Effects of reverberation time on classical singers' preferences upon music practice rooms

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of reverberation time variances on classical singers’ [N=30] preferences in individual music practice rooms. The method has combined objective measurements (RT) and perceptual responses of participants. The participant group [N=30] has consisted of five different backgrounds in vocal studies ; EME (early music education) students (N=6), skilled amateurs (N=5), undergraduate singing students (N=6), graduate singing students (N=5), and professionals (N=8). Classical singers has been asked to sing with as high and as low as they could with melisma singing style (in opera singing technique) in three different room settings which had following reverberation times; around 0.6 s, 0.8 s, and 1.0 s. These were the values, which acoustical standards for music schools recommended. The participants have also been asked to sing with three different singing volumes in each room setting. The findings have been analyzed statistically. According to the results, classical singers have preferred the room setting with 0.8 s reverberation time considering their overall experience in three different room settings. Classical singers’ perceived singing effort has had a statistically significant relationship with preferred room setting. In addition, it has been found that there is a relationship between preference and background in vocal studies, which means that while experienced classical singers prefer dead conditions to live conditions, unexperienced classical singers prefer live conditions to dead conditions. It has also been found that, according to perceptual responses, experienced classical singers exert less singing effort while less experienced classical singers exert more singing effort in same room conditions.