Journal articles on the topic 'King's Singers (Vocal group)'

Introduction Due to increased life expectancy among the population, studying the vocal parameters of the elderly is key to promoting vocal health in old age. Objective This study aims to analyze the profile of the extension of speech of elderly female choristers, according to age group. Method The study counted on the participation of 25 elderly female choristers from the Choir of Messianic Church of São Paulo, with ages varying between 63 and 82 years, and an average of 71 years (standard deviation of 5.22). The elders were divided into two groups: G1 aged 63 to 71 years and G2 aged 72 to 82. We asked that each participant count from 20 to 30 in weak, medium, strong, and very strong intensities. Their speech was registered by the software Vocalgrama that allows the evaluation of the profile of speech range. We then submitted the parameters of frequency and intensity to descriptive analysis, both in minimum and maximum levels, and range of spoken voice. Results The average of minimum and maximum frequencies were respectively 134.82–349.96 Hz for G1 and 137.28–348.59 Hz for G2; the average for minimum and maximum intensities were respectively 40.28–95.50 dB for G1 and 40.63–94.35 dB for G2; the vocal range used in speech was 215.14 Hz for G1 and 211.30 Hz for G2. Conclusion The minimum and maximum frequencies, maximum intensity, and vocal range presented differences in favor of the younger elder group.

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Opera singers are classified under level I, as the elite vocal performers, being the quintessential representatives of this group. As the professional voice users, they meticulously observe any changes relevant to their health, therefore self-reported side effects should be taken under serious consideration. The aim of this study was to initiate the process of gathering general information about the most common side effects of medications taken by the opera singers.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> The study group consisted of 264 professional opera singers, treated in Clarós Clinic in a 35 years period, who were asked to complete a questionnaire. The response rate was 62.1% (n=164) with a male-to-female ratio being 1.27:1 (72 men and 92 women). 46 cases of adverse effects of medicines were updated and analysed. All the responses were collected between February and April 2018. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> The mean age of our study group was 38.3 for females and 49.95 for males, with the range between 18-83 years. The vocal categories were as follows: 39 tenors, 17 baritones, 14 basses, 64 sopranos, 23 mezzo-sopranos and 5 contraltos. Patients with chronic diseases and comorbidities represented the 39.1% of the study group. The most common adverse effect reported was dryness (15.2%). The most frequent voice side effects raised by singers were clearing the throat frequently (14.63%), hoarseness and coarse or scratchy sound (10.37%), and vocal fatigue (7.32%).</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> We believe that exploring the subject of vocal side effects of medications in professional opera singers is extremely important.</p>

Background: Menstruation-related hormonal alteration can be detrimental to the professional singing voice of women. Resonance Voice Therapy (RVT) has been proven to improve vocal production. However, no research to date has been conducted examining the subjective, acoustic, and stroboscopic effects of RVT on professional female singers having premenstrual or postmenopausal voice disorders. Aim: The aim of this study is to compare the vocal effects of RVT with a control cervical-thoracic intervention in healthy female singers during the premenstrual phase as well as in postmenopausal singers and to evaluate which intervention will allow singers to improve vocal performance regardless of changes in hormonal status. Design: A randomized study was designed for this research. The research subjects were 20 professional female singers from the Southern California area, USA, with 10 premenstrual subjects in one group and 10 postmenopausal subjects in the other group. Among each group, 5 subjects were randomly selected to receive RVT and the remaining subjects received cervical-thoracic–focused exercises. The therapies consisted of 1 month of daily 15-minute sessions. For premenstrual subjects, voice data were collected at days 25 to 27 of the premenstrual phase during a scheduled initial voice evaluation. Follow-up data were collected during the same phase of the menstrual cycle (days 25-27) after 1 month of exercises. For postmenopausal subjects, voice data were collected at an initial voice evaluation with follow-up after 1 month of the assigned voice treatment. Outcomes were assessed with the singer’s voice handicap index (VHI), laryngeal videostroboscopic examination, maximum phonation time (MPT), relative average perturbation (RAP), and pitch range before and following completion of therapies. Alleviation or deterioration percentages were used for statistical analysis. Student t test was used for statistical comparison between therapies. Results: The RVT decreased singer’s VHI for both premenstrual and postmenopausal subjects by an average of 67%, compared with 7.8% for the cervical-thoracic therapy. The RVT also effectively decreased RAP by an average of 57% when combining the premenstrual and postmenopausal groups. The RVT increased MPT and pitch range among both premenstrual and postmenopausal subjects. The stroboscopic examination did not detect any significant differences between the 2 interventions. Conclusions: The RVT is effective for professional female singers with hormone-related premenstrual and postmenopausal vocal changes. The RVT is suggested as one of the therapeutic approaches for vocal abnormalities in such a population. A larger cohort may be needed for future research. Level of Evidence: 1b

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Vocal sound is based on the complex yet co-ordinated interaction of phonatory system, resonatory system and respiratory system. Phonetography is a practicable and readily accessible method to investigate and map the quantitative potentialities of vocal output. The objectives of the present study were to determine the phonetogram of trained (Hindustani classical) singers, untrained singer sand non-singers elicited from singing as well as speech task to see if statistically significant differences were present which may indicate an effect of training.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> 90 female subjects between the ages 20-45 (mean age 34.2 years for trained subjects, 26.3 years for untrained subjects and 25.8 years for non-singers) divided into three groups each group consisting of 30 subjects. For the singing task, the individuals had to phonate |a| at habitual level by traversing through eight musical scales. In the speech task, the subjects were asked to count from one to twenty in Bengali at habitat level and at Sustainable cohorts of intensity. This was recorded using phonetogram software Dr. Speech (version 4). The parameters considered were fundamental frequency, intensity, semitones and area. </p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> The study revealed that in both tasks singing and non-singing task for all three groups in all the four parameters of phonetogram significant differences were seen (p=0.000) at 95% level of confidence.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> The present study depicted the phonetographic profile of a genre of trained singers and tracked out the parameters on which differences are pronounced between a trained and untrained singer and non-singer.</p>

AbstractIntroductionThe purpose was to determine the incidence of voice disorders in a group of professional actors and singers, to compare the two groups, and to investigate the potential causes of their voice problems.Methods65 actors and 63 singers from professional theatres and choirs were included. The data concerning voice problems, their possible causes, and factors adversely affecting voice quality were obtained through a questionnaire. The results were compared between the groups of professional singers and actors, and between the subgroups of singers and actors both with and without frequent voice problems.ResultsThe incidence of frequent voice problems over the entire career in singers and actors was lower than reported in the literature. Professional actors displayed more inappropriate life and vocal habits than the singers. Significant risk factors for voice disorders in singers turned out to be loud speech (p=0.029) and the presence of allergies or asthma (p=0.048). No such significant risk factors were found in actors.ConslusionThe study confirmed the importance of preventive examination of the vocal tract function before enrolling in studies for an elite voice user. Professional singers and especially actors demonstrated insufficient knowledge of proper voice care. The results suggest that elite voice users require additional information on voice hygiene and occasional professional help from college to the end of career. Speech and language therapists can play a crucial role in such voice care in order to effectively prevent voice problems in elite voice users.

