Real-Time Visual Feedback in Singing Pedagogy: Current Trends and Future Directions

Abstract

Singing pedagogy has increasingly adopted guide awareness through the use of meaningful real-time visual feedback. Technology typically used to study the voice can also be applied in a singing lesson, aiming at facilitating students’ awareness of the three subsystems involved in voice production—breathing, oscillatory and resonatory—and their underlying physiological, aerodynamical and acoustical mechanisms. Given the variety of real-time visual feedback tools, this article provides a comprehensive overview of such tools and their current and future pedagogical applications in the voice studio. The rationale for using real-time visual feedback is discussed, including both the theoretical and practical applications of visualizing physiological, aerodynamical and acoustical aspects of voice production. The monitorization of breathing patterns is presented, displaying lung volume as the sum of abdominal and ribcage movements signals. In addition, estimates of subglottal pressure are visually displayed using a subglottal pressure meter to assist with the shaping of musical phrases in singing. As to what concerns vibratory patterns of the vocal folds and phonatory airflow, the use of electroglottography and inverse filters is applied to monitor the phonation types, voice breaks, pitch and intensity range of singers of different music genres. These vocal features, together with intentional voice distortions and intonation adjustments, are also displayed using spectrographs. As the voice is invisible to the eye, the use of real-time visual feedback is proposed as a key pedagogical approach in current and future singing lessons. The use of such an approach corroborates the current trend of developing evidence-based practices in voice education.

Seeing Sounds: The Effect of Computer-Based Visual Feedback on Intonation in Violin Education

“…Paney and Kay (2015) examined the effect of computer-assisted simultaneous visual feedback on students' pitch matching skills and concluded that students experience musical development in a short time even when they have limited class hours. Lã and Fiuza (2022) suggest using visual feedback as an important approach in current and future voice training courses. Eldridge et al (2010) studied the effect of visual feedback on pitch recognition and reinforcement skills in piano education, and it was concluded that the group given auditory feedback had less pitch recognition skills than the group given visual feedback.…”

“…Based on the fact that sounds cannot be seen in music education, it can be said that auditory feedback is used more. With the increasing number of technological tools that provide real time visual feedback of sound, their impact on current and possible pedagogical applications in music education is also discussed (Lã & Fiuza, 2022). Technological developments, especially in the last 50 years, the widespread use of computers and mobile devices provide music educators and students with unrealized opportunities in terms of visualizing and evaluating sounds both in real time and offline (Acquilino & Scavone 2022).…”