Consequences from emotional stimulus on breathing for singing
Viggo Pettersen and Kåre Bjørkøy
Introduction: Singing is a physical as well as an artistic act. Some singing teachers are aware of this truth and use scientific facts, additionally to years of experience from singing and teaching singing, in a holistic approach to teach classical singing. Two extremities of approaches are, on the one verge, the technically intense pedagogue who may not understand why so little success attends a public performance of a student who has mastered the technical precepts of the studio so well. On the other verge, some singers are taught to solve their technical problems by focusing on vocal colours and expressive singing, convinced that there are no technical matters that cannot be solved through involvement in text and music.
On advanced classical singing students, this study will investigate the effect from emotional stimulus on intercostal (INT), abdominal (rectus abdominis (RC), lateral abdomen (OBL), lower lateral abdomen (LOBL)) muscles’ activity and trunk wall (upper (UTX)/lower (LTX) thorax and abdomen (ABD)) movement.
Material and method: Electromyographic (EMG) activity patterns (INT, RC, OBL and LOBL) and trunk wall movement patterns (UTX, LTX and ABD monitored by strain gauge sensors) will be compared between singing with (ES) and without (NES) emotional stimulus. Secondly, EMG loading will be investigated.
Results: The main finding in this investigation is that classical singers change their breathing pattern when they vocalize using ES compared with using NES. The results implies that vocalizing using ES facilitate the lower lateral abdominal muscles (LOBL) a more prominent role in the positioning of the abdominal wall and thorax during phonation, whereas, the role of the anterior abdominal muscles (RC) are less significant.
Discussion.The results will be illustrated and discussed.
Viggo Pettersen* and Kåre Bjørkøy**
*Universityof Stavanger, Department of Music and Dance, N-4068 Stavanger, Norway
** Royal Academy of Music, Århus, Denmark and Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Address for correspondence: Viggo Pettersen, Department of Music and Dance, University of Stavanger, N- 4036 Stavanger, Norway,
e- mail: viggo.pettersen@uis.no