The Influence of Fundamental Frequency and Sound Pressure Level Range on Breathing Patterns in Female Classical Singing

Abstract

Each singer maintained her characteristic kinematic pattern regardless of F0 or SPL range, although these did influence aspects of RC and AB behavior. Given the essential role of breathing in classical singing, further work is needed to understand how singers develop their highly individual respiratory strategies and the principles by which each singer's breathing strategy can be optimized.

The effect of abdominal kinematic directives on respiratory behaviour in female classical singing

“…(ellipses and italics in original). Two singers reported by Collyer et al (7) showed initial rib-cage paradoxing (Singers A and D), and the remaining three showed initial rib-cage contraction, with one showing initial abdominal paradoxing (Singer B). One would expect that this same directive would have different consequences for each singer, particularly for Singer B.…”

“…Each singer's lung volume estimation was normalized to her vital capacity range (%VC), and end expiratory level was calculated by averaging 20 consecutive cycles from the initial period of quiet breathing (7). The start and end of phonation in each phrase of the song were identified using the free-field microphone signal, and lung volume measurements at those points were recorded as lung volume at initiation (LVI) and lung volume at termination (LVT), respectively.…”

“…This would suggest that singers must have significant, if not total, conscious control over all aspects of kinematic behaviour. Yet it would be illogical to suggest that the array of unique kinematic behaviours evidenced by highly trained classical singers performing exactly the same singing task (7,8) could be entirely the product of a relatively few pedagogical concepts. Individuality of breathing pattern at rest, in exercise, and asleep is well established (19Á23).…”

“…Although the individual singer shows strong consistency in individual chest-wall kinematic and lung volume behaviour when repeating tasks (7,8), breathing patterns for different tasks show a complex mediation by influences such as changes in fundamental frequency (7). Foulds-Elliott et al (16) found that singers asked to sing with 'emotional connection' began phrases at a higher lung volume and used more air despite using a lower sound level than without 'emotional connection'.…”

Listener Perception of the Effect of Abdominal Kinematic Directives on Respiratory Behavior in Female Classical Singing

“…Our results showed that assessment of the influence of any directive on vocal quality must take into account how and to what extent CWK behavior has actually changed, especially given the wide differences in singers' kinematic strategies that have been observed. [21][22][23] It seems reasonable to assume that the singers studied by Swank 10 would have shown a similar interactive effect of habit and directive, but without CWK data the extent to which this might have affected the acoustical results cannot be determined.…”