Mind-Body Awareness for Singers: Unleashing Optimal Performance 978-1597564441, 1597564443

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MIND.BODY AWARENESS FOR SINGERS Unleashing Optimal Performance Karen Leigh-Post

)e**

Mind-Body Awareness for Singers Unl e ashing Optimal P erformnnc e

Mind-Body Awareness for Singers Unl e ashing

O ptim

al P erform nnc e

Karen Leigh-Post, DMA

)e**

Pruner PususHINc

5521 Ruffin Road San Diego, C492123

e-mail: [email protected] Website: httpt / / www.pluralpublishing.com

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Leigh-Post, Karen, author.

Mind-body awareness for singers : unleashing optimal performance / Karen Leigh-Post. P'; cm' Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1 -597 56-444-3 (alk. paper) ISBN 978-1 - 597 55-444-l (alk. paper) I. Title.

-

[DNLM: 1. Singing-physiology.2. Voice Quality-physiology.3. Psychomotor Performance. 4. Psychophysiology-methods. WV 50U QP306

612.7'8-dc23 2014013058

Contents List of Practical Application Exercises (PAEs)

1X

Foreword

xi

lntroduction lllustrated Guide to Neural Anatomy Acknowledgments

Chapter L. The Role of Cognition in Sensorimotor Processing for Optimal Performance: "I Think, Therefore I Sing!" What Is Sensorimotor Processing? Sensorimotor Processing Loop Systems of Singing Chapter 2. Sensory Information Processing: Perception of Our Environment and Ourselves Tiansmission of Sensory Information Perception Attentional Focus and Receptivity Integration Mechanisms: The Reticular Formation and Arousal (Awareness) Heightened Awareness, or Mindfu lness Two-Way Tiansmission-"Top-Down" Processing From Upper-Level Controls Selective and Executive Attention Selective Attention and a "Huppy Body" Selective Attention and a "Smart Body" Perception and Interpretation Active Perception Passive Perception Active and Passive Memory and Association Perception and Integration of Active and Passive Processes Interpretation and Auditory Perception Awareness, Novelty, and Constancy "Brain Time" and Perceptual Awareness Coping With Change: Novelty Versus Constancy Summary Perception of One's Own Voice \ trhile Singing Auditory Perception Multimodal Perception Somatic (Body) Senses The Vestibular System (Sensory) Purposeful Perception in Review

xiii xxi

xliii

2 2 2

5 6 8 8 8 10 11

13 13 1.4

16 16

t7 18 19 20 20 20 21.

23 23 23

29 32

35 43

vi

Mind-Body Awareness for Singers: llnleashing Optimal Performance

Chapter 3. Planning Voluntary Behavior Introduction-ItVho Is In Charge? Volition, Free Will, and Executive Ignorance Research Tiends in Voluntary Motor Behavior Willed and Sensorimotor Intentions What & \Mhen Planning-"WhatAre We Thinking?" Summary Learning and Memory Anatomy of Learning and Memory The Function of Memory and Higher-Level Perceptual Processing The Working Memory \Atrhen Perception Tirrns to Planning-Images and Imagery Defining Images and Imagery Training the Singer's Brain: Practical Application of Imagery for Developing Musical and Vocal-Motor Expertise Summary

Processing L:rtroduction

Chapter 4. Motor Output

Musculoskeletal Structures-General Anatomy and Function Skeletal (Striated) Muscle Function Axial, Proximal, and Distal Controls Levels of Control Lower-Level Controls Muscle contraction, adaptation, and oariability of force are reaiezned from the perspectiae of the motor unit and sensory-guided moaement. The "stretch," "knee jerk," and "withdrautal" reflexes are reaiewed with regard to aoluntary adaptations for complex aocal-motor skills, such as the timing controls for reflex resonance associated with aocal aibrato. Upper-Level Controls A reoiew of direct and indirect controls proaided by the modulating influences of

45 45 46 46 48 49 54 54 54 59 61.

69 70 73

90 95 95

97 97 98 103 105

121,

the basal ganglia and cerebellum, the brainstem, and cortical projections.

Developing Expertise Postural and Respiratory Contlsls-'/lfg/ve Got Your Back" Reflexive Control Systems and Special Acts of Respiration Postural and Respiratory Controls-Lower Torso, Neck, and Head Summary Chapter 5. Putting It All Together: Planning Executing, and Monitoring a Rhythmically Entrained Perforrnance Rhythm and Rhythmic Entrainment Predictability and Variability Self-Organization of Forced and Spontaneous Entrainment Summary

135 135

1,M 1,61,

769

773 174

774 177 779

Contents vii

Practical Application-Putting It All Tiogether With Rhythmic Entrainment Simple Systems and Wide-Ranging Cohesion Promoting Rhythmic Entrainment of Ongoing Sequences of Behavior Rhythmic Entrainment and Training the Singer's Brain Concluding Comments

179

179 180 185 188

Glossary

L9L

References

L99 205

lndex

List of Practical Application Exercises (PAEs) Chapter 2. Sensory Information Processing: Perception of Our Environment and Ourselves

PAE

3-9. Imagery and Mental Manipulation

PAE

}-10. Visual-Auditory Imagery From

Symbols (Ambiguity) (Tonal and Phonological Sight-Hearing, or Audiation)

PAE

2-1. Neutral to Arousal

P AE

2-2. Attentive Listening

PAE

2-3. Overriding Receptor Fatigue

PAE24. Attentive Listening and VestibuloMotor Reflexes (Adapted from Smith, Wilson, & Reisberg, L995)

PAE 3-11. Perceptual-Motor Imagery Is Based on Knowledge and Ability (Visuomotor, Tactile,

and Auditory) PAE

F12. Attentive Listening Posture-Zoning

lnto an Ideal Performing State (Adapted from

PAE

2-5. The Matching Game

Smith et al., L995).

PAE

24.

PAE 3-13. the Phrase

Mental Manipulation

PAE2-7. Footprints in the Sand PAE

2-8. BuzzrngBones-Auditory

PAE

2-9. " Buzzing Bones"-Somatosensory

Perception (Tactile) and Equilibrium

PAE 3-15. Alternative Strategies for Solving PAE 3-16. Imagery and Expertise-Simple to

Complex

Bones"-Metamonitoring Multimodal Confluence PAE 2-11. "Buzzing

Chapter 3. Planning Voluntary Behavior

3-1. Tossing

F14. Listening Posture and Subvocalization (Adapted from Smith et a1., 1"995)

PAE

Phonological and Tonal Problems

PAE 2-10. Vestibular Sense-Spatial Awareness

PAE

a Ball (Exploring

Anticipatory

Control) PAE 3_2. Footprints in the Sand, Part B

(Exploring Anticipatory Control)

PAETl7.

