THE EFFECTS OF EXPERIENCED EASE OF A SINGER FROM PELVIC FLOOR-RELATED CUES

Objective: Previous research indicates that ease is an important goal for singers and postural cues may help with efficiency of technique. The purpose of this study is to explore the correlation between cues involving the pelvic floor and a singer’s perceived ease of their singing voice. This relationship will be investigated through the application of the EASE Survey to assess the self-perception of vocal ease during a singer’s phonation. This research explores the connection between postural cues to engage the pelvic floor and ease in the singing voice by determining how physical cues involving pelvic floor engagement impact a singer’s EASE score and if years of singing experience, voice type and sex assigned at birth predict the singer’s EASE score from pelvic floor-related cues during phonation.

Methods: Participants will engage in eight short video vocal warmups, four with standard singing exercises and four with additional pelvic floor engagement cues. Participants will complete pre- and post-warmup EASE surveys to determine their self-perceived ease that they experienced of their voice during phonation. All videos will be about 1-2 minutes in length, and participants will be asked to complete selected questions from the EASE survey after each video. The first four videos of vocal warm-ups will consist of a standard vocal warmup that only gives instruction for the notes and vowels of each exercise. The following four videos will repeat the previous warmups, but with physical cues for PF engagement. After each set of vocal warm-ups, every participant will answer questions relatingAnalysis will compare EASE Survey scores pre and post pelvic floor cues. and between the four pelvic floor cues used in order to determine effectiveness. Trends specific to sex assigned at birth, voice type, and years of experience will also be analyzed.

Results/Conclusions: Data collections are ongoing.