ABSTRACT Purpose: to check the understanding of elderly participants of a singing group on the promotion of voice health. Methods: a qualitative approach linked to Paulo Freire's research itinerary consisting of three dialectic moments: thematic investigation; encoding and decoding; critical revelation. Results: these stages were developed in four culture circles with the participation of six elderly people. The study showed three themes: (1) Expression and feelings, (2) Potentiality and difficulty, (3) Voice care. The circles brought expression of ideas and practices to voice care. The sense of belonging that the group provides could be observed, especially on emotional issues. The elderly empowered themselves to discuss their beliefs regarding voice care, clarified during culture circles, providing subsidies for a greater autonomy in their personal life. Conclusion: the dialog between the participants made the understanding possible on the role of voice, permeating aspects related to the physiology, functionality and emotion in the participants' perception.

Purpose This clinical focus article presents a perspective on an approach in scaffolding vocal recovery and rehabilitation for commercial singers. The expectation in vocal performance is sound production that is repeatable, reliable, and relatable. When an artist cannot meet those standards, failure is experienced in three locations: the Body, the Head, and the Heart. Referencing each of these areas of intelligence provides a metalanguage for structuring vocal recovery and rehabilitation that goes beyond physical voice work alone. This clinical focus article discusses standards of voice production specific to commercial music, expectations of use, and what vocal demands look like on and off tour. Indirect and direct voice therapy within this niche group of professional voice users can be better tailored within this context of use and need. They need intervention that is specific to individual voice demands and uses a methodology that cultivates self-efficacy and resilience in singers as athletes. The path to vocal rehabilitation and stability extends beyond work with body mechanics and extends beyond the specific tools the voice pathologist and artist have to choose from to return to performance level production. Cultivating resilience involves intentional accessing of the Body, Head, and Heart in the moments of disintegration with the goal of meeting and bridging physical, emotional, and mental barriers for the commercial artist. The end goal is resilience when the artist returns to performance level production. Conclusions This clinical focus article explores the interplay between these three centers of intelligence for commercial singers within the framework of indirect and direct voice rehabilitation. This Body work can lead to maturation and resilience to support a long career using a feeling that is mechanically efficient, portable, and repeatable. The transfer of gains outside that treatment room may be more consistently realized through the incorporation of Head and Heart in early stages of intervention.

Important individual differences characterize singing in adult nonmusicians. In spite of the fact that the majority can carry a tune, some occasional singers are particularly inaccurate or imprecise in producing or imitating pitch (poor-pitch singers). Poor-pitch singing can be defined via acoustical analyses of vocal performances. In spite of the objective nature of this method, however, to date there is not a standard strategy for identifying and describing poor-pitch singers. Different tasks (e.g., singing from memory vs. imitation), cut-offs (50 cents, 100 cents, vs. variable criteria), and metrics (e.g., accuracy vs. precision) are typically used for assessing singing proficiency. Here the pros and cons of different methods and measurements are discussed. The boundary between poor-pitch singing and good singing depends on these factors, which should be carefully taken into account when assessing singing abilities. An approach based on multiple tasks sharing a common set of measures of singing accuracy and precision, with a relative cut-off (i.e., 2 SD from the average of a normative group) is favored for identifying poor-pitch singers.

Objectives: Mindfulness has been explored in the clinical and educational fields but has rarely been studied in the music domain. This study investigated the effects of teaching eight-week Mindfulness for Singers courses on vocalists’ music education and performance. Methods: A mixed methods approach was utilized, which included controlled and randomized controlled trials using standardized and novel mindfulness measures pre- and post-intervention, interviews post-intervention and three months later, concurrent diaries, and a blinded teacher study. Participants included singing students (total n=52) and their teachers ( n=11) from a university and a music college over a period of two years. Results: Levels of mindfulness increased over the intervention for experimental participants in comparison to controls. Considering their total student cohort, teachers identified 61% of eligible mindfulness singing participants as having completed the mindfulness intervention. Experimental participants reported that learning mindfulness had positive effects in lessons, solo and group instrumental practices, and when performing on stage. They described more focus and attention, positive effects of increased body awareness on singing technique, enhanced socio-collaborative relationships, reductions in performance anxiety, and beneficial effects whilst performing, such as more expressivity and enjoyment. Conclusions: Learning mindfulness had positive holistic effects on vocal students and was well received by their mindfulness-naïve singing teachers. Findings suggest that it would be highly beneficial for mindfulness to be made available in music conservatoires and university music departments alongside singing lessons for singers to enhance their present experience as vocal students and their futures as performers and teachers.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of vocal training on fundamental frequency nasalance measures under selected vowel and frequency conditions. Methods: Fundamental frequency nasalance measures were reported for 2 groups of women: 36 trained singers and 36 nonsingers. Each group sang and sustained the vowels (/i/, /æ/, /u/, /a/) for 6 seconds' duration at 3 frequency levels. A 3-second segment from the middle of each vowel was measured to generate fundamental frequency nasalance scores. Results: No significant differences were found in the mean fundamental frequency nasalance scores between the trained singers and the nonsingers. The fundamental frequency nasalance scores were significantly higher for front vowels for both groups. Additionally, both groups displayed a pattern of producing significantly higher fundamental frequency nasalance scores at lower fundamental frequencies than at higher fundamental frequencies. Conclusions: These findings support the practice of training singers to elevate the velum when singing at high frequencies but not when singing at low ones.

PURPOSE: To characterize the fundamental frequency and the frequency of the formants F1, F2, F3, and F4 from vocal emissions of amateur singers with metallic voice quality. METHODS: There were 60 amateur female singers aged between 18 and 60 years old; 30 women with metallic voice quality forming the study group (SG) and 30 women without such a vocal quality forming control group (CG). The sample was selected through voice screening confirmed by reviewers after reaching a consensus. Regarding data collection, sustained vowel emissions in usual tone and at two predetermined frequencies, by which the values of F0 and frequency of the formants F1, F2, F3, and F4 were obtained, were recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: Comparing the emissions in usual tone, no difference for F0 was found, but the values of the formants F2, F3, and F4 were higher in the SG. In the preestablished tones, there was a difference between the two groups in the formants F3 and F4 for both tones. CONCLUSION: It is possible to characterize metallic voice quality as a normal fundamental frequency, with increasing frequency of the F2 formant, and values of frequencies of formants F2, F3, and F4 higher when compared to the CG.