Simple Tonal Memory-Notation and Lexical Association PAE

3-3. Pencil Drop (Exploring Anticipatory

Control) PAE

3-4. What If? (Executive Functions)

}-18. Pitch Strings-Harmonic Context

PAE 3-19. Pitch

Strings-Tonal Mnemonics and

Pattems PAE 3-20. Auditory-Tonal Imagery-Reevaluation Strategies PAE

PAE

Auditory Imagery and Inhaling for

}-21. Auditory-Tonal Imagery-Ambiguity

and Inference

PAETZ2. Auditory Imagery and Loudness

PAE

I23. Visuospatial Imagery-Rhythmic and Metrical Organization

PAE 3--5. Auditory-Phonological Loop

PAET24. Altemative Strategies for Solving Visuospatial Problems

3-5. Working Memory and Episodic Unfolding of Events-Telling a Story

PAE

3-7. Auditory-Tonal Imagery

PAE 3_8. Footprints in the Sand, Part C

(Visuospatial Computation)

PAE

PAE 3-25. Visuospatial

Imagery-"Fill the Hall"

3-26. Visuospatial Imagery-"The Matching Game" PAE

IX

x

Mind-Body

Awareness

for Singers: llnleashing optimal Performance

PAE 3-27. The Paralinguistic Expressive Gesture of the Voice PAE 3-28. Five Questions Plus

Three-Keeping

4-7. Cooperative Action of Accessory Muscles of Respiration PAE

PAE

4-8. Tracheal Tug Reflex and Optimal

It Conscious and Cognitive

Positioning of the Larynx

PAES--29. What & When Improv-Tonal Mnemonics and Sound Bites

PAE

Chapter

4. Motor Output Processing

+-9. Respiratory Action of the Scalene

Muscles PAE 4-10A. Activating the Respiratory Force

Reflex-"T Pitch"

4-1. Axial, Proximal, and Distal Controls: "Hold Tray Level"

PAE 4.-108. Respiratory Force Reflex"Hammer Time!" and "I Ate Ice Cream!"

PAE+-2A. Flexor "Withdrawal" Reflex and Coactivation (Gamma Bias and Gain)

PAE 4-11. Kegel Exercise

PAE

PAE4-28. Gamma Gain-Hot Potato and Light Touch PAE L-ZC. Gain, Timing Controls, and

Phonation (Vibrato Frequency and Extent)

4-3. Postural and Respiratory Controls and Gravity PAE

4HA. Monitoring

Cooperative Axial Postural Controls-Lumbro-Sacral and Cervical Spine PAE

PAE 4.4B. Monitoring Cooperative Axial

Postural and Respiratory Controls PAE

4-5. Attentive Listening Posture and Tidal

Respiration PAE 4--6. Inhalation Termination, or Respiratory

"Fill Level" Reflex

PAE 4-12. Hip Flexor PAE 4-13. Axial Stabilization of the Neck and

Proximal Positioning of the Head PAE 4-14. Axial, Proximal, and Distal Controls

for Singing

Chapter 5. Putting lt All Together: Planning, Executing, and Monitoring a Rhythmically Entrained Performance 5-1. Measure for Meter-Catching and Riding the Wave PAE

5-2. l4lhat & When Planning, and Metamonitoring-"Streaming Strings of Swinging Sound Bites" PAE

Foreword

Like most other singers/voice teachers, Dr. LeighPost had long pursued competence at many of the respected methods of body-to-mind connections like the Alexander technique, Feldenkrais, yoga, bodymapping, performance psychology, Wesley Balk, and so on. Although she enjoyed much success, the questions persisted. Is there something we are missing? Why balance boards and balls? Is there a pivotal linkbetween movement techniques and singing? Or if singing is the movement, how should this movement be perceived and executed? Her resolve to disentangle this puzzle led to several years of purposeful, wide-ranging reading and study of those

scientists, philosophers, and psychologists whose research focused on performance skills. Dr. Leigh-Post's cognitive kinesthetic awareness (CKA) and singing research study addressed the questions regarding the relationship between movement and singing and the correlation, if any, between a predilection for a markedly developed bodily-kinesthetic intelligence and the efficacy of cognitive awareness methods for the study of vocal technical skill. After determining a list of generally accepted premises, an extensive list of questions ultimately emerged to focus the study on the role of cognition and singing. This empirical approach to the research provided a format for considering a number of theories and practices from a variety of disciplines-anatomy, psychology, neurology, pedagogy, and so on. From these we hoped to gain a greater understanding of the complex interaction between the mind and body that is singing and the role of the teacher and vocal coach in this process. Implementation of a variety of cognitive bodilykinesthetic awareness methods revealed that the key to unleashing bodily-kinesthetic intelligence in singing involves activation of the vestibular and auditory systems and maintenance of an ideal per-

forming state characterized by vigilant attention and an absence of anxiety. Relating cognitive bodily-kinesthetic awareness to leaming and memory, imagery and creative expression, and optimal performance provides critical means to understanding the complex interaction between the mind and body that is singing. For example, our monitoring and correcting processes consist, in part, of a continuous looping of an imaged goal, to initiation of action, to monitoring and correcting the image, followed once again by initiation of action and monitoring and correction. Cognitive bodily-kinesthetic awareness facilitates the efficacy of this process for not only conscious correction but also the self-correcting processes of the unconscious brain. There are two critical cognitive elements of the monitoring and correcting processes: a highly developed sense of bodily awareness that facilitates the flow of information between mind and body, and the planning processes that utilize sensory information to correct or refine the image for the task at hand. For example, if the singer perceives a need for clearer tuning of a pitch with the orchestra, the singer will clarify the image of the pitch desired, thereby selectively correcting the imaged goal and its motor response. It is important to note that getting the goal right is critical; cognition is critical. By imaging the goal in this way, we tap into our body's intelligence that unconsciously self-corrects breathing and posture as well as the fine audiomotor skills of phonation and articulation. Furthermore, there is no dialogue such as "that was terrible," ot "I'm afraid I won't get this next pitch." Attentional focus on correcting and polishing, on planning what comes next, also calls on our body's intelligence to keep us in optimum performance mode. This is necessarily absent of anxiety. Successful teachers of singing (getting good results) are doing a lot of things right. ltVhat understanding the neurophysiological systems will do for us is make our teaching even more efficient and xi

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Mind-Body Awareness for Singers: Unleashing Optimal Performance

effective. Because this is an understanding of the neurophysiological systems and singing, it may be applied effectively at any point in the training and performance of singing, be it in the early stages of learning or in the performance of well-learned repertory. For example, one of the lines that I enjoyed (from one of Karen's early drafts) was about balance being a function of the vestibular ear. On the long way to the bus stop after an appointment, I used my "vestibular ear listening," and lo and behold, I walked better. Can you believe that? Once the goal is set, it must be communicated to the body. But mind-body communication does not happen the way we thought. We must not direct our body on how to accomplish the task at hand. We are ill equipped to consciously issue the hundreds of thousands of instructions required to utter even the simplest of sounds. Have you ever heard singers report that they sing better in performance because they just forget about how they are singing and think of what they are singing about? This response

is frustrating, of course, because we cannot build a technique on not thinking about how we sing-or can we?

