lukukauden ajan. Pisimmillään laulunopiskelija voi joutua olemaan poissa kaksi lukuvuotta. Vaikean raskauden aikana ei välttämättä voi laulaa lainkaan. Yleisimpiä työkyvyttömyyden aiheuttajia raskaana olevalle laulajalle voivat olla esim. pahoinvointi, ennenaikaiset supistukset, hengityksen vaikeutuminen ja reflux-oireet. Esiin nousi myös vahvasti toive siitä, että korkeakoulun tulisi voida joustaa poissaolokausien suhteen. Myös osa-aikaisen opiskelun mahdollisuutta toivottiin. Laulajan tulee päästä pian synnytyksen jälkeen äänelliseen ohjaukseen, mutta pienen vauvan äiti ei voi opiskella täysipäiväisesti.
Itäisissä traditiossa, esimerkiksi Hindulaisuudessa, mutta myös erilaisissa länsimaalaisissa uskonnollisissa liikkeissä kuten New Agessa, esiintyy ajatus seitsemästä energiakeskuskesta kehossa. Niitä kutsutaan chakroiksi. Alin chakra sijaitsee lantiossa ja korkein pään yläpuolella, ja viisi muuta chakraa sijaitsevat eri paikoissa pitkin selkärankaa. Laulaessa keho on fysiologisesti aktiivisessa tilassa. Aktiivisuus alkaa lantiosta ja liikkuu ylöspäin kohti äänihuulia ja päätä. Olen tässa opinnäytetyössä tehnyt tutkimuksen siitä, miten chakrojen toiminnot korreloivat fyysiseen toimintaan laulamisen aikana. Olen tarkastellut sitä miten yksittäinen chakra ja toiminta sen alueella laulamisen aikana kuuluvat yhteen, ja myös miten useiden chakrojen yhteistyö liittyy laulamiseen. Oma työskentelyhypoteesini on ollut, että ymmärrys chakroista ja niiden tehtävista olisi hyödyllistä laulajalle. Olen analyysissäni löytänyt sekä selviä korrelaatioita chakrojen ja laulutekniikan välillä, että löysempiä indisioita, jotka voidaan tulkita korrelaatioksi.In Eastern traditions such as Hinduism, but also in various kinds of western spirituality, especially New Age, there is an idea of seven centres of energy present in the body, traditionally referred to as chakras. The lowest chakra is situated in the pelvis and the highest one just above the head, and the five other chakras at various locations along the spinal column. During singing, there is a high physiological activity starting at the area below the waist, moving upwards towards the vocal cords in the throat and then up towards the head where the breath and the sound waves leave the body. In this thesis I have made an investigation about how the idea of the chakras and their functions are correlating to bodily activity during singing, both with attention towards individual chakras and to activity in the area of a specific chakra during singing, but also towards the correlation of several chakras. My working hypothesis is that an understanding of chakras and their functions would be beneficial for a performing singer. I have, during my analysis, found that there are both more obvious correlations present between chakras and singing technique, as well as looser indicia that can be interpreted as correlations.
After experiencing premature birth, fragile infants have to spend weeks and even months on the ward because of their medical needs. This can be stressful both for parents and infants and increase the risk of early interaction problems and difficulty in bonding. In this qualitative study I was interested to find out what kinds of experiences parents had with parental singing during kangaroo care. I was also interested in examining the nursing staff’s attitudes, observations and thoughts about using music on the ward. I conducted my study within a Kangaroo Families study on the L2 ward at Jorvi hospital, Espoo. My study consists of interviews from 4 mothers that participated in the Kangaroo Families study and of 15 questionnaire answers from the nursing staff. The results showed that parental singing had a positive effect on the premature infants' and parents' wellbeing by relaxing them and by making the development of the early interaction and bonding process easier. Parental singing gave empowering experiences to the parents as it helped them to be in the moment, connect emotionally with the infant, and to be actively involved with the infants' care. Parents found that singing was a natural way to be in contact and to create a soothing sound environment in the case of infant's distress. Furthermore, kangaroo care – combined with singing – was experienced as a more all-encompassing experience and it had a positive effect on bonding. In nurses’ experience, singing can be an effective way to relax infants and parents as well as to support the development of early interaction.