Introdução: A qualidade de uma voz depende da fonte produtora e do filtro. Características da voz devem estar adequadas como, por exemplo, a ação da fonte com o filtro e a frequência, pois se estiverem alteradas e se essa voz for utilizada de forma inadequada, pode causar várias alterações vocais, que são chamadas de disfonias comportamentais. Essas disfonias ocorrem por conta do mau uso ou abuso vocal. Objetivo: Verificar se há maior prevalência de alterações de frênulo de língua em cantores com disfonia comportamental atendidos no Ambulatório de Artes Vocais da Santa Casa de São Paulo quando comparados a população. Método: participaram 18 cantores com idades entre 18 e 40 anos e 11 meses, de ambos os sexos que possuíam diagnóstico de disfonia comportamental e 23 indivíduos da população geral, da mesma faixa etária sem queixa de disfonia. A presença da disfonia comportamental foi verificada após análise do prontuário do Ambulatório de Artes Vocais da Santa Casa de São Paulo. Os dois grupos foram submetidos a avaliação clínica do frênulo de língua por meio de protocolo descrito por Marchesan (2010). Resultados: a média de idade dos cantores foi de 35,4 anos e da população geral de 26,57 anos. As medidas realizadas com paquímetro com a boca aberta e com a ponta da língua na papila palatina geram uma média que auxilia na avaliação do frênulo de língua. Em nosso estudo, 63,8% dos cantores e 71,1% da população geral apresentaram média superior a 50%, o que é considerado normal. As alterações apresentadas nos dois grupos foram: 5 cantores e 6 indivíduos da população geral apresentaram alteração nas provas de mobilidade de língua, 2 cantores e 9 indivíduos da população geral apresentaram alguma alteração em relação a praxia de língua e quanto a alteração de frênulo de língua, 5 cantores e 6 indivíduos da população geral apresentaram alguma alteração. Conclusão: Não houve diferença significativa entre os dois grupos nos aspectos avaliados. Desta maneira, não podemos concluir que há maior prevalência de alteração de frênulo de língua no grupo de cantores. Palavras chave: Frênulo da língua, Disfonia, Voz, PrevalênciaABSTRACT Introduction: The quality of a voice depends on the producing source and the filter. Voice characteristics must be appropriate, such as the action of the source with the filter and the frequency, because if they are altered and if this voice is used inappropriately, it can cause various vocal alterations, which are called behavioral dysphonias. These dysphonias occur because of vocal misuse or abuse. Objective: to verify if there is a higher prevalence of tongue frenulum alterations in singers with behavioral dysphonia seen at the Vocal Arts Outpatient Clinic of Santa Casa de São Paulo when compared to the general population. Method: 18 singers aged 18-40 years and 11 months, of both sexes who were diagnosed with behavioral dysphonia, after analysis of the medical records of the Vocal Arts Outpatient Clinic of Santa Casa de Sao Paulo and 23 individuals from the general population in the same age group without complaints of dysphonia. Both groups underwent clinical evaluation of the tongue frenulum using the protocol described by Marchesan (2010). Results: the mean age of the singers was 35.4 years and the mean age of the general population was 26.57 years. The measurements taken with a pachymeter with an open mouth and with the tip of the tongue on the palatal papilla generate an average that assists in the assessment of the tongue frenulum. In our study, 63.8% of singers and 71.1% of the general population had an average greater than 50%, which is considered normal. The alterations seen in both groups were: 5 singers and 6 individuals from the general population had altered tongue mobility tests; 2 singers and 9 individuals from the general population had some alteration in relation to tongue praxis, and as for tongue frenulum alterations, 5 singers and 6 individuals from the general population had some alteration. Conclusion: There was no significant difference between the two groups in all the aspects evaluated. Thus, we cannot conclude that there is a higher prevalence of tongue frenulum alteration in the group of singers. Keywords: Lingual frenum, Dysphonia, Voice, Prevalence

In July 1892, Dr. Arthur Chervin (1850–1921), director of the Institut des bègues de Paris, was named physician of the Opéra, thus joining the group of health specialists tasked with the care of artists. A recognized specialist of vocal physiology and speech afflictions, Chervin was also the recent founder and editor of La Voix parlée et chantée, a periodical that straddled the worlds of medicine and lyrical performance. Vocal health and medicine, he and his community argued, were key to the execution of vocal prowess and the successful pursuit of lyrical ambitions for singers. This article explores the relationship of medicine and the burgeoning field of laryngology to the world of lyrical training and performance of the Belle Époque. In particular, we focus on the many roles played by laryngologists and physicians at the Opéra and the Conservatoire as well as in the pages of Chervin’s leading medical-musical journal. We argue that concerns driving the medical innovations of the increasingly sophisticated subfield of laryngology evolved in synergy with concerns about how to meet the demands of the changing world of the second half of nineteenth-century Parisian operatic performance. In so doing, we claim for medicine a key position in Paris’s vibrant world of lyrical performance during the Belle Époque.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how undergraduate- and graduate-level choristers perceived the influence of adolescent female voice change on their singing experiences since the age of 11 years old. Data included individual and focus group interviews with 17 female collegiate choral singers enrolled in one of two women’s choirs at a large midwestern university. Three overarching themes emerged: perceptions of vocal development, teacher influence, and emotion. Findings revealed that participants’ perceptions of singing experiences since age 11 largely revolved around vocal challenges, fear, and insecurity and have remained mostly negative even after the passing of time. Experiences in choir were not necessarily positive, and participants perceived their individual vocal needs as secondary to the needs of the larger choral ensemble. Out of fear of hurting the larger choir, participants remained passive and did not self-advocate, resulting in additional challenges with self-confidence and struggles pertaining to singer identity development during adolescence and into adulthood.

Many choral teacher-conductors and voice professionals utilize semioccluded vocal tract (SOVT) exercises (e.g., lip trills, straw phonation) in their classrooms or studios. Research with individual singers has indicated that these techniques may increase “vocal economy,” boosting acoustic output while reducing singer effort. Recently, researchers have investigated these phenomena in choral settings, finding that choirs have maintained or increased spectral energy after straw phonation. Most chorister participants have perceived improved choral sound and vocal efficiency after the protocols. These investigations, however, have used one-group pretest-posttest designs. Therefore, results could reflect a “masterclass effect.” The purpose of this study was to compare acoustic output and listener perceptions of pre- and posttest measurements of two matched women’s choirs who engaged in (a) a straw phonation protocol or (b) an identical protocol performed on a neutral, unoccluded vowel (“ah”). Results indicated that both groups sang with more spectral energy after the protocols, and a majority of expert listeners noted these increases. However, the straw group’s increase was more than 1 dB SPL greater across the entire spectrum (0–10 kHz). Choral teacher-conductors and music teacher educators may wish to use straw phonation exercises to increase choral output and reduce vocal effort.

The write incentive for this article was the desire to characterize the pedagogical potential of the method “One-Voice Collective-Distributed Singing” at the initial stages of training children of primary school age choral performance. Its essence is connected with a specific approach to learning and playing melodies of songs or vocal choral exercises. In the exercises, a sequential transmission / reception of the melodic line from one singer to another / another or from one group of singers to another is provided. The article reveals the author’s position, according to that this method is considered as a special kind of role-playing singing. At the initial stage of training in choral performance, its use (i) creates the favorable conditions for the implementation of an individual-personal approach to students in the process of vocal-choral activity, (ii) contributes to their mastery of vocal, (iii) effectively prepares children for intonationally pure and expressive intonation of the “choral part” performed by them, (iv) contributes to their experience in tracking the melodic line as a dialogue / polylogue of several choral parts, each of which brings new colors. This kind of choral performance stimulates the preparation of children for the development of polyphonic singing.