Take a moment for mind-body communication. Take a moment for communication of the conscious goal (task) to the unconscious systems that control proprioception, respiration, audition, phonation, and articulation. If we apply the principle of "take a moment" used in the Alexander technique to singing, if we set our mind on the task at hand (the auditory-phonatory goal that is to sing a phrase) and take a moment until we feel the impulse to sing, we tap into our bodily-kinesthetic intelligence and allow the systems to respond to the thousands of signals from our unconscious brain. The skill of the coach and teacher lies in understanding where the interruption of the flow occurs and redefining the goal for that rnoment. The primary role of the teacher and coach is in guiding the student tn planning, in setting the right goal for the moment-in getting the student thinking right.

-Shirlee

Emmons

lntroduction The instinct to express our thoughb and emotions our voice begins as early as the isolation cry at

with birth

and is one of the first voluntary behaviors in development (Perkins & Kent, 1986,p.4).Is there a key to developing this early ability into expert and intuitive performance of the complex behavior that is singing? Can we leam to unleash our innate bodily-kinesthetic intelligence to sing like "a natural"? What links the mind and body to achieve and maintain optimal and even peak performance in an ideal performing state? Inspired by theories and concepts emerging from unique research on the role of cognition and bodily awareness in singing, this book presents a transformative science- and performance'based perspective that accurately represents how we integrate the conscious and imaginative mind with the unconscious sensory and motor processes of our nervous system to infuitively guide the audiomotor behavior that is singing. Recognition of the role of the vestibular system in spatial cognition and, more specifically, inmonitoring and correcting postural and autonomic equilibrium provided the impetus for a shift in thinking from the anatomy of our body as a skeletal and muscular form to include the functional anatomy of the neural systems that stimulate and control those structures. By presenting mind-body awareness as sensory and motor pro-

which are designed to provide an essential overview of sensorimotor processing and the means to apply this information from the earliest stages of development through advanced artistry. Topics that are likely to be most useful for immediate understanding and application of the concepts presented include Perception of One's Own Voice While Singing, which is necessary to develop the knowledge with which we guide our behavior; The Working Memory, When Perception Turns to Plarudng-Images and Imagery, and \Atrhat & When Improv, which address the planning processes that ultimately guide our behaviors; and finally, Direct and Indirect Cortical Controls, and Rhythm and Rhythmic Entrainment, which provide guidance to ensureoptimal performance of ongoing behavior. Thereafter, a return for a more thorough reading of in-depth discussions of sensory and motor systems (such as lower-level and upper-Ievel controls, reflexive resonance/ and passive and active respiratory functions) and of the implications of neural anatomy for singing in general will further illuminate how we effect optimal performance of the complex behavior of singing in an ideal performing state.

cessing (sensorimotor), singers and teadrers of singing

are introduced to functional anatomy and the cognitive neurosciences that will gurde them in unlocking the mysteries of the mind-body link. Concepts rooted in both the wisdom of the masters and current scientific research are introduced from the refreshingly

meaningful internal perspective of the performer. Practical-application exercises are provided to train the mind of the singer to work with, rather than at cross-pu{poses with, the systems of singing.

It is recommended thatMind-Body Awarenessfor Singersbe initially approached with a focus on the Key

Points, figures, and practical-application exercises,

While extensive background research reveals common threads in existing theories and practices regarding the significance of bodily awareness and knowledge of our physical structure for mastery of vocal technique, these insightful sources also reveal that much remains to be learned about the role of cognition. Howard Gardner defines bodilykinesthetic intelligence as, "The ability to use one's mental abilities to coordinate one's own bodily movements" (Gardner, 1983, pp. 205-236). Barbara Conable proposes that musicians coordinate the cog-

nitive, sensory and motor functions in performing,

xiii

xiv

Mind-Body

Awareness

for Singers: ltnleashing Optinal Performance

but notes that scientists are only now figuring out how systems interact to produce a musician (Conable,2000, p. 38). Shirlee Emmons and Alma Thomas

suggest that while much of the motor activity employed in singing is essentially noncognitive in nature, the singer is asked to use judgment to coordinate a highly complex set of skills (Emmons & Thomas, 1998, pp. 5-10).

not only from the eyes but also from the physical self. This appreciation is supported by a historically, long-standing tradition of using movement methods and balance tools for the development of singing technique. Yet the ability to attain a natural flow in singing behavioq, as a result of effective transference of knowledge gained from studying movement methods, is often inconsistent, time intensive, or even ineffective for those with underdeveloped bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. As the study began, there were insufficient research data to support the efficacy of employing these traditional methods (Valentine et a1., 1995).1If proof is "in the pudding," so to speak, it is understandable that a singer or teacher of singing would not need research results to support their use. That is, if a technique works, the proof will be in the performance outcome. The more salient question is how does the technique work? If we can better understand how movement methods interface with behavior, then we may improve the efficacy of their practical application, even when we must stand relatively still. After all, we cannot always "stand on our heads."2

This research in cognitive bodily-kinesthetic awareness (CKA) and singing began with an appreciation for the distinct relationship between the quality of a singer's movements and the quality of a singer's sound. The look of presence radiates

Although language begins in earnest when we can walk upright and is learned instinctually by ear, the relationship between cognition, erect posture and locomotion, and audition and phonation has remained on the periphery of science. That is, research h spatial cognition and motor behavior has remained separate and distinct from the sciences of speech,language, and hearing. While it is generally understood that the role of cognition in guiding voluntary behavior is to integrate essential monitoring feedback, through a process of comparative judgment and correction according to our willed intentions, the scientist observer, without experiential knowledge of singing, was unable to tell us how we coordinate the complex sensory and motor behavior that is singing. Similarly, the singer, without a fun-

lElizabeth R. Valentine, et al.,The Effect of Lessons in the Alexander Technique on Music Performance in High anil Low Stress Situations Psychology of Music 23 (1995), 120-141. This review cites several studies that showed bias or inconclusive results, and ultimately concluded that results of these studies were suggestive but in need of replication and further analysis. See also Gruzelier, Egner, Valentine, & Williamon (2002). Comparing learned EEG self-regulation and the Alexander Technique as a means of enhancing musical performance; and Gruzelier, f. H. (2009). A theory of alpha/theta neurofeedback, creative performance enhancement, long-distance functional connectivity and psychological integration. Cognitioe Processing,l0(S1), pp. 101-109. ISSN 1612-4782. 2Refers to a popular book by Eloise Ristad, A Soprano on Her Head: Right-Side-Up Reflections on Life and Other Performances, !982.

