Abstract
An important aspect of perceiving sung music is understanding the
words. Previous research has suggested several factors affecting the intelligibility of sung text. This study investigates two of those factors: the
number of singers and the singing expertise of the listener. We expected
more singers to cause greater variability in the acoustic signal and be
harder to comprehend. Listeners who are themselves experienced singers
are more likely to be attuned to factors affecting singers’ diction and were
expected to be better than non-singers at understanding the sung text.
Forty eight participants, half accomplished singers and half self-reported
non-singers, listened to four 8-bar unaccompanied songs twice (in order
to test for familiarity) and wrote out the texts as they heard them. Two
performances were given by a soloist, two by a trio of singers in unison.
Participants were significantly better at understanding the words on the
second hearing than the first, and singers significantly better than nonsingers overall. There was no effect of the number of singers. Hence familiarity and singing experience both benefited sung text understanding.
An effect of the number of singers may be more apparent when comparing a soloist with a choir.
words. Previous research has suggested several factors affecting the intelligibility of sung text. This study investigates two of those factors: the
number of singers and the singing expertise of the listener. We expected
more singers to cause greater variability in the acoustic signal and be
harder to comprehend. Listeners who are themselves experienced singers
are more likely to be attuned to factors affecting singers’ diction and were
expected to be better than non-singers at understanding the sung text.
Forty eight participants, half accomplished singers and half self-reported
non-singers, listened to four 8-bar unaccompanied songs twice (in order
to test for familiarity) and wrote out the texts as they heard them. Two
performances were given by a soloist, two by a trio of singers in unison.
Participants were significantly better at understanding the words on the
second hearing than the first, and singers significantly better than nonsingers overall. There was no effect of the number of singers. Hence familiarity and singing experience both benefited sung text understanding.
An effect of the number of singers may be more apparent when comparing a soloist with a choir.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | International Symposium on Performance Science 2009 |
| Editors | Aaron Williamon, Sharman Pretty, Ralph Buck |
| Publisher | Association Europeen des Conservatoires |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-94-90306-01-4 |
| Publication status | Published - 2009 |