Previous research suggests that musicians modulate a predictable set of acoustic cues to convey distinct emotions. The current study focuses on singers, testing the validity of cues previously reported for a wide range of instruments. The study also asks: What effect might a musician’s mindfulness have on their expressive performance? Two groups of highly skilled vocalists recorded performances of a novel melody with four distinct emotions. Prior to the performance task, an experimental group took part in a guided mindfulness induction, while a control group engaged in a self-selected relaxation activity; state mindfulness was assessed immediately after. Recordings were analyzed for tempo, temporal variation, intensity, mean centroid, vibrato rate, vibrato extent, and attack slope; individual notes with particular scale-degree functions were also compared. Results show that the two groups of participants had similar cue usage, although those in the experimental condition had higher mindfulness scores and attributed improvements in focus and awareness to the induction task. Participants as a whole used cues in the predicted directions, and significant differences were found on all acoustical measures, except vibrato rate, as a function of expressed emotion. Results also indicate that participants modified intonation to distinguish between positive and negative emotions.

Black musical theatre artists in New York City share and theorize their experiences with industry expectations around racialized vocal performance. Musical director John Bronson, actor/singer Jamal James, composer/music director Dionne McClain-Freeney, composer/writer Khiyon Hursey, actor/singer Rheaume Crenshaw, actor/singer/voice teacher Elijah Caldwell, and actor/singer Zonya Love Johnson comprise the group. The artists grapple with the conundrum of sounding ‘Black enough’, how the demand for uniform Black vocalization confounds historical accuracy in period shows, and the fantasy of the generic, idealized ‘Black Broadway voice’. The group details unspoken, misguided industry assumptions that Black singers do not produce multiple kinds of belt sounds, do not use the vocal mix sound, and sing only in a heavy (power) sound virtuosically ornamented with riffs that evokes for (white) listeners a misleadingly monolithic idea of ‘the Black church’. As these artists point out, ‘We do not all go to the same church’; in fact, the ability to fluidly move between more classical (legit) and gospel vocal sounds may actually arise from a singer’s training in the church choir. Collectively these artists have worked on multiple Broadway and off-Broadway shows from The Color Purple to Hamilton and A Strange Loop, major tours and regional productions of shows such as Hair, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and Waitress, and hold songwriting credits from the prestigious BMI musical theatre writing workshop to Netflix. This conversation took place in October 2019.

Many group-living animals cooperatively signal to defend resources, but what stops deceptive signalling to competitors about coalition strength? Cooperative-signalling species include mated pairs of birds that sing duets to defend their territory. Individuals of these species sometimes sing ‘pseudo-duets’ by mimicking their partner's contribution, but it is unknown if these songs are deceptive, or why duets are normally reliable. We studied pseudo-duets in Australian magpie-larks, Grallina cyanoleuca , and tested whether multimodal signalling constrains deception. Magpie-larks give antiphonal duets coordinated with a visual display, with each sex typically choosing a different song type within the duet. Individuals produced pseudo-duets almost exclusively during nesting when partners were apart, but the two song types were used in sequence rather than antiphonally. Strikingly, birds hid and gave no visual displays, implying deceptive suppression of information. Acoustic playbacks showed that pseudo-duets provoked the same response from residents as true duets, regardless of whether they were sequential or antiphonal, and stronger response than that to true duets consisting of a single song type. By contrast, experiments with robot models showed that songs accompanied by movements of two birds prompted stronger responses than songs accompanied by movements of one bird, irrespective of the number of song types or singers. We conclude that magpie-larks used deceptive pseudo-duets when partners were apart, and suppressed the visual display to maintain the subterfuge. We suggest that the visual component of many species' duets provides the most reliable information about the number of signallers and may have evolved to maintain honesty in duet communication.

This study was designed to investigate the effects of vocal f o on vowel spectral noise level (SNL) and perceived vowel roughness for subjects in high- and low-pitch voice categories. The subjects were 40 adult singers (10 each sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses). Each produced the vowel /a/ in isolation at a comfortable speaking pitch, and at each of seven assigned pitches spaced at whole-tone intervals over a musical octave within his or her singing pitch range. The eight /a/ productions were repeated by each subject on a second test day. The SNL differences between repeated test samples (different days) were not statistically significant for any subject group. For the vowel samples produced at a comfortable pitch, a relatively large SNL was associated with samples phonated by the subjects of each sex who manifested the relatively low singing pitch range. Regarding the vowel samples produced at the assigned-pitch levels, it was found that both vowel SNL and perceived vowel roughness decreased as test-pitch level was raised over a range of one octave. The relationship between vocal pitch and either vowel roughness or SNL approached linearity for each of the four subject groups.

In 1739, two years before his death, Vivaldi sold a group of five psalms to the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice. All but one of these psalms had been identified and located prior to May 2003, when the missing work, a Nisi Dominus in A major for three solo singers, five obbligato instruments and strings, turned up in Dresden as the unexpected by-product of a routine inspection. Like one of the other psalms belonging to the same group, the Beatus vir rv795, this new discovery, rv803, is attributed in its Dresden source to Baldassarre Galuppi. The misattribution appears to have been an act of deliberate falsification by the Venetian copyist Iseppo Baldan, who slipped the two Vivaldi compositions in to a large consignment of sacred vocal works, mainly by Galuppi, dispatched to the Saxon Hofkapelle in the late 1750s. The new Nisi Dominus is noteworthy for the high level of vocal virtuosity that all eight movements demand and for its use of rare instruments (viola d’amore, tenor chalumeau and violino in tromba marina) to lend added colour in individual movements. It is also a striking example of Vivaldi’s ‘late’ manner, which, although influenced by the galant style of younger composers, remains true to his personal idiom. At the same time, it rivals the oratorio Juditha triumphans as a showcase for the diverse talents of the Pietà’s female musicians.

This Article Reports Two Experiments. In the first experiment, 13 professional singers performed a vocal exercise consisting of three ascending and descending melodic intervals: minor second, tritone, and perfect fifth. Seconds were sung more narrowly but fifths more widely in both directions, as compared to their equally tempered counterparts. In the second experiment, intonation accuracy in performances recorded from the first experiment was evaluated in a listening test. Tritones and fifths were more frequently classified as out of tune than seconds. Good correspondence was found between interval tuning and the listeners responses. The performers themselves evaluated their performance almost randomly in the immediate post-performance situation but acted comparably to the independent group after listening to their own recording. The data suggest that melodic intervals may be, on an average, 20 to 25 cents out of tune and still be estimated as correctly tuned by expert listeners.

Psychobiological effects of amateur choral singing were studied in a naturalistic controlled within-subjects trial. A mixed group of novice and experienced singers (N = 21) filled out brief ad hoc questionnaires of psychological wellbeing and gave samples of saliva for measuring levels of salivary oxytocin, cortisol, and dehydroepiandrosteron (DHEA) at the beginning of 2 rehearsal sessions and 30 minutes later. The singing condition included warm-up vocal exercises and repertoire pieces. In the chatting condition, dyads of participants talked to each other about recent positive life experiences. Within-subjects, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) on self-reported and physiological measures revealed significant Time X Condition interactions for psychological wellbeing and oxytocin. Comparisons of mean scores showed patterns of changes favouring singing over chatting. There were no significant interactions for cortisol, DHEA as well as for the cortisol-DHEA-ratio. These results suggest that singing enhances individual psychological wellbeing as well as induces a socio-biological bonding response.