Introduction xv

damental knowledge of cognitive neuroscience and neuroanatomy, was unable to make sense of or effectively apply the research data provided by scientists. A thorough review of the existing literature on movement in general as well as specific to singing revealed some significant limitations in scope. Scientific research of sensorimotor integration has focused primarily on vision, or visuomotor integration, almost to the exclusion of the audiomotor integration employed by musicians. With a few important exceptions, research on the brain and music has focused on how we perceive and process music from the external perspective of the listenel rather than from the intemal perspective of the performer, thereby overlooking the effect of one's own voice when singing on spatial cognition (i.e., proprioceptive knowledge of one's place in space) and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence in general.

nation for how we produce elite and intuitive singing behavior. In addition, this information would provide insight regarding both how the conscious mind and physical self interface to achieve and maintain optimal performance of a well-learned, highly automated, complex motor behavior such as singing, and how to do so with creative flexibility in an ideal performing state, which is characterizedby heightened awareness, vigilant attention, and autonomic balance, or calm.

Cognitive Bodily-Kinesthetic Awareness and Singing: The Role of Cognition in Vocal Technical Skill Development A comparison study of cognitive and noncognitive movement methods for the development of vocal technical skill (Leigh-Post & Burke,2009) was conducted over a 4-week period with the following contrasting hypotheses in mind: 1. If bodily-kinesthetic intelligence by definition can be developed through cognitive learning processes, then cognitive methods will effect a greater positive result on the development of vocal technical skill than will noncognitive methods.

The guiding tenet of this empirical research methodology was to look at the whole of the singer's experience-from the various perspectives of the sciences of the thinking mind and the physical self, the external perspective of the observing scientist and educator, and the internal perspective of the artist performer-in order to identify the points where scientific and experiential knowledge intersect and define the value of a theory according to its practical application to the vocal performance art. That is, information gleaned from determining where scientific and experiential knowledge of singing behavior intersect would, in theory identify critical guiding principles and ultimately lead to a reasonable expla-

2. If noncogmtive methods, such as those that promote general fitness, effect a natural vocal athleticism without fear of overthinking, then the employment of noncognitive movement methods will effect an equal or greater positive result on the development of vocal technical skill than will cognitive methods.

Thirty undergraduate voice majors from five voice studios were randomly placed in three participant groups: a control group with no change in activity; a noncognitive group that engaged in nonspecific general athletics; and a cognitive grouP that attended workshops in Alexander, Feldenkrais, and yoga techniques and received practice guides, Body Mapping materials (Conable,2000), and analysis logs. Data collection was blind and included pre- and poststudy questionnaires (self-reported), pre- and poststudy vocal skills assessments by professional adjudicators, and daily practice logs. (This

xvi

Mind-Body Awareness for Singers: llnleashing Optimal Performance

research was approved by the institutional review board at Lawrence University.) The overall rate of improvement in vocal skills for the cognitive group was assessed at 48"h, representing a 27"/" increase over no change in activity and a760/o increase over noncognitive methods. Par-

ticipants who reported ease in maintaining bodilykinesthetic awareness demonstrated observable ease

and fluidity of movement and reflexive postural adjustments at least some of the time. Participants who reported difficulty in maintaining awareness demonstrated either rigid inflexible posture and effort or physical disengagement, lack of tonicity, and breathiness. Results indicate cognitive movement methods effected a greater positive result on the development of vocal technical skill than noncognitive methods. In addition, data support the notion of the corre-

lation between maintenance of bodily-kinesthetic awareness and maintenance of an ideal performing state as demonstrated in motor flexibility and postural ease. The significance of postural balance to each of the movement methods employed in the study, together with the apparent significance of postural ease, suggests the vestibular system is instrumental for optimal performance and maintenance of an ideal performing state while singing and

merits further study.

As anticipated, preliminary research trials designed to stimulate and heighten awareness of vestibular functions during singing (e.g., sense of balance and space) elicited increased ease and fluidity of movement during singing, both as reported by participants and as demonstrated in observable vestibular eye position (vestibulo-occular) and head turn (vestibulo-sternocleidomastoid) reflexes. Additionally, participants attending to their sense of balance and space experienced a dramatic increase in general percepfual awareness-awareness of not only feedback information, but also the perceptual imagery that guides or feeds forward information to our motor systems (see \Mhen Perception Tums to Planning-Images and Imagery,p.69). However, it was not until the task of maintaining awareness of the vestibular sense of balance and space while singing was "put to the test," with the addition of stressors provided by a public concert venue, that an unexpected finding emerged. It was then that participants consistently reported ease in maintaining not only optimal awareness, characterizedby the amplification of necessary information and vivid imagery, and attentional focus on the task at hand, characterized by the inhibition of unnecessary information that would cause distraction, but also ease in maintaining an ideal state of homeostatic equilibrium, characterized not only by physical ease and fluidity of movement but also by a general sense of well-being-a sense of calm absent anxiety and well-regulated temperature, salivation, and heart and respiration rate. Thus, preliminary research findings suggest a link between vestibular stimulation and an ideal performing state characterized by optimal awareness, attentional focus, and homeostatic equilibrium. Impact of Research on Continuing Study, Voice Science, and Pedagogy

Cognitive Bodily-Kinesthetic Awareness and the Systems of Singing (2OlO) Follow-up research to CKA and Singing focused on cognitive processing, maintaining awareness, and the role of the vestibular system in singing.

Therefore, what has since been hailed as "groundbreaking research" (Emmons) on the roles of cognition, bodily awareness, and the vestibular system when singing paved the way for an aggressive interdisciplinary study of the sciences of the mind and body for the particular purpose of understanding how our conscious perceptions and executive functions of the working memory interface with our

Introduction xvii

unconscious sensory and motor Processes to guide

voluntary skilled behaviors such as singing' Moreovet this research from the perspective of the performing vocal artist ultimately led to advancements in voice science and in our understanding of singing that are, above all, practical and applicable to singing from the earliest stages of learning to the most advanced stages of the art. For example, research on the role of the vestibular system when singing led to expansion of the

Perkins and Kent (1986) model for the Systems of Speech, Language, and Hearing, namely the respiratory, phonatory, articulatory, and auditory systems, to reflect the Systems of Singing and the inclusion of the vestibular and motor systems which are necessary to maintain our postural orientation to gravity during singing and to calculate the spatial coordinates that position our effectors (phonator and articulators) to make the right sounds at the right time (Figure I-1).

