32nd Annual Student Research Conference
Kool Down With Kazoos: Comparison Between Active Vocal Cool-Down and Silence in Acappella Singers.
Abbie E. White*, Gretchen M. Sadler, Savanna V. Ott, and Savannah R. Moore
Dr. Julia D. Edgar, Faculty Mentor
Vocal warm-ups are commonly accepted as productive among professional singers, however, vocal cool-downs are much more controversial. To determine the benefit of vocal cool down, we compared the vocal quality of acapella singers when they completed a semi-occluded vocal tract exercise to when they rested their vocal folds using silence. While straws are commonly used for semi-occluded vocal tract exercises, we chose to use kazoos as our instrument.
Each singer participated in two sessions using a repeated measures experimental design with counterbalancing. The singers were randomized to either a “semi-occluded vocal tract cool-down” or “silence cool-down” for their first session and then did the opposite task for the second. The program Computerized Speech Laboratory was used to complete an acoustic analysis of the voice recordings. Sustained vowels, six sentences, a paragraph, and the performance of “Happy Birthday” were analyzed to determine which cool down yielded the best vocal quality.
Keywords: Kazoo, Voice, Acapella , Cool-down, Semi-Occluded Vocal Tract Cool-Down, Vocal quality , Singers , Communication Disorders
Topic(s):Communication Disorders
Music
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 3-1
Location: SUB GEO
Time: 3:00