Previous research suggests that individuals with a Vocal Pitch Imitation Deficit (VPID, a.k.a. “poor-pitch singers”) experience less vivid auditory images than accurate imitators (Pfordresher & Halpern, 2013), based on self-report. In the present research we sought to test this proposal directly by having accurate and VPID imitators produce or recognize short melodies based on their original form (untransformed), or after mentally transforming the auditory image of the melody. For the production task, group differences were largest during the untransformed imitation task. Importantly, producing mental transformations of the auditory image degraded performance for all participants, but were relatively more disruptive to accurate than to VPID imitators. These findings suggest that VPID is due partly to poor initial imagery formation, as manifested by production of untransformed melodies. By contrast, producing a transformed mental image may rely on working memory ability, which is more equally matched across participants. This interpretation was further supported by correlations with self-reports of auditory imagery and measures of working memory.

The aim. The aim of the article is to analyze the current stage of the functioning of the vocal variety school in the musical culture of Ukraine and identify certain trends in its development directions. In order to achieve the marked goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks: to determine the specifics of the development of a modern Ukrainian vocal variety school, analyzing its real position and known methods for the teachers of a variety vocal and to reveal the directions of which their realization is in modern musical culture of Ukraine. The methodology. In this publication, methods of comparative analysis and synthesis were used to identify the specifics of teaching a variety vocal by domestic teachers. Also, we used systemic and cultural approaches to the study of variety vocal school in the musical culture of Ukraine. The results. Having studied the functioning of domestic modern vocal schools, it can be concluded that this phenomenon though is quite relevant in modern musical culture of Ukraine, based mainly on the generally accepted and already known methods of variety vocals. There are single cases when teachers form their own teaching methodology and distribute it as Iryna Tsukanova, demonstrating her own master classes on the Internet. But the main tendency among domestic vocal teachers is that they are based on already well-known vocal techniques, taking from them the basis that it is necessary for each particular performer. It is worth noting separately such a trend of domestic artists-teachers, as a commercialization of teaching activities, when vocal workshops are carried out for a group of students that study with other teachers. Such events can be called a master class with a star-teacher and they become more popular. Another trend when well-known artists, such as Natalia Mohylevska and Tetiana Piskarova create their own vocal studio based on vocal techniques that were developed by the heads of studios. Other teachers give their lessons in these studios, and celebrities conduct master class for students of their own institution. Variety vocal schools that are different by their stylistics, as a jazz or rock schools are more narrowly specialized. This makes teachers rely on the generally recognized world techniques of jazz or rock music, concentrating on the specifics of these directions and working them out with students. The scientific topicality. The work of the domestic vocal variety school in modern musical culture of Ukraine is investigated. The specifics of the development of modern vocal variety school of Ukraine is revealed. The well-known techniques of the variety vocal teachers are analyzed. The main tendencies that are the basis for Ukrainian teachers in their work with students are determined. One of them is based mainly on the techniques of a variety vocal of famous world teachers, the other one — on their own methods. The practical significance. Since the vocal variety art in the musical culture of Ukraine occupies a quite important place, this publication may be useful for domestic modern variety singers, vocal teachers and scientists, which will study it in the future.

Amateur musical ensembles draw participants from widely varying disciplines into shared artistic activity in a way that few other artforms do; in particular, choral music, in which bodies both create and directly receive sound, raises profound questions of how performers’ uniquely embodied creative approaches interact. Amateur choral singing therefore offers a lens into how musical creativity is distributed among, and emergent from, a diverse group of individuals. This article explores how the performance of indeterminate and improvisatory choral works offers a powerful example of this distributed creative agency via a network of sounding bodies. This article centres on a case study (March–October 2017) involving three British amateur choirs in the performance of improvisatory choral scores by Kerry Andrew (2005) and Cornelius Cardew (1968–70). Complexity Theory (Davis and Sumara 2006) offers a useful framework for understanding how creative impulses and constructions interact; both the vocal expression and corporeal receipt of these creative ideas occurs in an embodied way, drawing on dance and embodiment theory (Sheets-Johnstone 2009, Downey 2002). The research process and qualitative-data-processing methodology (Charmaz 2014) of the case study are described, before findings are laid out with a view to how they point towards ideas of embodied, complex interaction. These findings offer an important, and hitherto unexplored, view into how Complexity Theory (a common theoretical framework in other fields across the sciences and humanities) might usefully describe musical performance. In transcending attempts to atomise ensemble interaction according to shared intellectual knowledge and verbal communication, the complex, embodied interaction of diverse singers, through the physical connection of sound, might involve those singers in the distributed authorship of a musical work.

Aim of this study is to determine the potential and working vocal range in the results of objective and subjective voice range evaluation in elementary school girls – solo singers. Theoretical part contains review of other authors’ studies related to child’s voice range from 6 to 12 years. Practical part of the study offered making of the phonetogram by using Voice Range Profile software (CSL 4500, Kay Pentax, USA) as an objective method for voice range evaluation. For subjective voice analysis, a voice range evaluation in form of vocal exercises was performed. It is understood that the objective voice evaluation reflects the potential of girls’ voice range, while the subjective evaluation – current working voice range. Fourteen girls attending solo singing classes were part of this study (medium age: 9.14 years; SD: 1.79 years; age range: 6-12 years). Three study groups were formed: 6-8 year old girls (n = 5); 9-10 year old girls (n=5); 11-12 year old girls (n=4). In 6-8 year old girls, VRP was from sol# (204.31 Hz, SD: 26, 05) to do3 (1047.72, SD: 409.70), but in subjective voice range evaluation, it was from la (220.28 Hz, SD: 18.88) to fa2 (775.90 Hz, SD: 70.64). In the group from 9-10 year old girls VRP range was from fa (171.25 Hz, SD: 16.03) to re#3 (1224.47 Hz, SD: 156.12), but current working voice range was from sol (208.79 Hz, SD: 24.90) to sol#2 (842.20 Hz, SD: 132.80). In 11-12 years old girls objective VRP results were fa# (186.54 Hz, SD: 27.76) to re#3 (1277.61 Hz, SD: 80.09), while from sol (208.23 Hz, SD: 12.16) to si2 (933.46 Hz, SD: 175.22) the work range was. In discussion part findings by other authors are compared to the objective and subjective voice range data acquired in this study. It is concluded that potential child’s voice range in girls 6-12 years of age exceeds two octaves yet working range reaches up to two octaves.