The Systems of

Sitg*g

Centrol Nervous System

^;f:::t

e

tw$6,:;:i:t tl IT

,fu

{

m

r"{:x*:o

s

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'n:;i:ff'

Articulotory System

t-t.

rhe systems of singing. The hierarchy of the interdependent systems remains the same, beginning with our brqin (intentions), and continuing with the motor behavior output systems (postural, respiratory, phonatory, and articulatory) and finalty the sensory systems, represented by the organs of the

Figure

inner ear (cochlea and vestibules), that process feedback information from those behaviors. The sensory organs of the inner ear have been separated according to auditory Gound) and vestibular (motion) functions. lt should be noted that the vestibular system as a whole serves both sensory and motor functions, detecting motion and stimulating postural adiustments in order to maintain equilibrium (i.e., our physical orientation to the forces of gravity) during motor behaviors such as singing and walking. AIex lohnson, lllustrator. Adapted from Perkins, w. H., & Kent, R. D. (1986). Functional Anatomy of Speech, Language, and Hearing. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

xviii

Mind-Body

Awareness

for Singers: llnleashing Optinal performance

Furthermore, identifying the role of the vestibular system in monitoring and correcting postural and autonomic equilibrium, together with recurring stimulation of arousal mechanisms when singing, provides a reasonable neurophysiological explanation for how a singer-athlete maintains an ideal performing state under stress of varying degrees (Leigh-Post, 2070, 2072a).

Recurri ng Vestibular Stimulation Theory The theory of recurring vestibular stimulation (RVS) proposes that the vestibular system mediates an ideal performing state and that in recurring vestibular stimulation we have a means by which we may voluntarily interface with the involuntary systems that regulate autonomic balance and, at the same time, stimulate an alert and receptive mind. That is, by voluntarily and recurrently stimulating the ves-

tibular system, we can promote sustained attention and continuous activation of reciprocal mind-body communication-between the executive (frontal) and sensory (posterior) cortical areas and between the conscious mind and unconscious brain-which are necessary for optimal performance of voluntary behaviors and creative self-expression. It is suggested that constant and recurring stimulation of the vestibular system unique to singing can be effected by means of direct forced bone-conducted vibrations transmitted from the vocal apparafus, via tissue and bone, to the sensory organ of the inner ear. Moreovel, this stimulation may be similarly effected through auditory imagery (i.e., covert mental rehearsal, -or inner singing), as per the working memory and indirect cortical controls. That is, research findings suggest the link between the vestibular system and our psychological, biochemical, and neurophysical selves promotes optimal performance in an ideal state of homeostatic equilibrium (Leigh-Post & Burke, 2009, Leigh-Post, 2010).

Equilibrium is monitored and controlled by the vestibular system in two important ways. The vestibular system interfaces with the cerebellum to continuously monitor and control our motor systems for postural equilibrium, or our structural orientation to gravity, and it also interfaces with the autonomic system to monitor and control gravitydependent autonomic reflexes that regulate the tonicity of our internal muscles, such as the heart, lungs, diaphragm, swallowing muscles, and vocal folds. The practical significance is this: by pulposefutly stimulating vestibular receptivity and consciously monitoring our position in space-that is, by detecting information from which the spatial coordinates necessary to maintain equilibrium and optimal positioning of our effectors are calculated-we have a means by which we may consciously and cognitively interface with the unconscious systems that regulate homeostasis and our sense of well-being. Our findings in cognitive bodily-kinesthetic awareness both support the insightful theories of the past and present and provide direction for future collaborative research in the arts and sciences to better understand the complex interaction of mind and body that is singing.

Introductlon xlx

Thus, by framing mind-body awareness as sensolimotor processing, and therefore broadening the scope of voice science and pedagogy to include the perspective of cognitive neuroscience and the

functional anatomy of the systems of singing, we can better understand how our thoughts stimulate purposeful action-how a singer-athlete maintains optimal performance in an ideal performing state.

lllustrated Guide to llIeural Anatomy The following overview of general neural anatomy is provided as a guide to the nervous system and the language used to describe its anatomy and function.

An initial cursory review of this information is recommended, recognizing that the material will serve as an as-needed reference as topics are explored in greater depth throughout the book. In addition, "The Singer's Brain at Work" includes discussion of research studies with particularly salient information regarding singing, along with illustrated anatomical guides to serve singers and teachers o{

Functionally, a sensorimotor integration system is comprised of the ParasymPathetic and sympathetic divisions (commonly known as rest and digest, and fight or flight, respectively). Anatomically, it spans both the peripheral and central nervous systems, serving both the viscera and some skeletal muscles. As shown in Figure 0-3, the vagus nerve X (cranial parasympathetic outflow) supplies the muscles of the heart, lungs (including larynx, pharynx, and trachea), and more.

singing in reading research studies more effectively.

The integrated whole of our nervous system is often

divided and categorized for various PurPoses of discussion and study. Anatomically, the nervous system is divided into the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system (Figures 0-L and 0-2). The central nervous system (CNS) lies within the skeletal structures of the skull (cranium) and vertebral column (skeletal spine), which form the brain and the spinal cord, respectively. The peripheral nervous system lies outside these skeletal structures and includes cranial nerves, spinal nerves, and sensory receptor organs. Functionally, the CNS may be divided into three main components: the sensory system, the motor system, and homeostatic and higher brain functions (Dafny, n.d.).

Autonomic System and Homeostasis As the name suggests, many of the functions under the control of the autonomic system are autonomous, or capable of self-regulation without conscious attention, and serve an important role in maintaining our internal environment and effecting homeostasis, or a stable, equalized state.

Figure O-1. Central nervous system. A. Brain. B. Spinal cord. Courtesy of Dr. loe Kiff.

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xxtv

Illustrated Guide to Neural

Autonomic balance (homeostatic equilibrium) is the normal coordinated functioning between the parasympathetic and sympathetic divisions of the autonomic nervous system-an anabolic gathering up of energy and a catabolic expenditure of energy that is equal to the task at hand. We can monitor autonomic balance as the rhythmic synchronization of our heart and breathing rate, and perceive equilibrium as a sense of well-being, flow, or calm. The essential role of anticipatory control for maintaining autonomic balance and emotional stability is indicated in the anatomical structure of the autonomic network as summarized in the following statement: "The hierarchy in the autonomic network results in the loops from the brainstem to spinal cord being responsible for rapid short-term regulation of the autonomic nervous system, hypothalamic-brainstem-spinal cord pathways serving longer-term, metabolic and reproductive regulation, and finally

Anatomy xxv

limbic system-hypothalamic-brainstem-spinal cord loops serving anticipatory autonomic regulation" (Dougherty, n.d. a).

Neurons The functional unit of the nervous system is a specialized cell called a neuron (neuronal cell). Aneuron may be further categorized as a sensory neuron, a motor neuron (motoneuron), or even an intemeuron that transmits information between neurons within the central nervous system (i.e., from a sensory neuron to a motor neuron), and so forth with increasing

specification of function. Because of their various functions, neurons come in many different shapes and sizes, but all have a cell body and specialized extensions called dendrites and axons (Figure G4). Dendrites bring information to the cell body and

Figure o-4, Neuronal network. Source: LIS National lnstitutes of Health, National Institute on

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xxvi

Mind-Body Awareness for Singers: llnleashing Optimal Performance

axons take information away from the cell body. Neurons communicate with each other by transmitting information through an electrochemical process by which action potentials fired from one cell body travel along its axon and across the synapse (the junction of two cells) to another cell.

