Enhancing gesture quality in young singers

ABSTRACT

Studies have shown positive results for the use of gesture as a successful technique in aiding children's singing. The main purpose of this study was to examine the effects of movement training for children with regard to enhancing gesture quality. Thirty-six fifth-grade students participated in the empirical investigation. They were randomly assigned into control and experimental groups: (1) control group – children who sang with gesture but without movement training and (2) experimental group – children who sang with gesture and received Dalcrozian movement training. The gestures were designed for developing singing voice, whereas the movement activities were designed for developing effective gestures for singing. The instructional unit, consisting of two 40-minute sessions per week for 24 sessions, focused on gesture use in singing. Each individual child was tested a Chinese art song. Three experts were asked to judge the children's individual gesture and singing performances by using a nine-point scale. Results showed that the children who received movement training gained a significantly higher score on gesture quality. It was concluded that the combination of gesture and movement training could be a powerful teaching strategy in children's singing.

KEYWORDS:

• Dalcroze
• gesture
• movement training
• singing

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Mei-Ying Liao is a native of Taiwan where she completed her undergraduate work. She earned her master’s degree at the University of Reading and doctorate degree at the University of Sheffield in England. Her research interests focus on gesture and movement in teaching singing, and early childhood music education. She was also a visiting scholar at both the Sydney Conservatory of Music and at the University of Washington. Currently she is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Early Childhood Development and Education at Minghsin University of Science and Technology in Taiwan.

Jane Davidson is a British musicologist and Professor of Creative and Performing Arts (Music) in the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music at The University of Melbourne. Davidson has written more than 100 scholarly contributions on performance, expression, therapy and the determinants of artistic abilities. Her edited volume The Music Practitioner (Ashgate, 2004) explores the uses of research for the practising musician.

Notes

1. The Alexander technique is a way of learning how you can get rid of harmful tension in your body (Kleinman and Buckoke 2013).