The Science of Singing
About the course
In Spring 2017, I designed an original course called The Science of Singing as part of the Provost's Mentored Teaching Fellowship. The Science of Singing teaches phonetics through the lens of vocal music.
As part of the course, students learn about topics like:
- The different breathing strategies used in operatic singing.
- The fundamental principles of resonance that underlie the production overtones in overtone singing.
- The anatomical features of the vocal folds that are responsible for growls in throat singing and heavy metal.
- The vocal tract articulators and their possible configurations, especially as used by beatboxers.
When I offered this class at USC, students had the opportunity to interact with accomplished artists who performed a variety of vocal music (opera, throat/overtone singing, heavy metal, and beatboxing). While my students seemed to enjoy the course in general, they especially loved the guest artists!
Below you can find links to a sample syllabus and project for The Science of Singing.
You can also see a version of my first-day slides which I use to open a dialogue about why linguists should study singing (or more broadly, what is and is not a linguistic behavior). If you'd like to see the version of the slides I use on the first day of class, including learning objectives and exercises, just ask!