Background: Since the renowned opera maestro Manuel Garcia presented “Observations on the Human Voice” using mirror laryngoscopy in 1855, there has been an inextricable link between performing vocalists and laryngologists. Today, specialized laryngeal surgeons continue the tradition of integrating medical and surgical management of performers with those skilled in vocal arts, voice science, and voice therapy. With advances in surgical instrumentation and techniques, increasing opportunities have evolved to surgically restore lost performing voices. However, it is especially challenging because of a range of factors, including the need for optimal technical precision, management of expectations, complexity of informed consent, public visibility of these patients, and the economics related to the success and failure of surgery. A number of these key issues apply to phonomicrosurgical procedures in nonsingers as well. Consequently, reviewing the art and craft of phonomicrosurgery in elite performers provides valuable insights into the optimal management of any patient. Methods: A retrospective review was done of microlaryngeal procedures for the past 20 years, and 18 elite performers were identified who were Grammy Award winners. Microsurgical methods for different lesions are illustrated. Composite analyses of the group along with their associated pathology was done to provide insights into key issues. Results: The 18 patients in this cohort have won 80 Grammy Awards, which were garnered from 242 nominations. All 18 had substantial deterioration in voice quality and could retain more than 1 pathology. Significant loss of superficial lamina propria (SLP) pliability was present in 15 of 18, varices and/or ectasias leading to vocal hemorrhage in 6, vocal polyps in 9, fibrovascular nodules in 6, arytenoid granuloma in 1, sulcus from prior microlaryngeal surgery leading to vocal fold SLP scarring in 4, sulcus from long-term phonotrauma leading to vocal fold SLP scarring in 4, benign cyst in 1, precancerous dysplasia in 2, and invasive carcinoma in 2. Subsequent to phonomicrosurgery, all reported improvement in their performance. Conclusions: Laryngologists and laryngeal surgeons have shouldered a burden of responsibility for elite performing vocalists since the origin of our specialty. Most lesions and diagnoses that are encountered result from phonotrauma. Optimizing singers’ care provides surgeons with extremely complex technical, emotional, social, and financial challenges. Focused analysis of managing elite performing vocalists effectively integrates a range of essential issues, which provide key insights to assist clinicians treating nonperforming patients requiring phonomicrosurgery.

The aim of the study is to examine the reflection of the processes of formation of musicality, musical hearing and vocal skills in methodological materials published in Latvia. The aim of the study is to analyse the existing methodological materials from 21st century that deal with the development of children’s musical hearing as described by various authors. The study focuses on the primary school age, pre-mutation period children who, in addition to general education, are learning singing in vocational or interest education during individual or group lessons (ensembles and choirs). The research method used is the selection and summarization of opinions and recommendations of teachers of music subject, singing teachers and conductors in the work with children – soloists and choir singers, who are gaining their first skills in singing and intonative hearing, as described in various literature sources. The results of the study show that all of the examined materials conceptually coincide, but often different terminology and explanation of techniques is used, which does not always reveal the nature of each expression and technique, thus preventing the theoretically expressed knowledge from being put into practice. Many explanations are based on the empirical work by the authors of the source. There is a lack of methodological techniques that are based on scientifically proven facts.

<p class="Abstract">The organization of Romanian distance learning in music has been supported in terms of research, collaboration and financing by European projects, with the following achievements: training of teaching staff involved in distance learning, assistance in activities meant to introduce ICT in general schools, construction of a platform dedicated to distance learning activities, creating a database with instrumental accompaniments for singers, designing multimedia courses, assessing distance learning programs offered by the Academy of Music Gheorghe Dima in Cluj-Napoca.</p><p class="Abstract">The Prelude Training Programme on ICT in Music Education – a project aimed at developing a training programme for in-service music educators, as there are many ways in which technology helps educators meet instructional goals: Programs designed to help students develop their musicianship or improve their knowledge of notation and skill in reading notation, support with improvisation skills, notation and sequencing programs which assist students in composition activities.</p><p class="Abstract">Vemus - Virtual European Music Schools - a programme which focuses on teaching music notation or performing instruments, involving execution of rhythm patterns, melody, music scores; E-vocal learning, with simultaneous appearance of sound and notation, conducted by famous musicians. DIMA - Direct Impact of Multimedia Application - a platform that comprises courses, audio and video examples focusing on music history, performing and listening activities.</p><p class="Abstract">The partners proceed from various areas (higher education, innovation/development centers), and the projects were conceived to stimulate the implementation of ICT in the educational process in music, approaching teaching staff as a target group, and students as an interested party.</p>The need for such products was revealed by interviews and questionnaires and the results’ evaluation proved that the online environment can be accessed in order to develop educational resources, enrich lesson content, motivate and engage children in music education, deliver information and learning opportunities, stimulate children in their musical endeavors.

Background. In Ukraine both musicologists and performers (in particular the choirs conducted by well-known choirmasters) do much for the further development of the home Bach studies. For instance, the direction of the ‘choral bahhiana’ was actively developed by the leading choirmasters of that time professor M. Berdennikov (Kiev), Y. Kulik (Kharkiv) in the 60’s and 70’s. It is known that future students of the choral conducting departments first learn the choral heritage of J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel, as a rule, at the piano lessons at children musical schools and secondary schools. Unfortunately, their choral works aren’t often sounded today in the concert halls of musical academies and universities of arts. This music seemed to move from the concert stage to the classrooms. Analysis of publications according the topic. Among the researches that highlight the problems of the style of the sacred works of J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel, it is necessary to point out the fundamental studies of I. Givental and L. Gingold, M. Druskin, T. Livanova, V. Protopopov, A. Schweitzer, articles of modern authors by K. Berdennikova, N. Inutochkina, Y. Lyashenko, V. Semenuk, G. Skobtsova. However, the questions of the specifics of choral vocal technique remain, as a rule, outside the attention of scholars and they constitute the topic’s relevance of the article. Methods. The usage of the historical method contributed to the research of the educational choral performance at the present stage. It is involved structural-functional and intonational methods for establishing dramatic works’ features and concretization of their spiritual content. The comparative method is used to determine the differences between vocal style of J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel’s works and the technique of working with them. Objectives. The main goal is systematization of theoretical and practical observations with the performance of J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel’s choral works by the choir of the Kharkiv National Kotlyarevsky University of Arts students. The article is devoted to highlighting the problems of the performing process and the specifics of the choir practice of students with compositions by J. S. Bach (Cantata No. 140, ‘Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme’ and Magnificat) G. F. Handel (Dettingen Te Deum in D major, HWV 283). Results. The holding of the 22nd International Music Festival “Kharkiv Assemblies” devoted to the J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel’s oeuvre in 2015 was a significant event not only for Kharkiv but also the whole Ukraine’s musical life. The choir of the Kharkiv National Kotlyarevsky University of Arts students traditionally participated in it as in previous years (art director – Honored Art Worker of Ukraine, professor S. Prokopov, choirmasters – laureate of the all-Ukrainian competition H. Savelyeva, award winner of the all-Ukrainian competition O. Fartushka). The choir performed Magnificat and Cantata No. 140 by J. S. Bach ‘Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme’, fragments from the Dettingen Te Deum in D major, HWV 283 by G. F. Handel (the last two works are Kharkiv premieres). The work with them took place in short order and so it caused of some vocal technique difficulties and the problems of performative concept and performative style. Complaxities were intensified by the lack of necessary acoustic accumulation and the practical experience of performing the music of the Baroque by many young choirmasters, members of the choir group. The importance of studying the musical heritage of composers of genius in order to make a conductor-choirmaster personality is emphasized in the article. The main difficulties of learning choral scores due to the lack of performing experience, certain acoustic accumulation of choral music of the late baroque period which students of choral conducting specialization have. The approximation to the true understanding of the performing style of choral music by J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel may be provided with conditions of a thorough in-depth studying their works. The main tasks of the performative choices are described: appreciation of the entire depth of the spiritual content of J. S. Bach’s and G. F. Handel’s music by young performers, the correlation between vocal and instrumental principles, rational and emotional ones. One of the main tasks of the choir practice of students with J. S. Bach’s cantata No. 140 «Watchet auf, ruft uns die Stimme» was an adequate presentation of composer’s style. The composer treats the human voice as equal to the orchestra. Therefore, the vocal-instrumental nature of Bach’s choral style needs another way of sound-building, a greater unity of voices than our home choral music needs. They consider specific methods and techniques of work on such executive factors as tempo-rhythm, strokes. The questions of choral vocal technique, in particular, vocal intonation (significance of timbre expression, usage of different types of respiration, clear diction, active articulation) are raised. J. S. Bach’s interpretation of voice as an instrument, demands from performers a great deal of its mobility, almost virtuosity, especially in contrapuntal sections. As for the vocal style of G. F. Handel, the influence of the operatic style, which is felt in his oratorios and cantatas is emphasized. Conclusions. The choir practice of students and performing by the student choir of German composers’ genius works, the communication of young performers with outstanding conductors, singers (including foreign ones) became for them the true school of craftsmanship, promoted the professional growth of the choir group, revealed its new performance capabilities. Choral music of J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel should move from the educational audiences of universities and academies to the specific halls. The works of genius need to include in student choral groups’ repertoire.

