Vocal Hygiene for Musical Theatre Performers

There have been numerous “do’s - and - don’t’s” vocal hygiene pamphlets made for voice users, however, a guide for vocal hygiene for musical theatre performers is not typically included in these pamphlets. Musical theatre performers differ from other professional voice users, because in addition to singing, they also have the taxing responsibilities of acting and dancing. As a result, many musical theatre performers have questions and often seem confused about what proper vocal hygiene should be for them. The goal of this honors project was to create an advisory brochure on vocal hygiene specifically for musical theatre performers. This brochure is based upon information published by professionals from various disciplines such as medicine, speech-language pathology, music, and theatre. This brochure addresses a number of aspects that musical theatre performers should be aware of as a result of the many demands that are placed upon them. This resulted in the following categories for the creation of the brochure: preventing overuse, medical care, nutrition/hydration, environmental factors, and utilizing proper technique. The background information and sources for this project are found in the annotated bibliography at the end of this paper

Vocal Fry: Acoustics, Airflow, and EGG Analysis of Various Types

Objective: Current studies on vocal fry at BGSU involve categorizing various types of vocal fry production (Proctor et al., 2019 ASHA conference). The objective of the current study was to characterize vocal fry types using acoustic, airflow, and electroglottographic measures. Such characterization should shed light on the physiological production of vocal fry and potential clinical understanding and intervention. Methods/design: Three men and three women, 18-22 years old, read the Rainbow passage as well as spoke conversationally and spontaneously in a sound treated booth. The participants spoke using a microphone and an EGG system (Kay Model 6103), as well as with and without the use of a face mask (Glottal Enterprises MSIF-2 system). The participants were asked to speak normally. There was no mention of vocal fry to them. Results: A number of the categories of vocal fry were found in the corpus (e.g., single pulses, double pulses, multiple pulses, period doubling, delayed fry). Also the corpus included interesting results for rough voice and aperiodic segments. The figure below shows an example of period doubling. The laryngeal aspect shows a range of glottal closing and opening secondarily to the primary glottal closing and opening (the bottom EGG signal), both occurring in the period of two normal cycles (shown to the left). This example is similar to almost all others in the sense that the glottal activity typically follows the wideband airflow activity (middle trace) as well as the acoustic signal (top trace). Conclusions: The study emphasizes the reality of the laryngeal function in the production of vocal fry, wherein the acoustic transients and various timing of glottal pulses can be seen in all three signals (acoustic, airflow, glottographic). This suggests that the primary cause of vocal fry is laryngeal, but seen and heard as sequences of transients both acoustic and aerodynamic

Empirische Religionspädagogik und Praktische Theologie : Metareflexionen, innovative Forschungsmethoden und aktuelle Befunde aus Projekten der Sektion „Empirische Religionspädagogik“ der AKRK

Der Sammelband stellt in insgesamt 20 Beiträgen Metareflexionen, innovative Forschungsmethoden und aktuelle Befunde aus Projekten der AKRK-Sektion "Empirische Religionspädagogik" vor. 19 Autorinnen und Autoren aus verschiedenen Ländern und Sparten der Theologie haben hieran mitgewirkt, auch um weitere empirisch fundierte Forschungsarbeiten anzuregen

Robust Digital Holography For Ultracold Atom Trapping

We have formulated and experimentally demonstrated an improved algorithm for design of arbitrary two-dimensional holographic traps for ultracold atoms. Our method builds on the best previously available algorithm, MRAF, and improves on it in two ways. First, it allows for creation of holographic atom traps with a well defined background potential. Second, we experimentally show that for creating trapping potentials free of fringing artifacts it is important to go beyond the Fourier approximation in modelling light propagation. To this end, we incorporate full Helmholtz propagation into our calculations.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Development and evaluation of a quality score for abstracts

BACKGROUND: The evaluation of abstracts for scientific meetings has been shown to suffer from poor inter observer reliability. A measure was developed to assess the formal quality of abstract submissions in a standardized way. METHODS: Item selection was based on scoring systems for full reports, taking into account published guidelines for structured abstracts. Interrater agreement was examined using a random sample of submissions to the American Gastroenterological Association, stratified for research type (n = 100, 1992–1995). For construct validity, the association of formal quality with acceptance for presentation was examined. A questionnaire to expert reviewers evaluated sensibility items, such as ease of use and comprehensiveness. RESULTS: The index comprised 19 items. The summary quality scores showed good interrater agreement (intra class coefficient 0.60 – 0.81). Good abstract quality was associated with abstract acceptance for presentation at the meeting. The instrument was found to be acceptable by expert reviewers. CONCLUSION: A quality index was developed for the evaluation of scientific meeting abstracts which was shown to be reliable, valid and useful

Reconstructing ‘the Alcoholic’: Recovering from Alcohol Addiction and the Stigma this Entails

Public perception of alcohol addiction is frequently negative, whilst an important part of recovery is the construction of a positive sense of self. In order to explore how this might be achieved, we investigated how those who self-identify as in recovery from alcohol problems view themselves and their difficulties with alcohol and how they make sense of others’ responses to their addiction. Semi-structured interviews with six individuals who had been in recovery between 5 and 35 years and in contact with Alcoholics Anonymous were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The participants were acutely aware of stigmatising images of ‘alcoholics’ and described having struggled with a considerable dilemma in accepting this identity themselves. However, to some extent they were able to resist stigma by conceiving of an ‘aware alcoholic self’ which was divorced from their previously unaware self and formed the basis for a new more knowing and valued identity

Genetic and Anatomic Determinants of Enzootic Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus Infection of Culex (Melanoconion) taeniopus

Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) is a re-emerging, mosquito-borne viral disease with the potential to cause fatal encephalitis in both humans and equids. Recently, detection of endemic VEE caused by enzootic strains has escalated in Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador, emphasizing the importance of understanding the enzootic transmission cycle of the etiologic agent, VEE virus (VEEV). The majority of work examining the viral determinants of vector infection has been performed in the epizootic mosquito vector, Aedes (Ochlerotatus) taeniorhynchus. Based on the fundamental differences between the epizootic and enzootic cycles, we hypothesized that the virus-vector interaction of the enzootic cycle is fundamentally different from that of the epizootic model. We therefore examined the determinants for VEEV IE infection in the enzootic vector, Culex (Melanoconion) taeniopus, and determined the number and susceptibility of midgut epithelial cells initially infected and their distribution compared to the epizootic virus-vector interaction. Using chimeric viruses, we demonstrated that the determinants of infection for the enzootic vector are different than those observed for the epizootic vector. Similarly, we showed that, unlike A. taeniorhynchus infection with subtype IC VEEV, C. taeniopus does not have a limited subpopulation of midgut cells susceptible to subtype IE VEEV. These findings support the hypothesis that the enzootic VEEV relationship with C. taeniopus differs from the epizootic virus-vector interaction in that the determinants appear to be found in both the nonstructural and structural regions, and initial midgut infection is not limited to a small population of susceptible cells