Kielen ja musiikin yhtäläisyydet ja eroavaisuudet ovat herättäneet mielenkiintoa viime vuosina niin neurotieteiden, psykologian, musiikkitieteiden, kuin kielitieteidenkin parissa. Koska kieli ja musiikki ovat molemmat kommunikaation välineitä, on luonnollisesti kiinnostavaa tutkia, millaisia yhtäläisyyksiä tai eroavaisuuksia niiden prosessoiminen sisältää. Näitä samankaltaisuuksia on sitten pyritty hyödyntämään useilla eri osa-alueilla, yhtenä niistä kielenoppimisessa. Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena oli luoda katsaus klassisen laulajan kielenoppimiseen: ammatin asettamiin kielellisiin vaatimuksiin, sekä oppimisen haasteisiin ja etuihin. Tutkimuksella oli kaksi tavoitetta: niistä ensimmäisenä selvittää, millaisessa roolissa laulunopiskelijat näkevät kielet ja kielenoppimisen laulajan ammatillisessa kompetenssissa. Tulosten oli siten tarkoitus toimia eräänlaisena klassisen laulajan kielenoppimisen tarveanalyysina. Toisena tavoitteena oli tarkastella kielellisen ja musiikillisen oppimisen yhteyksistä ja samankaltaisuuksista, sekä niistä mahdollisesti koettuja hyötyjä. Tätä tavoitetta lähestyttiin tarkastelemalla kielellisiä ja musiikillisia oppimisstrategioita. Tutkimusta varten haastateltiin viittä (5) klassisen musiikin laulajaksi opiskelevaa ammattikorkeakouluopiskelijaa. Haastatteluissa aihetta lähestyttiin sekä käytännön kautta simuloimalla uuden kappaleen opettelua että yleisemmällä tasolla keskustellen. Tutkimus osoitti, että kielet ja kieltenoppiminen tässä hyvin spesifissä kontekstissa ovat moniulotteinen ja kompleksinen kokonaisuus: yhtäältä ne koetaan olennaiseksi osaksi laulamista ja laulajan ammattitaitoa, toisaalta niiden tärkeys on rajoittunut ja painottuu enemmän tietyille kielen osa-alueille. Tarve erityisille, laulajille suunnatuille oppimismateriaaleille ja kursseille kävi siten ilmeiseksi. Tutkimuksen osallistujien kuvailut käyttämistään oppimisstrategiosta sekä oppimiskokemuksistaan viittaisivat siihen, että kielellinen ja musiikillinen oppiminen ovat tässä kontekstissa pitkälle toisiinsa vaikuttavia ja joiltain osin jopa erottamattomia prosesseja. Laulajien asenteet ja omat kielenoppimiskokemukset eri kielistä vaikuttivat mm. laulunvalintaan ja laulujen harjoittelumotivaation. Toisaalta oma musikaalisuus sekä kielen opiskelu musiikin kautta – tai sitä varten – oli koettu kielitaitoa monella tapaa hyödyttävänä.
Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli kartoittaa akustisen tunneilmaisun parametrejä lauluäänessä ja pohtia tunneilmaisun lauluteknistä koulutettavuutta. Tutkimuskysymyksiä lähestyttiin kvantitatiivisesti mittaamalla lauluäänestä erilaisia akustisia parametrejä, jotka saattaisivat kontributoida tunneilmaisuun. Tutkimuksessa suoritettiin kuuntelukoe, jossa kuulijat arvioivat laulunäytteistä tunnetta ja tunteen intensiteettiä. Akustisista parametreista saatuja tuloksia verrattiin kuuntelukokeen tuloksiin pyrkimyksenä löytää yhteisiä tekijöitä akustisten vihjeiden ja tunteen dekoodaamisen välillä. Lauluäänen tunneilmaisun koulutettavuutta pyrittiin testaamaan aktivoimalla koelaulajien muistiedustuksia suggestion avulla. Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin lisäksi, erottaako kuulija eroja äänellisessä tunneilmaisussa koulutettujen ja kouluttamattomien laulajien välillä. Tutkimuksessa käytetty laulunäyteotos valittiin koulutettujen ja kouluttamattomien laulajien perusjoukosta. Koehenkilöiden tehtävänä oli tuottaa tunnepitoista ääntä kolmiportaisella asteikolla. Tunnetiloiksi valittiin viha, suru ja ilo + neutraali. Suggestiotuokio toteutettiin haastatteluna. Kuuntelukoetta ja akustista analyysiä varten näytteistä leikattiin lyhyt pätkä (500 600 ms) [a:]-äännettä. Kuuntelukokeessa pyrittiin selvittämään, tunnistaako kuulija tunteen ja/tai tunteen intensiteetin laulunäytteestä. Kaikki tässä tutkimuksessa käytetyt akustiset mittaukset laskettiin 231 näytteen aineistosta Praat-analyysiohjelmalla. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin akustisten mittausten perusteella (F0-F5, Alfa-ratio, dB, jitter, shimmer, HNR), että tunteiden ilmaisussa käytetään äänen voimakkuuden vaihtelua, formanttituunausta ja ääniraon adduktioasteen vaihtelua. Akustisten parametriensä perusteella muista tunteista selvästi erottui voimakkaasti ilmaistu viha, jonka formanttirakenne ja voimakkuus poikkesivat muista tunteen akustisista ilmauksista ja neutraalista. Suggestion jälkeen akustisissa parametreissä tapahtui pientä hienosäätöä mm. äänenvoimakkuuden käytössä ja formanttirakenteissa. Tässä aineistossa koulutettujen ja kouluttamattomien laulajien akustisesti mitattavissa oleva ero näkyi äänenkäytön monipuolisuutena koulutetuilla laulajilla. Tunteen tunnistaminen lyhyistä laulunäytteistä näytti tämän tutkimuksen perusteella olevan melko vaikeaa. Tunnekohtaisesti katsottaessa viha oli selkeästi parhaiten tunnistettu, eikä laulajan koulutus tuonut tilastollista merkitsevyyttä tunteen tunnistamiseen. Vihan ja surun tunnistamisessa oli havaittavissa käänteinen korrelaatio. Ilon ja surun tunteet olivat huomattavasti paremmin tunnistettuja koulutettujen laulajien ääninäytteistä. Lisäksi intensiteetti tunnistettiin selvästi paremmin koulutettujen laulajien ääninäytteistä. Tutkimustulosten valossa näyttää siltä, että tunteen koodaaminen akustiseen informaatioon tapahtuu yhtä paljon skaalaamalla kuin biomekaanisesti. Laulaja näyttää normittavan eri tunnetilojen akustiset piirteet suhteessa omaan neutraaliääntöönsä. Eri tunteilla näyttää olevan toisistaan poikkeavat akustiset profiilit, mutta puheäänestä poikkeava sävelkorkeus saattaa vaikeuttaa tunteen tunnistamista. Tutkimuksen tuloksiin nojaten voidaan ajatella, että lauluäänen tekninen kouluttaminen tunneilmaisun habituaalisia akustisia parametrejä myötäillen voi edesauttaa tunteen tunnistettavuutta.Tutkimustulosten valossa näyttää myös siltä, että akustista tunneilmaisua kannattaa tehdä laulaessa mieluummin liioitellusti kuin varoen. ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to map the acoustic parameters of the singing voice in emotional expression and contemplate on their educability in the context of vocal technique. The study questions were approached quantitatively by measuring acoustic parameters that might contribute to emotional expression from the singing voice. A listening test was conducted to determine whether it was possible to hear the induced emotion and its' intensity from the singing samples. The acoustic parameters of the samples were then compared with the results of the listening test to find commonality between acoustic cues and decoding of emotional information from the singing voice. The educability of emotional expression in singing voice was tested by activating the memory traces of the subjects by means of suggestion. It was also tested whether or not there were differences in emotional expression between singers with formal singing education and singers who didn't held a degree in singing. Four singers were included in the study; two educated and two uneducated. Singers were recorded during a singing task, expressing three different emotions (happiness, sadness, anger) with three different intensities (mild, moderate, maximal) and one without emotion (neutral state). Samples were recorded before and after influencing subjects by suggestion. The suggestion was made by following the guidelines of perceptual-motor learning in a form of an interview. Samples were cut to a 500-600 ms stretch of vowel [a:] from which the