Nuclei, Tracts, and Nets As suggested in Hebb's law, "neurons that fire together wire together," neurons are great networkers. Neurons of like function and purpose group or

"wire" themselves together into clustered nuclei, circuitry, linear pathways or tracts, and eventually wide-ranging hierarchical networks or systems that are, ultimately, part of the nervous system as a whole (see "Auditory and Vestibular Systems," p. xxx).

Action Potential, or Impulse

The action potential (Figure 0-5), also known as an impulse, provides us with a workable "cellular view" model of the gathering up and expenditure of energy that entrains with the rhythmic pulsations of our nervous system as a whole. Neuronal firing is an explosion of electrical activity that occurs when enough stimuli cause the resting potential to rise resulting in depolarization such that the threshold is reached (Knierim, n.d.b.). Like the rhythmic action of a conductor's baton, the force of an action potential is defined by the amplitude and speed of its action. Although an individual action potential is not subject to variability-it either fires at a fixed amplitude and speed or it does not fire at all-action potentials may fire in rapid succession, in large volume (many neurons), and in a

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seemingly infinite variety of combinations. This is how our nervous system generates and executes the prescribed energy, or force, for the task at hand with great specificity. Because the action potential, or impulse, is an explosion of electrical activity, we can "capfure" its behavior and create an observable record of events in the brain (e.g., electrocardiogram [EKG], electroencephalogram [EEG]). Given sufficient activity, we may consciously perceive this behavior as a gatheri.g rp and expenditure of energy.

Anatomy xxvil

Cranial Nerves Cranial nerves are of particular interest to vocalists in that they serve the sensory and motor systems of the head and neck, and notably the auditory and vestibular systems, face, larynx, tongue, jaw, and palate (Figure 0-6). In addition, efferent signals carried by the vagus nerve include those that stimulate the muscles and mucous membrane glands of the pharynx and larynx, and signal parasympathetic slowing of the heart and breathing rate.

Key Point: Temporo-spatial coordinates specific

The Brain

to a neuron's action potential define how far, how

fast, and how long (duration). When transmitted via the axon to another neuronal cell, these coordinates form the common language of our dualcontrol neryous system (e.g., sensory and motor systems or the conscious mind and unconscious

Like the whole of our nervous system, the brain can also be divided according to its anatomical structure or function. We will consider the cerebrum, cerebellum ("httle brain"), and the brainstem (midbrain, pons, and medulla).

brain).

Key Point Anatomical distinctions are helpful for study purposes. However, it is important to bear in mind that most information (stimulus) is simultaneously processed by multiple brain areas and modes, and can be shared at several subcortical "hubs" (nuclei) and across cortical areas. Even the brain's many domain-specific representational areas appear to be organized in a quasi-hierarchical fashion with reciprocal connections that allow for the flow of information from

the top-down, bottom-up, and laterally (Hill & Schneider, 2005).

Peripheral Nervous System In the peripheral nervous system, information

is

transmitted between the central nervous system and peripheral organs via nerves. Anerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of axons that form a common pathway for the transmission of electrochemical impulses. Thus, each nerve is a cordlike structure that contains many axons or fibers. A group of axons or fibers is bundled together into a fascicle or fasciculus (see "Arcuate Fasciculus," p. xxxvi). Structures analogous to nerves within the central nervous system are called tracts.

Cerebrum

The cerebrum is the principal part of the brain whose outer layer forms the cortex (Figure 0-7).It is responsible for the integration of complex sensory

and neural functions and the initiation and coordination of voluntary activity in the body. The cerebral cortex is what we think of as our conscious mind. It is responsible for all forms of conscious experience, including perception, emotion, thought, and planning, as well as coordination of motor activity (Pines, 1995, Glossary).

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xxviii

Illustrated Guide to Neural

Anatomically the cerebrum is commonly divided into five lobes: occipital, parietal, temporal, insular, and frontal. Four of which correspond to skull bones (see Figure 2-1,4). Generally speaking, the function of each lobe is as follows (Hitl & Schneider,2006):

L. The occipital lobe is involved in visual processing. 2. The parietal lobe participates in coding visuospatial information and is involved in attentional control and somatosensory processing (i.e., bodily sensations such as touch and vibration, pain, and kinesthesis). 3. The temporal lobe is involved in coding auditory and verbal information for memory storage, and also contributes to visual processing at the level of object formation and face processing. 4. The insular lobe (a small area concealed beneath portions of the frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes) is involved in emotional processing, taste, and learning. 5. The frontal lobe is involved in executive function, reasoning, effort, and emotional coding,

Anatomy xxlx

conceptual information and rules, motor control, speech, and smell (Hill & Schneider,2006). Before we consider the singer's brain and how researchers study changes in cortical activity, or the flow of information in areas accessible to consciousness, we will take a look "under the hood" at subcortical structures and the unconscious brain (Figure G€).

Suhcortical Structures

Thalamus. The thalamus is the uppermost hub of sensory information in the unconscious brain. It is the point from which sensory information may, finally, be projected to the cortex where it is available to the conscious mind.

Hypothalamus. The hypothalamus, located just below the thalamus, is the key brain site for the integration or mediation of information between the multiple systems that maintain homeostasis. The three major systems that maintain homeostasis

Corpus Callosum Thalamus

Hypothalamus Amygdala Cerebellum

Figure O-8. The brain-subcortical structures. Source: National lnstitute for Aging, Wiklmedia Commons/public domain.

xxx

Mind-Body Awareness for Singers: Unleashing Optimal Performance

are the autonomic nervous system, the neuroendocrine system, and the limbic system also described as our motivational states (http: //en.wikipedia.orgl wiki / Autonomic_nervous_system#cite_note-urle Medicine. 2FStedman_Medical).

Hippocampus and Amygdala (Limbic Structures). Anonspecific group of structures surrounding the top of the brainstem, commonly known as "the limbic system," serve to quickly evaluate sensory data, trigger motor responses, and assist in the formation of memory (hltp: / /willcov.com /bio-consciousness / review / Limbic System.htm). The hippocampus supports the formation of memory networks in the association cortex, and the amygdala supports the evaluation of the affective and emotional significance of perceptions (e.g., fear or pleasure) necessary for consolidation of memories (Fuster, 1997, p. 452). It should be noted that there are no generally accepted areas of the brain that belong to the "limbic system," and as such, neuroscientists often avoid using the term.

