Mike asked:
> do you use spectral analysis in lessons where the student sees the > analysis right away? if you don't, isn't that a missed oppurtunity or, is > that just too much of a pain in the butt? have any of you ever done > extensive analysis of non classical singers? are the analyses of such > singers too varied to make spectral analyses of such singers valuable? > (other than to say they more are less sing as an extension of speech). > have you ever seen a spectral analysis of a singer before hearing them sing > and have been quite surprised when you finally heard how they really sounded > compared to what you had imagined?
Spectral analysis is used a lot by speech pathologists. Mine used it and it was very helpful: she could prove to me I was improving. Improvements in this area may be so slow that you don't notice they're happening. My mother never notice my resonance changed ( in fact, she's got no idea of what that means ), but I could 'feel' it and the computer could prove it.
My speech therapist and my ENT too had also a strip that they hung on my neck, right on my larynx, that measures your pith in Hz. Isn't it great??
This is my dream of a perfect class:
The teacher has background not only in music and voice ( not only singing ), but also in physical education, physical therapy, body therapy, yoga, or any other area related to the details of human body.
The room is acoustically isolated. All the exercises are recorded on a CD, as well as the whole class, so that you can study at home and analyze your performance in class.
During the vocalizes and all the exercises during the class, your voice's spectral analysis is performed and the student can use biofeedback principles to adjust whatever is shown ( by both the computer and the teacher ) to be enhanced.
If the student has pitch problems, that strip I mentioned above is used in order that the student can try to reach and memorize the internal sensation of singing that pitch.
The teacher has samples of different singers doing different things in order to illustrate what is desirable and what's not. That will help make students develop a sense and search for quality that they may not develop without the right models.
CD-ROM-computer-animated videos show the anatomy involved in that lesson, if necessary. They also have transversal and front perspectives of the phonatory system showing how phonemes are pronounced in different languages.
Videoke practice in the end of all classes, so that the students apply to a song what they have seen during the class ( or a previous class ).
Any other suggestions?
Bye,
Caio Rossi
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