Background. Opera singers are at risk to develop gastroesophageal reflux, because of the vocational challenges during singing. The singers are reluctant to be submitted to pH-metry fearing throat injuries. We evaluated the gastroesophageal reflux in vocal opera students using a non-invasive salivary test. Design and setting. A prospective, case-control study was carried out in 30 vocal opera students from the Music Academy of the city Cluj-Napoca, Romania, enrolled in the “canto” section. Methods. For control, 20 medical students and residents were enrolled. Each subject filled in a questionnaire and gave saliva samples for the salivary test Peptest™ (RD Biomed). The statistical analysis was made using program R version 3.2.1 (2015-06-18). Results. According to salivary Peptest, vocal opera students had a higher prevalence of gastro-esophageal reflux than the control group (96.67% versus 30%; 29 from 30 vs 14 from 20), P <0.001. Only 50% (15 of 30) of the vocal opera students reported reflux symptoms. Conclusions. Salivary Peptest confirmed a higher prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux in vocal opera students, although not all of them reported reflux symptoms.

This article describes some of the collaborative processes that take place within adult amateur choirs, and demonstrates some associations between group dynamics, peer learning and the development of choral confidence. Three focus groups and 16 individual interviews provided 40 hours of verbal data. The research aims were: to explore the lived experience of amateur choral singers in relation to their confidence levels; to identify some of the factors affecting singers’ confidence in their vocal skills and choral performance ability; to use the data to extrapolate strategies designed for managing confidence issues amongst amateur choral singers. Data was collected during semi-structured interviews and focus groups with amateur singers. The superordinate themes, which emerged from the data, included collaboration and teamwork, reciprocal peer learning, and the contribution of unofficial team leaders to effective learning and performance. All of these factors were reported as increasing individual and collective confidence levels. The findings highlight the role of peer interactions and social learning in developing the confidence of choral singers, and suggest ways in which conductors might optimize these interactions to build confidence during choir rehearsals and performances.