Basal Ganglia and Cerebellum. Located at the top of the brainstem, two subsystems in the motor hierarchy, the basal ganglia and the cerebellum, are thought to be influential in generating production programs for speech, as well as mediating reproducible movements such as walking, laughing, juggling, and sustained phonation (Perkins & Kent, 1986, p. aa$. The cerebellum, meaning "little cerebrum," contains about half of the brain's neurons and is closely associated with nuclei of the brainstem.

is a nonspecific integration mechanism that interfaces with other structures and systems involved in the selective aspects of attention, including all sensory and motor systems, cerebellum (motor coordinator), limbic system (emotion and memory), hypothalamus (homeostasis), thalamus (sensory), autonomic system (visceral sensorimotor), the entire cortex (conscious mind) and notably the right parietal lobe.

Auditory and Vestibular Systems To complete our current joumey through the uncon-

scious brain, we will now follow the preconscious processing and transmission of information from the

perspective of the auditory and vestibular systems that are essential to singing-from receptor organs of the inner ear and along neural pathways as signals cross various levels of the central nervous system. Sense Organs

of the Inner Ear

Airborne stimuli travel to the outer ear (A) and on through the ear canal (B), middle ear (C), and finally to the inner ear (D) where the auditory and vestibular sense organs are lodged in the temporal bone of the skull (Figure 0-9).

Brai nstem. The brainstem, lying between the top of the spinal cord and the base of the brain, consists of the midbrain,pons, and medulla oblongata. Spanning the brainstem are many essential neuronal processing "hubs" or nuclei, such as those that serve cranial nerves. Thus,brainstem strucfures are responsible for vital life support functions such as breathing, heart rate, consciousness and sleep, and sensory and motor

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information processing. For example, information from the auditory and vestibular organs of the inner ear first enters the brain at the pons.

nv

Reticular Formation. The reticular formation spans the central core of the brainstem and provides

smooth transition between ascending and descending sensory and motor systems. Its intricate network

Figure

O-9,

Peripheral sensory organs of the outer, middle,

and inner ear.

Illustrated Guide to Neural

Bone-conducted stimuli (e.9., vibrations originating with the larynx or an extemal source) are transmitted directly to the receptors of the inner ear. At this point, airborne (and bone-conducted) information is transduced into neural signals when hair cells (a type of mechanoreceptor) are moved by the fluid in the cochlea and are in turn transmitted via the vestibulocochlear nerve (CN VIII) to the brain where, after several junctions along the way, they are projected to the auditory cortex where they can be heard or perceived as sound. This same vibration information is also transduced into neural signals when hair cells are moved by fluid in the vestibular organs and is sent via the vestibulocochlear nerve to the brain where it is processed as motion. (See Chapter 2, "Bone-Conducted Tiansmission," p.24.)

Anatomy xxxi

The Auditory System

The auditory system provides us with a fairly clear example of a "classic" transmission pathway across

several levels of the nervous system. Figure 0-10 illustrates the many "hrtbs," or nuclei, which are distributed along the brainstem for the purpose of processing or integrating shared information. In addition to "classic" projections to the auditory cortex, the ascending auditory pathways include projections to "the cerebellum, basal ganglia, and cortical motor structures such as the supplementary motor area and premotor cortex; and descending projections from the auditory association areas of the cortex project to the basal ganglia, reciprocally influencing sequencing, timing, and behavioral response selection" (Thaut & Abiru, 2010, p. 263).

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Figure O-tO. Auditory system. About 98%o of the signals transmitted via the auditory nerve involve ascending (afferent) information projected from the sensory receptor to the brain (Perkins & Kent, 1986, p. 285). The remaining descending (efferent) signals are used to control the operation of the ear from various levels of the nervous system. The cochlear nuclei are located in the brainstem, spanning the junction of the pons and the medulla, The specialized anteroventral, posteroventral, and dorsal cochlear nuclei, together with the superior olive and nuclei in the midbrain and thalamus, process separate and distinct information, which enables us to perform discrete tasks, such as regulating hair-cell sensitivity in the cochlea (selectivity), or detectingthe temporal pattern of sound (timbre), For example, the anteroventral nucleus processes frequency information relative to horizontal localization of sounds 1ntensity) (Martin, 2oI2). Illustration courtesy of Alexis Ames.

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Mind-Body

Awareness

for Singers: llnleashing Optimal Performance

The Vestibular Network

The same signals (vibrations) that are transmitted to the inner ear and processed by the auditory system as sound are likewise processed by the vestibular system as motion (Figure 0-11). Axons that transmit information from the vestibular organs to the brain (CNS) share the eighth cranial nerve with axons from the auditory system (vestibulocochlear nerve). However, axons from the vestibular organ terminate in vestibular nuclei, from which there are several projection systems or tracts.

Key Point: Stimulus events, such as a police siren, are processed simultaneously by multiple

systems or modes-as sound, vision, and even vibration (tactile) and motion (vestibular).

The Vestibular System Sometimes referred to as the great integrator, the vestibular system receives, processes, and projects

both sensory and motor information that informs our knowledge of motion and space, effects head and eye movements that facilitate receptivity, and notably, signals corrective postural and autonomic reflexes in response to changes in our orientation to gravity for the primary purpose of maintaining equilibrium.

Thalamus Deep

cerebellar

nuclei Cerebellar cortex

l. Major pathways of the vestibular system. Sensory (afferent projections): A. Vestibulo-cerebellar (from all four vestibular nuclei and the sense organs). B. Vestibulo-thalamo-cortical (motion sense or equilibrium, and spatial awareness). C. Spino-vestibular (afferent). Motor (efferent projections): Efferent projections from the vestibular nuclei process and control ocular and postural reflexes via the spinal, reticular, and cerebellar tracts. A. Vestibulospinal (efferent). B. Vestibulo-reticular, -autonomic (NTS), -oculomotor nuclei. C. Vestibulo-cerebellar, -contrqlateral vestibular nuclei, -thalamus (Dickman, n.d.). Courtesy of Christopher Moore. Adapted from Sobotta, l. (l9O$. Human A n ato my / w iki m edia co m m o ns /public do m ai n, Figure O-l

Illustrated Guide to Neural

The wide-ranging connectivity of the vestibular network precludes detailed illustration in a single diagram. Because of our specific interest in the role of the vestibular system for postural control, an illustration of the vestibulo-spinal system has been selected for this discussion. Additional pathways are presented in discussions of the sensory and motor functions of the vestibular system in Chapter 2, "Sensory Information Processing," and Chapter 4, "Motor Output Processing," respectively.

