A Comparison of Facial Muscle Activation for Vocalists and Instrumentalists

The purpose of this study was to compare the muscle activation of singers and instrumentalists while performing simple vocal exercises. Volunteer participants ( N = 28) were undergraduate music majors and minors, with an equal number being vocalists and instrumentalists. Participants performed five vowel sounds (ah, eh, ee, oh, oo), while electromyography of the zygomaticus and masseter muscles was sampled at 1,000 Hz. A statistically significant multivariate analysis of variance effect was obtained and follow-up analyses of variance showed instrumentalists had more masseter muscle activation than vocalists when performing “eh” and “ee.” Instrumentalists also had more zygomaticus muscle activation than vocalists when performing the “eh” vowel, but vocalists had more zygomaticus muscle activation when performing the “ah” vowel.

Singing for lung health for children with asthma

Heather Henry explains the physical and mental health benefits of vocal exercises for young people

Monitoring the Outcome of Phonosurgery and Vocal Exercises with Established and New Diagnostic Tools

Instrument-assisted measuring procedures expand the options within phoniatric diagnostics by quantifying the condition of the voice. The aim of this study was to examine objective treatment-associated changes of the recently developed vocal extent measure (VEM) and the established dysphonia severity index (DSI) in relation to subjective tools, i.e., self-evaluation via voice handicap index (VHI-12) and external evaluation via auditory-perceptual assessment of hoarseness (H). The findings for H (3 raters’ group assessment), VHI-12, DSI, and VEM in 152 patients of both sexes (age range 16–75 years), taken before and 3 months after phonosurgery or vocal exercises, were compared and correlated. Posttherapeutically, all of the recorded parameters improved (p<0.001). The degree of H reduced on average by 0.5, the VHI-12 score sank by 5 points, while DSI and VEM rose by 1.5 and 19, respectively. The correlations of these changes were significant but showed gradual differences between H and VHI-12 (r = 0.3), H and DSI (r = −0.3), and H and VEM (r = −0.4). We conclude that all investigated parameters are adequate to verify therapeutic outcomes but represent different dimensions of the voice. However, changes in the degree of H as gold standard were best recognized with the new VEM.

Features of Working on Breathing to Eliminate Tremolation in the Process of Learning to Sing

The article deals with the problem of eliminating one of the most common drawbacks in students’ singing – the presence of tremolation in the sound. It is noted that attention to this problem can be traced in the works of both Russian and Chinese scientists. At the same time, one of the ways to solve this problem is to develop proper singing breathing of future singers by introducing vocal exercises into the content of training, which are aimed at consciously controlling the singing apparatus when inhaling and exhaling. Analyzing the researchers’ views on breathing as the basis of singing intonation and their methodological recommendations, attention is drawn to the fact that in the works of Chinese scientists and practitioners, the main emphasis is on the use of special exercises, and the main thing is to develop the correct support for breathing. In the exercises recommended by Russian musicians-teachers, along with the technological component, the students’ attention is focused on the peculiarities of inhaling and exhaling, depending on the musical material being performed. One of the directions of vocal work to eliminate tremolation and even the possibility of its appearance, can be the acquirement of the correct breathing techniques by singers in the process of performing works that involve different ways of science of sounding.