Despite the period's fashionable aspiration to a materialist, scientific objectivity, the new wilderness revealed by the microscope in the nineteenth century did not lend itself quickly or easily to sober, observational consensus. Rather, the nature of the microscopic world was, like the cosmos, largely open to interpretation. Since techniques of observation were largely undeveloped, many microscopists were not certain precisely what it was they were to look for, nor of the nature of their subjects. Did monstrosity lurk at the threshold, or was the microscope a window to the divine designs of the creator? Monstrosity and the microscopic may be a familiar relationship today, but prior to Pasteur and Koch's development of a germ theory of disease in the 1870s, the invisible world revealed by the microscope was not especially horrific, nor did it invalidate long-standing notions of the divinity of Nature. It is more than probable that many microorganisms were, prior to their identification as causal agents of disease, looked upon and admired as beautiful natural specimens. Certain microscopists may have suspected early on that all was not well at the microscopic level (suspicion of wilderness is traditional within the Western cartographic project), but by and large nineteenth century microscopy was deeply enmeshed in the extensive romanticism of the period, and most texts on the nature of the microorganism prior to the late nineteenth century tend to emphasise (in retrospect, a little naively), their embodiment of the amazing, wonderful complexity of the natural world. Germany was the center of this modern fusion of romanticism, naturalism, and microscopic visuality, where the prolific microgeologist, Christian Godfried Ehrenberg (1795 - 1876) achieved considerable attention through his discovery of the intricately symmetrical, skeletal remains of unknown microorganisms in the calacerous tertiaries of Sicily and Greece, and Oran in Africa. Documenting these fossils in Microgeologie (1854), he established for them the group Polycystina, in which he also included a series of forms making up nearly the whole of a silicious sandstone prevailing through an extensive district of Barbadoes. These widely admired microscopic sea-dwelling organisms were later discovered and studied in their living state by Johannes Muller, who named them Radiolaria. Ehrenberg's pursuit of natural beauty, rather than monstrosity, was clearly appealing throughout the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Central to the aesthetic evaluation of the natural world inspired by his discoveries was a privileging of symmetrical forms as divine signifiers. Drawing heavily from Ehrenberg's approach to the natural world, it had been the intention of Gideon Algernon Mantell, Vice-President of the Geological Society of London and author of The Invisible World Revealed by the Microscope (1850), to "impart just and comprehensive views of the grandeur and harmony of the Creation, and of the Infinite Wisdom and Beneficence of its Divine Author; and which, in every condition and circumstance of life, will prove a never-failing source of pleasure and instruction" (ix-x). An admirable project indeed, but increasingly problematic in the wake of evidence suggesting the infinite wisdom and beneficence of the divine author included the scripting of destructive, ruthless, mindless, invisible agents of suffering and death against which human beings were granted little, if any, defence. What did such evidence say of our allegedly privileged role in the story of life on Earth? Where might the raw, biological body reside within such an arrangement? Precisely at the vulnerable center of the controversy surrounding the nature of its own existence. Not surprisingly, consensus on what the body actually is has always been fairly frail, since it closed its modern formation in conjunction with the revelation of the body's mysterious, "hidden powers" through the lens of the microscope, which radically expanded, and confused, the cartographic field. Renaissance anatomical representation, thought once to be so authoritative and thorough (maybe too thorough), now seemed superficial. And moreover, as shown by the discovery of electricity and its extensive, shockingly experimental application to the body, we were enigmatic entities indeed, consisting of, and vulnerable to, mysterious, untamed forces of attraction and repulsion. The invention of the "Leyden jar" in the eighteenth century, which allowed the storage and regulation of electrical charge, had been turned almost immediately to the human body, often with all the playful naivete of a child. As Sarah Bakewell (2000) writes: One experimenter, Jean-Antoine Nollet (1700-70), liked to demonstrate the power of the new equipment by lining up 180 of the king's guards with hands clasped and connecting the man on the end to a Leyden jar, so that the whole line leaped involuntarily into the air. (36) The discovery that the biological body was an electrical organism unquestionably inspired the exorbitant interest in the "ether" that underpinned much nineteenth century spiritualism, horror fiction, and the emergence of paranoia as a cultural condition in the modern era. Most notably, it disrupted the notion of an external God in favour of a "divine power" running through, and thus connecting, all life. And as psychiatry has since discovered, the relation of the body to such a deeper, all-pervasive, unmappable power - an ontology in which matter has no empty spaces - is "profoundly schizoid" (Anti-Oedipus 19). But this did not prevent its intrusion into nineteenth century science. Biologist Ernst Haeckel (1834 - 1919), nineteenth century Germany's most vocal advocator of Darwinism, openly subscribed to a mystical, arguably delusional approach to the natural world. Drawn to study of the microscopic by Ehrenberg, Haeckel was likewise attracted to the patterned aesthetic of the natural world, especially its production of symmetrical forms. Although he drew his fair share of critics, it is unlikely he was ever considered "sick", since neither paranoia nor schizophrenia were recognised illnesses at the time. Yet in retrospect his writings clearly indicate a commitment to what would now be regarded as a paranoid/schizophrenic ontology in which "matter has no empty spaces". Haeckel's recourse to monism may be understood, at least in part, as a reaction to the agency panic provoked by the invasion narrative central to the germ theory of disease: if all is One, notions of "invasion" become redundant and transformed into the internalised self-regulation of the whole. Devoted to monism, Haeckel was adamant that "ever more clearly are we compelled by reflection to recognise that God is not to be placed over against the material world as an external being, but must be placed as a "divine power" or "moving spirit" within the cosmos itself" (Monism 15). This conception of God is synonymous with that discussed by Deleuze and Guttari in their exploration of the nervous illness of Judge Daniel Schreber, in which God is defined as the Omnitudo realitatis, from which all secondary realities are derived by a process of division (Anti-Oedipus 13). Like a textbook schizophrenic, Haeckel stressed the oneness of the cosmos, its operation under fundamental conditions of attraction and repulsion, the indissoluble connection between energy and matter, the mind and embodiment, and God and the world. His obsession with the "secret powers" of the Creator led him to adopt the notion of a "cosmic ether", which was itself almost totally dependent on contemporary research into the properties of electricity. Haeckel wrote that "the ether itself is no longer hypothetical; its existence can at any moment be demonstrated by electrical and optical experiment" (Monism 23). Recognising the inherent conflict of nature whilst providing convincing evidence of its divine, harmonious beauty through his hundreds of spectacularly symmetrical, mandala-like representations of Radiolarians and other microscopic forms in Die Radiolarian (1862) and Kunstformen der Natur (1899), Haeckel furthered his views through several popular manifestos such as Monism as Connecting Religion and Science: The Confession of Faith of a Man of Science (1894), The Wonders of Life: A Popular Study of Biological Philosophy (1905), and The Riddle of the Universe at the Close of the Nineteenth Century (1911). For Haeckel, clearly entranced by the hypersignificance of nature, the struggle for biological survival was also a mystical one, and thus divinely inspired. Tying this notion together with the Volkish tradition, and clearly influenced by the emerging germ theory, which emphasised conflict as precondition for (apparently mythic) harmony, Haeckel wrote that: We now know that the whole of organic nature on our planet exists only by a relentless war of all against all. Thousands of animals and plants must daily perish in every part of the earth, in order that a few chosen individuals may continue to subsist and to enjoy life. But even the existence of these favoured few is a continual conflict with threatening dangers of every kind. Thousands of hopeful germs perish uselessly every minute. The raging war of interests in human society is only a feeble picture of the unceasing and terrible war of existence which reigns throughout the whole of the living world. The beautiful dream of God's goodness and wisdom in nature, to which as children we listened so devoutly fifty years ago, no longer finds credit now - at least among educated people who think. It has disappeared before our deeper acquaintance with the mutual relations of organisms, the advancement of ecology and sociology, and our knowledge of parasite life and pathology. (Monism 73-74). The "war of existence", according to Haeckel, was ultimately an expression of the ethereal power of an omnipresent God. Denying real difference between matter and energy, he also implicitly denied the agency of the subject, instead positing the war of existence as a self-regulating flow of divine power. Biological survival was thus synonymous with the triumph of divine embodiment. Since Haeckel was resolutely convinced that nature was hierarchically structured (with the Aryan Volk fairly close to the top), so too were its expressions of God. And since God was not a being external to the Self, but rather the vital spirit or soul running through all being, divinity may be contained by organisms in varying degrees depending on their level of evolution. Domination of others was thus a prerequisite for the pursuit of God. And this was the essence of Haeckel's highly problematic distortion of the Darwinist theory of evolution: At the lowest stage, the rude - we may say animal - phase of prehistoric primitive man, is the "ape-man", who, in the course of the tertiary period, has only to a limited degree raised himself above his immediate pithecoid ancestors, the anthropoid apes. Next come successive stages of the lowest and simplest kind of culture, such as only the rudest of still existing primitive peoples enable us in some measure to conceive. These "savages" are succeeded by peoples of a low civilisation, and from these again, by a long series of intermediate steps, we rise little by little to the more highly civilised nations. To these alone - of the twelve races of mankind only to the Mediterranean and Mongolian - are we indebted for what is usually called "universal history. (Monism 5-6) This fairly crude, very German take on Darwinism, with its emphasis on the transference of biological principles to the social realm, contributed to the establishment of the preconditions for the emergence of National Socialism in that country shortly after Haeckel's death in 1919. In The Scientific Origins of National Socialism (1971), Daniel Gasman reveals the extent of Haeckel's descent into mysticism and its part in the wider development of the Volkish myths that underpinned Nazism in the twentieth century. And although the "sick" ideals of Nazism are undeniably deplorable, upon review of the cultural circumstances in which Haeckel's ideas developed, many of them seem inevitable for a frightened, paranoid culture convinced - based on scientific evidence - that life itself can only ever be a form of war: the very notion that continues to underpin, and indeed sustain, the germ theory of disease in the modern era References Bakewell, Sarah. "It's Alive!" Fortean Times October 2000: 34-39. Carpenter, William B. The Microscope and its Revelations. London: J & A Churchill, 1891. Deleuze, Gilles, and Felix Guattari. Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. 1972. Trans. Robert Hurley, Mark Seem, and Helen R. Lane. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1983. Gasman, Daniel. The Scientific Origins of National Socialism: Social Darwinism in Ernst Haeckel and the German Monist League. London: McDonald, 1971. Haeckel, Ernst. Die Radiolarien (Rhizopoda Radiaria). Berlin, 1862. ---. Monism as Connecting Religion and Science: The Confession of Faith of a Man of Science. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1894. ---. Kunstformen der Natur. 2 vols. Leipzig and Wien, 1899. ---. The Riddle of the Universe at the Close of the Nineteenth Century. Watts and Co., 1911. ---. The Wonders of Life. London: Watts and Co., 1905. Mantell, Gideon Algernon. The Invisible World Revealed by the Microscope; or, Thoughts on Animalcules. London: John Murray, 1850. Tomes, Nancy. The Gospel of Germs: Men, Women, and the Microbe in American Life. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1998.