Effects of Three Common Choral Configurations on Acoustic and Perceptual Measures of a Soprano Section’s Sound

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of three choral configurations on a soprano section’s sound. The first configuration resembled a choir section without an assigned standing position, the second configuration grouped singers by timbre, and the third used acoustic-compatibility placement. Three conductors configured a university soprano section ( N = 13) who were audio-recorded singing in each configuration and answered questions about their perceptions. Audio recordings were analyzed acoustically using long-term average spectra and perceptually through pitch analysis and listener perceptions. Results indicated that participants sang with significantly increased spectral energy in the acoustic-compatibility configuration ( p < .001), and both singer and listener participants preferred intentional standing configurations over the random standing configuration. Findings from this study suggest that choral directors can use intentional configurations in conjunction with 2 ft intersinger spacing to improve singer comfort and overall sound.

Body motion of choral singers

“…Singers agree, to some extent, on their preferences for several sound factors, which can be objectively measured. Choir singers and listeners prefer intentional intra-section singer configurations (in which choristers stand next to each other based on their timbral and acoustic compatibility) to random configurations, because of higher blend and tone quality and better ability to hear self and others in the intentional configurations (Gilliam, 2020). Soprano, alto, tenor, and bass (SATB) choristers prefer spread configurations between singers to close configurations, as spread spacing was found to increase hearing of the self and the ensemble and also contribute to a better choral sound compared to close configurations (Daugherty et al, 2012(Daugherty et al, , 2019.…”