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• Spotlight: Helen Mitchell
• News
• Submission deadlines
• Conferences

Participant Spotlight

Helen Mitchell, University of Sydney

Research area: Music Perception and Production - Music Production

I'm an Australian Post-Doctoral Fellow at The University of Sydney (ACARMP, Sydney Conservatorium). Originally from Scotland, I studied music at Oxford University and after winning the Northcote Graduate Scholarship, I moved to Sydney in 2001 to undertake doctoral studies at The University of Sydney. My fascination is with singing voice research that is grounded in application in the studio. Pedagogically informed research has the potential to substantially progress the current state of play in experimental studies in the singing voice. My PhD focused on a vocal training technique in classical singing – 'open throat'. In a series of studies, I examined open throat technique in the modern singing studio and related the instruction to terminology, sound quality and spectra. These studies confirmed that the concept of an open throat is still actively taught and that the positive results can be heard. They also showed how key teaching concepts can be studied scientifically from a number of angles. An unexpected result of this work was that two widely used acoustical assessment techniques for the singing voice don't measure what we thought they did. Now the challenge is to develop acoustical measures that accurately reflect the way experienced listeners assess voices. In my Fellowship at ACARMP, I'm tracking the vocal development and acquisition of vocal mastery longitudinally in tertiary voice students. I assess acoustic and perceptual features of these classical singing voices and attempt to identify which elements of their technical and aesthetic training produce the most beautiful and exciting voices (ARC Discovery Project 'Enhancing quality in western classical singing and pedagogy'). This work is at the forefront of acoustical analysis of classical singing voice, with potential application in teaching and assessment. Publications are available at http://www.peachmelbatoast.com.