Acoustical, psychoacoustical, and pedagogical considerations for choral singing with covid-19 health measures

• The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on many aspects of daily life. Accepted means for safely gathering persons for any activity include meeting outdoors if possible, maintaining 2 or more meters (6 feet) physical distance between persons, using high ventilation rates (preferably natural ventilation) to provide multiple air changes per hour if indoors, and wearing masks to prevent the spread of larger droplets. However, applying these health practices to choral singing has significant implications for the nature of the sound a choir creates, the perception of the choir’s sound both within and outside of the choir, and the vocal production of the singers. In this article, we hope to examine a few of these implications in more detail and to provide some suggestions for how best to respond, based on prior research in the acoustics and psychoacoustics of choral singing, stressing as always that observing necessary health measures is paramount.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Konst -- Musik (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Arts -- Music (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

choir; covid-19; acoustics; pscyhoacoustics; pedagogy

Tal- och musikkommunikation

Speech and Music Communication

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)