A real-time display system for singing voice development

Central to any pedagogical nurturing of singing development is the provision of some form of meaningful feedback to the developing singer. Singing teachers draw on their personal experiences within an essentially oral culture where expertise is handed down from teacher to student generation by generation. The teacher is engaged in a psychological translation of the student’s performance, and a dual possibility thereby exists for the misinterpretation of information; the teacher may not describe the student’s performance appropriately and/or the student may not understand how to modify his or her singing behavior as intended. The provision of quantitative visual feedback provides a physical basis for vocal development. This paper will describe a real-time display system for singing training known as ‘‘WinSingad,’’ which enables acoustic and voice source aspects to be viewed in real-time on a PC. The system has been used in singing lessons and has been universally welcomed by students and teachers alike for its ease of use and display clarity. Specific aspects of voice development are now linked with particular displays and these will be explored in this presentation.