Investigating The Relationship Between Sexual Hormones And Female Western Classical Singing

Lã, Filipa M.B.; Davidson, Jane W.

doi:10.1177/1321103x050240010601

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(32 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This special adaptation represents a 'three-dimensional' response to pitch relationships for which we may not be the only species to have acquired a perceptual grasp (Wright et al 2000), but which we are, significantly, the only species able to exploit both within gender groups, across the summation of female and male cooperation, and in joint activities involving infants and adults. Indeed, the human life-cycle is one which demands plasticity of timbral and pitched production as voices alter in range in relation to maturation and other biological features: adolescent voice change in males (Cooksey 1997); variation in range and timbre due to menarche, pregnancy and menopause in women (Abitbol et al 1989;Lã and Davidson 2005). This aspect of human vocal capacity is so important that it needs stressing further: while several species of bird and cetacean sing expressively, and some have extraordinary capacities for the imitation of other species and sound sources, human beings are the only species to have evolved the ability to sing in unison in both the dimensions of rhythmic co-ordination and precise pitch attunement.…”

Section: Figure 3 When and Why Humans Singmentioning

confidence: 99%

Language out of Music: The Four Dimensions of Vocal Learning

Bannan

2008

Australian J of Anthropology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A growing consensus drawing on research in a wide variety of disciplines has, over the last fifteen years or so, argued the need to revisit Darwin's conjecture of 1871 that language may be descended from an existing, musical medium of communication that developed from animal calls. This paper seeks to examine, in an extension of Hockett's analysis of the design features required for linguistic communication, the nature of the acoustic information produced and perceived in human vocalisation, and to consider the anatomical and neural mechanisms on which these depend. An attempt is made to sketch an evolutionary chronology for key prerequisites of human orality. Cross-species comparisons are employed to illuminate the role of four acoustic variables (pitch, duration, amplitude and timbre), viewing the potential for human vocal productivity from the perspective of animal communication. Although humans are the only species to combine entrainment to pulse with attunement to precisely-tracked pitches, we also depend both for musical interaction and the production and perception of vowel sounds on precise and conscious control of the property of timbre. Drawing on, amongst others, Scherer's analyses of emotionally triggered sounds in a variety of species, and Fernald's presentation of the similarities of infant cries and adult production of infant-directed speech in a variety of cultures and languages, a case is made for the instinctive components of human communication being more music-like than language-like. In conclusion, historical and comparative data are employed to outline the adaptive and exaptive sequence by which human vocal communication evolved. The roles of selective pressures that conform to different adaptive models are compared⎯natural selection, sexual selection, group selection⎯leading to the proposal that all of these must have played their part at different stages in the process in a 'mosaic' model consistent with the development of other human traits.

show abstract

Section: Figure 3 When and Why Humans Singmentioning

confidence: 99%

Language out of Music: The Four Dimensions of Vocal Learning

Bannan

2008

Australian J of Anthropology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Ongoing research (Welch & Howard, 2002;Welch, 2004) indicates that adolescent voice change is the same for relatively untrained female singers as for those who have been involved in sustained vocal performance, such as through membership of a female cathedral choir. However, as with adult female singers (Lã & Davidson, 2005), there is always some individual variation in the impact of puberty on the singer's voice related to slight differences in the underlying endocrinological metabolism and physiological functioning.…”