acoustical analysis and the listening test were performed. In the listening test auditors (N4) were asked to identify the emotion and its' intensity being portrayed in a sample. All of the acoustic measurements in this study were calculated with Praat computer software that is designed for the analysis of speech. According to the acoustical measurements (F0-F5, Alfa-ratio, dB, jitter, shimmer, HNR) of this study it can be said that acoustical expression of emotion in singing voice is done in part by varying the intensity of voice, by formant tuning and by varying the adduction of the glottis. Strongly expressed anger stood out from other emotions and neutral with a different formant structure and loudness level. After the suggestion there were slight tuning of the acoustic parameters especially in formant structures and loudness. In this data it was clearly shown that the educated singers used their voices more diversely to portray emotions than the uneducated singers. Recognizing emotion from a short excerpt proved to be difficult. Anger was the most recognizable emotion and it was statistically well identified regardless of the singers' educational background. Anger and sorrow correlated negatively with each other. Happiness and sorrow were considerably better recognized from the samples given by educated singers. Also intensity was significantly better identified from them. In the light of this data it looks like that the acoustic coding of emotional information to the signal is as much of a scaling process as it is a biomechanical feat. The singer seems to be standardizing the characteristics of a given emotion to his/her own neutral phonation. Different emotions seem to have distinctive acoustic profiles, but the singing voice might make it more difficult to recognize emotions because of the broader pitch variation. This research data indicated that vocal technique that comply the habitual acousic parameters of discrete emotions might aid the listener to better distinguish between emotions. In the light of this sudy it looks that the emotional interpretation in singing is best done overstated rather than understated.
Both in speech and singing, humans are capable of generating sounds of different phonation types (e.g., breathy, modal and pressed). Previous studies in the analysis and classification of phonation types have mainly used voice source features derived using glottal inverse filtering (GIF). Even though glottal source features are useful in discriminating phonation types in speech, their performance deteriorates in singing voice due to the high fundamental frequency of these sounds that reduces the accuracy of source-filter separation in GIF. In the present study, features describing the glottal source were computed using three signal processing methods that do not compute source-filter separation. These three methods are zero frequency filtering (ZFF), zero time windowing (ZTW) and single frequency filtering (SFF). From each method, a group of scalar features were extracted. In addition, cepstral coefficients were derived from the spectra computed using ZTW and SFF. Experiments were conducted with the proposed features to analyse and classify phonation types using three phonation types (breathy, modal and pressed) for speech and singing voice. Statistical pair-wise comparisons between the phonation types showed that most of the features were capable of separating the phonation types significantly for speech and singing voices. Classification with support vector machine classifiers indicated that the proposed features and their combinations showed improved accuracy compared to usually employed glottal source features and mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs).
Aim Studies examining the long-term effects of neonatal music interventions on the cognition of children born preterm are scarce. We investigated whether a parental singing intervention before term age improves cognitive and language skills in preterm-born children. Methods In this longitudinal two-country Singing Kangaroo randomised controlled trial, 74 preterm infants were allocated to a singing intervention or control group. A certified music therapist supported parents of 48 infants in the intervention group to sing or hum during daily skin-to-skin care (Kangaroo care) from neonatal care until term age. Parents of 26 infants in the control group conducted standard Kangaroo care. At 2–3 years of corrected age, the cognitive and language skills were assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition. Results There were no significant differences in cognitive and language skills between the intervention and control groups at the follow-up. No associations between the amount of singing and the cognitive and language scores were found. Conclusion Parental singing intervention during the neonatal period, previously shown to have some beneficial short-term effects on auditory cortical response in preterm infants at term age, showed no significant long-term effects on cognition or language at 2–3 years of corrected age.