| Abstract Title | Pure Sound vs. Rough Sensation: Sorting the sensations of the sung tone |
|---|---|
| Submission Category | Voice Pedagogy |
| Presentation Type | Workshop |
| Willing to Present as Poster? | Yes |
| Abstract | “Pure Sound vs. Rough Sensation: Sorting the sensations of the sung tone.” This workshop explores the interplay of touch and hearing in vocal training, aiming to enhance teaching methods by understanding how we perceive sound and vibration. Sound reaches us as mechanical vibrations, perceived through both hearing and touch. Teaching directives for singing often draw upon common experiences of vibration throughout the body. The interplay between dark and bright tones, or the contrast of low and high-frequency energy, shapes our understanding of a sung note's style, vocal function, and quality. By linking vibrotactile awareness research with the sensations commonly associated with singing, we can enhance our understanding of these experiences. Recognizing the mechanisms and limitations of vibrotactile perception allows us to differentiate between the components of sound that can be felt and those beyond the vibrotactile threshold. Since the senses of touch and hearing are intimately connected, with overlapping ranges, it's intriguing to note that we can feel low frequencies better than we can hear them. In contrast, we hear high frequencies that we cannot feel. Moreover, low frequencies tend to sound pure but feel rough, while high frequencies sound rough but are imperceptible as touch above 1000 Hz. In this workshop, participants will delve into these concepts through interactive demonstrations. We will use balloons to explore our tactile awareness of sound, tuning forks to experience bone-conducted sound, and contact speakers to discern which frequencies can be felt while singing versus those only audible. This session aims to foster a nuanced perception of sound through both touch and hearing, delineate the limits of our vibrotactile sensitivity, and examine its implications for vocal function, singing techniques, and the sorting of sensations in voice pedagogy—essentially, distinguishing between the tactile and the audible to inform and enhance instructions and directives in the voice studio. Name: Chadley W. Ballantyne, MM, DMA |
| First Name | Chadley |
| Last Name | Ballantyne |