Section: Puberty and Adolescencementioning

confidence: 99%

Singing and Vocal Development

Welch

2006

The Child as Musician

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite the warmth in the room as they shook the snow off their winter coats and gathered around the kitchen table, there was a collective sense of nervousness and, in some cases, unease that was barely touched by the hostess' cheerful manner and greeting. Outside, the dark of a Newfoundland evening had already descended and the hostess wondered if some of the wind's icy chill was reflected in the body language. This gathering was to be the first of several sessions for the group when things usually unspoken, sometimes hidden for many decades, would be allowed to surface. You went to school, the first thing that happened, everybody had to be singing in little concerts and things. You go to class; the nuns would say, 'anybody can sing.' You'd go and you were embarrassed to tears because you knew you couldn't sing and there was no help.. . I was told.. . you really can't sing, you can go back to your classroom. Knight, S. interview with C., aged 50 (private communication) 'I remember playing skipping and singing on the street. I can't remember the tunes now. My sister-I remember singing a little bit to her, but I don't think I ever really thought I couldn't sing until Grade Seven [age 12] and the teacher and all my friends and I was in glee club and that was a major time. She stopped and said, 'Somebody is tone-deaf here.' She said, 'It's you, Julie, you're tone-deaf.' She said, ' You don't have any notes. You just can't sing along with the music at all.' I said, 'I really want to stay in glee club because my friends are there.' She said, 'You can stay in glee club but you're not allowed to sing. You just got to mouth the words. You can't sing.' From then on, I assumed that I was tone deaf. I never sang in any other choirs at all after that. I go to church most of the time and I mouth the words. If we are out with a bunch of friends at a party, I try to mouth the words. Maybe, if I had a drink or two, I might sing. And even when I heard myself, I felt that I couldn't sing. My voice is deep anyway.. . I know a lot of people have deep voices and are beautiful singers, but I just assumed that because my voice is deep that I couldn't sing.. . that's 35 years ago.. . I was sitting second row back and there were kids behind me. You can imagine how embarrassed I felt.' Knight, S. interview with V., aged 47 (private communication) We always sang. We'd sit on the fence in the evening, friends and stuff like this, and we'd sing different songs that would be on the go and, of course, you would be playing and there would be songs with that. But it was always something that we did. Then in Grade Six

show abstract

“…Ongoing research (Welch, 2004;Welch & Howard, 2002) indicates that adolescent voice change is the same for relatively untrained female singers as for those who have been involved in sustained vocal performance, such as through membership of a female cathedral choir. However, as with adult female singers (Lã & Davidson, 2005), there is always some individual variation in the impact of puberty on the singer's voice related to slight differences in the underlying endocrinological metabolism and physiological functioning.…”

Section: Puberty and Adolescencementioning

confidence: 99%

Singing and Vocal Development

Welch¹

2017

Teaching Primary Music

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Singing and vocal development: Introduction Despite the warmth in the room as they shook the snow off their winter coats and gathered around the kitchen table, there was a collective sense of nervousness and, in some cases, unease that was barely touched by the hostess' cheerful manner and greeting. Outside, the dark of a Newfoundland evening had already descended and the hostess wondered if some of the wind's icy chill was reflected in the body language. This gathering was to be the first of several sessions for the group when things usually unspoken, sometimes hidden for many decades, would be allowed to surface. My biggest recollection is school, of course. You went to school, the first thing the nuns would say,-Anybody can sing. You'd go and you were embarrassed to tears because you knew you couldn't sing, and there was no help… I can remember, at least a full row, if not two, in the classroom choirs or the singing choir, that you were told to pantomime. You had to go to music, and you had to listen to all the words and be able to mouth it or lip-sync it like everybody else, but you were not allowed to sing and you weren't allowed to turn it down. (Knight, 2010, pp. 108-9, interview with C., aged 50) I remember playing skipping and singing on the street. I can't remember the tunes now… I don't think I ever really thought I couldn't sing until Grade 7 and the teacher and all my friends and I were in glee club and that was a major time, she stopped and said-Somebody is tone deaf here. She said-It's you Vic, you're tone deaf. She said-You don't have any notes, you just can't sing along with the music at all… I can see the class, I was sitting second row back and there were kids behind me, you can imagine how embarrassed I felt. From then on I just assumed I was tone deaf… I guess obviously it was traumatic, to remember after 30 years. (Knight, 2010, p. 125, interview with V., aged 47) Then in Grade 6 [age 11] … I stood up to sing it and she told me to sit down, that I couldn't sing. Well, I was devastated … I'm sure I wanted to cry. Of course you came home, it was no good of telling your parents at the time that something like this had happened to you… And she was such a powerful person in the community… It stayed with me for so long. It was so degrading at the time. Even in high school, if there was anything to do with music, I hated music … I didn't learn it. I couldn't learn it, as I thought … I'm sure that [incident] affected it, in a lot of ways … maybe she just didn't have the knowledge and it didn't come to her-'I am doing something that's going to affect this child for most of her life.' That's probably the way it was. (Knight, 2010, p. 91, interview with L., aged 42) Over the next few weeks and months, these adults shared many similar detailed, yet negative, memories, particularly associated with their former schooldays. Despite the passing of time, these episodes of childhood were vividly recalled. A sense of embarrassment, shame, deep emotional upset, and humiliation were commonly evidenced, usually a...

show abstract

Investigating The Relationship Between Sexual Hormones And Female Western Classical Singing

Cited by 14 publications

References 18 publications

Language out of Music: The Four Dimensions of Vocal Learning

Language out of Music: The Four Dimensions of Vocal Learning

Singing and Vocal Development

Singing and Vocal Development

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About