An Ultrasonographic Observation of Saxophonists’ Tongue Positions While Producing Front F Pitch Bends by Ryan C. Lemoine A Research Paper Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Musical Arts Approved April 2016 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Joshua Gardner, Co-Chair Christopher Creviston, Co-Chair Sabine Feisst Robert Spring ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2016 ©2016 Ryan C. Lemoine All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Voicing, as it pertains to saxophone pedagogy, presents certain obstacles to both teachers and students simply because we cannot visually assess the internal mechanics of the vocal tract. The teacher is then left to instruct based on subjective “feel” which can lead to conflicting instruction, and in some cases, misinformation. In an effort to expand the understanding and pedagogical resources available, ten subjects—comprised of graduate-level and professional-level saxophonists— performed varied pitch bend tasks while their tongue motion was imaged ultrasonographically and recorded. Tongue range of motion was measured from midsagittal tongue contours extracted from the ultrasound data using a superimposed polar grid. The results indicate variations in how saxophonists shape their tongues in order to produce pitch bends from F6. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge and thank the saxophonist who volunteered their time to make this study possible. Also a special thanks to the members of my doctoral committee: Joshua Gardner, Christopher Creviston, Sabine Feisst, and Robert Spring. They have all been sources of encouragement and inspiration, not only during these final stages of my degree process, but for the duration of my studies at Arizona State University. I truly appreciate and would like to thank Dr. Christopher Creviston for his guidance and insight in helping to mold me into a better musician. A huge thanks goes to Dr. Joshua Gardner for agreeing to help a saxophonist complete a science project and providing meticulous edits! I also want to sincerely thank my wife Romy, for her help editing and constant support during this project. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1 Select Vocal Tract Anatomy ................................................................... 2 Select Ultrasound Imaging .................................................................... 4 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................. 8 3. METHODS AND MATERIALS ...................................................................... 16 Overview ........................................................................................... 16 Subjects/Equipment ........................................................................... 16 Data Collection and Processing............................................................. 17 4. RESULTS ................................................................................................ 26 5. DISCUSSION ........................................................................................... 33 6. CONCLUSION .......................................................................................... 39 REFERENCES ..................................................................................................... 41 APPENDIX A. SUBJECT: CCB02242015 ....................................................................... 43 B. SUBJECT: CLC02242015 ....................................................................... 48 C. SUBJECT: DOM02172015 ...................................................................... 52 D. SUBJECT: DSP05142015 ....................................................................... 57 E. SUBJECT: EMB02132015 ....................................................................... 62 F. SUBJECT: JDR02192015 ....................................................................... 67 G. SUBJECT: PJM02242015 ....................................................................... 72 H. SUBJECT: RCL02242015 ....................................................................... 77 iii APPENDIX Page I. SUBJECT: SAD02132015 ....................................................................... 82 J. SUBJECT: TJF02172015 ........................................................................ 87 K. AVERAGED RANGE OF MOTION FOR ALL SUBJECTS PER TASK ................... 92 L. ANTERIOR AND POSTERIOR RANGE OF MOTION PER SUBJECT .................. 96 M. ANTERIOR AND POSTERIOR CONTOUR RESULT TABLES .......................... 102 N. PERFORMANCE TASK SHEET ................................................................ 105 O. IRB APPROVAL AND RENEWAL ............................................................. 107 iv LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Average Range of Motion Between Contours 1-2 for all Subjects ................ 28 2. Average Range of Motion Between Contours 1-2 for all Subjects ................ 29 3. Average Anterior Range of Motion for Contours 1-2 ................................ 103 4. Average Posterior Range of Motion for Contours 1-2 ............................... 103 5. Average Anterior Range of Motion for Contours 2-3 ................................ 104 6. Average Posterior Range of Motion for Contours 2-3 ............................... 104 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Sagittal illustration of the vocal tract ......................................................... 3 2. Vowel Chart created by International Phonetics Association ....................... 11 3. Two-dimensional Midsagittal Tongue Contour Labeling Areas of Interest ..... 18 4. Single Ultrasound Frame in EdgeTrak ...................................................... 22 5. Task4 From Subject JDR02192015 With Superimposed Polar Grid .............. 24 6. Two-Dimensional Ultrasound Images Displaying Initial Contour Motion ....... 27 7. Two-Dimensional Contours between F6-C5 and Returning to F6 ................. 28 8. ROM Averaged for a Single Task Across All Subjects ................................. 30 9. Averaged ROM for Subject CCB Including Anterior/Posterior Divide ............ 30 10. Averaged ROM for Task 2: All Subjects .................................................... 31 11. ROM Comparing Anterior and Posterior Contour Areas .............................. 32 12. Contours for all Represented Task Pitches for one Subject ......................... 34 13. Contours That do not Follow Average Motion Path During Task 4 ................ 35 14. Subject Committing Error at Point of Attack During Task 6 ........................ 36 15. Ultrasound Images Displaying Imaging Quality......................................... 38 16. ROM Averaged for CCB02242015_Task 2 ................................................ 44 17. ROM Averaged for CCB02242015_Task 3 ................................................ 45 18. ROM Averaged for CCB02242015_Task 4 ................................................ 45 19. ROM Averaged for CCB02242015_Task 5 ................................................ 46 20. ROM Averaged for CCB02242015_Task 6 ................................................ 46 21. ROM Averaged for CCB02242015_Task 7 ................................................ 47 22. ROM Averaged for CLC02242015_Task 3 ................................................. 49 23. ROM Averaged for CLC02242015_Task 4 ................................................. 50 vi Figure Page 24. ROM Averaged for CLC02242015_Task 5 ................................................. 50 25. ROM Averaged for CLC02242015_Task 6 ................................................. 51 26. ROM Averaged for CLC02242015_Task 7 ................................................. 51 27. ROM Averaged for DOM02172015_Task 2................................................ 53 28. ROM Averaged for DOM02172015_Task 3................................................ 54 29. ROM Averaged for DOM02172015_Task 4................................................ 54 30. ROM Averaged for DOM02172015_Task 5................................................ 55 31. ROM Averaged for DOM02172015_Task 6................................................ 55 32. ROM Averaged for DOM02172015_Task 7................................................ 56 33. ROM Averaged for DSP05132015_Task 2................................................. 58 34. ROM Averaged for DSP05132015_Task 3b ............................................... 59 35. ROM Averaged for DSP05132015_Task 4................................................. 59 36. ROM Averaged for DSP05132015_Task 5b ............................................... 60 37. ROM Averaged for DSP05132015_Task 6................................................. 60 38. ROM Averaged for DSP05132015_Task 7................................................. 61 39. ROM Averaged for EMB02132015_Task 2 ................................................ 63 40. ROM Averaged for EMB02132015_Task 3 ................................................ 64 41. ROM Averaged for EMB02132015_Task 4b .............................................. 64 42. ROM Averaged for EMB02132015_Task 5 ................................................ 65 43. ROM Averaged for EMB02132015_Task 6 ...............................................