EFFECTS OF VOCAL REGISTRATION TRAINING ON THE VOCAL RANGE AND PERCEIVED COMFORT OF THE ADOLESCENT MALE SINGER by STACEY L. SASSI A Dissertation presented to The Graduate Committee in the Mason Gross School of the Arts Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS Graduate Program in Music Education written under the direction of Dr. Rhonda Hackworth and approved by _________________________________________ ________________________ Rhonda S. Hackworth, Ph.D. Date _________________________________________ ________________________ William Berz, Ph.D. Date _________________________________________ ________________________ Richard Chrisman, Ph.D. Date _________________________________________ ________________________ Patrick Gardner, D.M.A. Date _________________________________________ ________________________ Stephen Oosting, D.M.A. Date New Brunswick, New Jersey December 2009 i ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to investigate adolescent male vocal registers and repertoire selection for middle school choirs. Subjects included seventh and eighth grade boys (N = 48) enrolled in elective mixed choirs at a single middle school in Northern New Jersey. The study was designed to determine (a) the vocal range of subjects before and after vocal registration training, (b) the perceived comfort level of subjects before and after vocal registration training, and (c) the preferences of subjects toward 3-part and SATB arrangements. Data were collected on the dependent variables of (a) lowest pitch sung, (b) highest pitch sung, and (c) total range sung. Subjects sang 3-part (Treatment 1) and SATB (Treatment 2) choral literature and rated the comfort of each. A concluding attitudinal survey was used to investigate attitudes regarding 3-part mixed and SATB repertoire. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant increase in total range (p < .001). A significant difference in the lowest pitch was observed (p < .05) in addition to a significant difference in highest pitch (p < .001). No significant differences were found between the two treatment periods on a measure of vocal comfort. Survey responses revealed a significant preference toward SATB music (p < .001). Results replicated Emge (1996), suggesting that seventh and eighth grade boys are capable of singing a wider range than commonly thought possible. Subjects sang both 3 and 4-part arrangements with a general sense of vocal comfort. ii CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.......................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES........................................................................................................vii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................... 1 Statement of Purpose ..................................................................................... 2 Research Questions........................................................................................ 3 Hypotheses .................................................................................................... 3 Assumptions .................................................................................................. 4 Limitations .................................................................................................... 5 Definition of Terms ....................................................................................... 6 Need for the Study......................................................................................... 7 2. LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................... 9 Proponents of School A ............................................................................... 10 Proponents of School B................................................................................ 21 Research on Adolescent Singers in Choral Ensembles.................................. 26 Summary ..................................................................................................... 30 3. METHOD.......................................................................................................... 32 Subjects ....................................................................................................... 32 Setting ......................................................................................................... 33 Teacher........................................................................................................ 34 Duration....................................................................................................... 34 iii Data Collection............................................................................................ 35 Range Testing Procedure ............................................................................. 35 Outside Evaluators....................................................................................... 36 Choral Selections Taught ............................................................................. 37 Vocal Comfort Measurement ....................................................................... 37 Attitudinal Survey........................................................................................ 39 Data Analysis............................................................................................... 40 4. RESULTS ......................................................................................................... 42 Descriptive Statistics.................................................................................... 42 Research Question One................................................................................ 46 Research Question Two ............................................................................... 54 Research Question Three ............................................................................. 55 5. DISCUSSION ................................................................................................... 60 Vocal Range ................................................................................................ 60 Vocal Comfort............................................................................................. 63 Attitudinal Data ........................................................................................... 65 Future Research ........................................................................................... 67 Summary ..................................................................................................... 68 REFERENCES........................................................................................................ 70 Appendix A. CONSENT LETTERS................................................................................. 77 B. RANGE TESTING INSTRUCTIONS ......................................................... 83 C. VOCAL RANGE CHART........................................................................... 86 iv D. COMFORT LEVEL CHART....................................................................... 88 E. TREATMENT 2 EXERCISES..................................................................... 91 F. PARTICIPANT SURVEY........................................................................... 93 G. POST HOC ANALYSES............................................................................. 97 H. RAW DATA BY SUBJECT ........................................................................ 99 v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Comparison of McKenzie and Cooper & Kuersteiner’s Stages of the Male Adolescent Voice Change ............................................................... 13 2. Adolescent Tenor Ranges for Junior High School as Defined by Phillips (1996) .............................................................................................. 25 3. Comparison of Ranges and Tessituras for Choral Selections .............................. 38 4. Total Vocal Range over Three Trials ................................................................. 47 5. Means for Highest and Lowest Pitch by Grade Level......................................... 51 6. Means for Highest and Lowest Pitch by Voice Part............................................ 51 7. Significant Quadratic Increase in Highest Pitch Sung......................................... 54 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Summary of John Cooksey’s Six Stages for Changes of Voice in the Adolescent Male ...................................................................................... 15 2. Demographic Distribution of Subjects ............................................................... 33 3. Choral Selections Taught................................................................................... 37 4. Summary of Methodology ................................................................................. 40 5. Subject Distribution for Vocal Range Testing.................................................... 43 6. Pearson Product Moment Results for Inter-Rater Reliability .............................. 43 7. Sample Means and Standard Deviations for Vocal Range .................................. 44 8. Means and Standard Deviations for Vocal Range by Grade ............................... 45 9. Means and Standard Deviations for