The Vestibulo-Spinal System. "The vestibular system influences muscle tone and produces reflex-

ive postural adjustments of the head and body through two major descending pathways to the spinal cord, the lateral vestibulo-spinal tract, and the medial vestibulospinal tract" (Dickman, 2007. p.27; Figure 0-1,2). The descending fibers of the medial vestibulospinal tract "connect to motoneurons that control muscles of the neck and trunk. In contrast, fibers to motoneurons that control limb muscles arise

from the lateral vestibular nucleus, and descend in the lateral tract" toward the outside of the spine (Shepherd, 1983, p.278). Though not illustrated here, there is also an important distinction between

the muscles of the neck and the body. "The main point is that the head, which contains the vestibular apparatus, is connected to the neck, the neck to the trunk, and the trunk to the limbs. Neck reflexes are thus the link between movements of the head and the body and limbs" (Shepherd, 1983, p. 278).In addition, Shepherd highlights the function of these reflexes as servosystems for stabilizing the head in space, noting that the response of neck muscles to head motion (i.e., sensory stimulus from the vestibules) tends to restore the head to its normal position and reduce the stimulation (Shepherd, 1983, p.278). Key Point Neck reflexes, controlled by the vestibular system, "are the link between movements of the head and the body and limbs" (Shepherd, 1983,p.278).

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Anatomy xxxiii

Vestibulo-spinal system. Courtesy of Christopher Moore.

xxxiv

Mlnd-Body Awarcness for Slngers: llnleashlng optimal Performance

Prefrontal Cortex

"The extensive outer layer of gray matter of the cerebral cortex is associated with higher brain function such as sensation, voluntary muscle movement, thought, reasoning, and memory" (The American HurtagP Dictionary, 2009). It is commonly divided into the frontal and posterior cortices (Figure 0-13). Wide-ranging communication (connecd"ity) between the cortices is associated with focused and sustained attention, the working memory, and reduced anxiety (i.e., a state of equilibrium).

The prefrontal cortex is the front-most cortical area of the frontal lobes. Also referred to as the frontal association cortex, it includes areas other than the motor and premotor areas. The prefrontal cortex is generally considered to be instrumental in executive functions (i.e., plaruring complex behavior, decision making in light of consequences, and self-expression in accordance with one's willed intentions [goals] and social implications). The prefrontal cortex will be discussed in greater detail in the section, "The Singer's Brain."

Motor Cortices

Frontal Cortex The cortical area of the frontal lobe, or frontal cortex,

is commonly divided into the prefrontal and motor cortices.

The motor areas, located in both hemispheres of the cortex, are very closely related to the control of voluntary movements, such as the fine fragmented movements performed by the articulators. The right half of the motor area controls the left side of the

Figure O-13. The cerebral cortex. A. Frontal cortex. i. Prefrontal cortex (PFC). ii. Dorsolateral (DLPFC). iii. Medial (MPFC, not shown). iv. Ventrolateral (VLPFC). B. Motor cortex. i. Primary motor cortex. ii. Pre-motor cortex @re-SMA). ltl. Supplementary motor area (SMA). C. Posterior cortices. a. Occipital lobe. i. Primary visual cortex. ii, Association cortex, b. Parietal lobe. i. Primary somatosensory cortex. ii. Association cortex/posterior parietal cortex. c. Temporal lobe. i. Primary auditory cortex. ii. Association cortex. Courtesy of Christopher Moore and Myslin /Grays 7 2 8/ W ikimedia Com mons/public domaln.

lllustrated Guide to Neural

body, and vice versa (http:/ /en.wlkipedia.org/ wiki / Cerebral_cortex#Sensory_areas). Cortical areas most commonly referred to as motor are the primary motor cortex, from which voluntary movements are executed, and the supplementary motor area (SMA) and premotor cortex (pre-SMA), which are primarily involved in the selection of voluntary movements. However, areas of the prefrontal and posterior cortices are also involved in motor functions. For example, the posterior parietal cortex is involved in guiding voluntary movements in space, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is involved in the selection and sequencing of voluntary movements according to willed intentions (http: / / en.wikipedia. org / wlki / Cerebral_cortex#Sensory_areas), and the medial prefrontal cortex has been implicated with intuitive behaviors initiated according to "rule sets" rather than conscious reasoning (Limb & Braun, 2008). This is further explained in "Cortical Activity and the Creative Mind State," p. xl; Chapter 2, "Expert Performing Musicians," p.48; and PAE 3-29 "What & When Improv."

Posterior Cortex The sensory and association cortices of the parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes organize sensory information into a coherent perceptual model of our selves and our environment. Occipital Lobe The cortices of the occipital lobe are associated with visual processing.

Parietal Lobe The cortices of the parietal lobe can be divided into two main regions: somatosensory cortex and posterior parietal cortex (Culham, 2006).

Somatosensory Cortex. Spanning both sides of the forward section of the parietal lobe, the somatosensory cortex receives tactile and kinesthetic information from the opposite side of the body (Culham, 2006).

Anatomy xxxv

Posterior Parietal Cortex. The posterior parietal cortex, located behind the somatosensory area, is also known as the parietal association cortex. The posterior parietal cortex is well situated to serve an integrative function-to take arising information from multiple sensory regions (including visual areas in the occipital lobe, auditory areas in the temporal lobe, and tactile information from the somatosensory cortex) and to provide output to premotor and motor regions within the frontal lobe. "The parietal cortex performs a range of functions in sensorimotor processing-spatial coding, attention, visuomotor control, coordinate transformation and tactile exploration" (Culham, 2006). More specifically, at the junction of the auditory, visual, and somatosensory cortices, the neurons in the inferior parietal lobule (also known as Geschwind's Territory) are multimodal. This ability to process multimodal information simultaneously is essential to speech and language processing (Figure 0-14). Association Areas Association areas include most of the cerebral surface and are "defined by exclusion as those neocortical regions that are not involved in primary sensory or motor processing" (Purves et al., 2004, p. 613). They are largely responsible for "the complex processing that goes on between the arrival of input in the primary sensory cortices and the generation of behavior. The diverse functions of the association cortices are loosely referred to as'cognition,'which literally means the process by which we come to know the world" (Purves et a1.,2004, p. 613). Temporal Lobe The cortices of the temporal lobe are involved in per-

ception and recognition of auditory stimuli, memory, and tonal (musical, prosodic) and phonological (word sounds) language processing. Auditory information projected from the thalamus is represented in the primary auditory cortex (41.,42), as illustrated in "Brodmann's Areas," p. xxxvii. From there information may be projected to the adjacent posterior association area, and on to the prefrontal association cortex.

xxxvi

Mind-Body

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Arcuate fasciculus Wernicke's area

Figure O-14. Language areas and arcuate fasciculus. The arcuate fasciculus has been found to be essential to vocal-motor control and tonal and phonoIogical processing. "ln nine out of ten people with tone deafness, the superior qrcuqte fasciculus in the right hemisphere could not be detected (Louis, Alsop, & Schlaug, 2oo9). Courtesy of Christopher Moore and Myslin/Grays 728/ Wikimedia Com m o ns /public do m ai n.

Language Processing Cortical areas known tobe involved in language processing span the sensory frontal, and motor areas. TWo 19th-century scientists identified the areas that bear their names, Wernicke's area (22) in the left temporal lobe is associated with the organization and comprehension of word sounds, and Broca's area (M,45) in the left frontal lobe is considered to be involved in the fluency or sequential unfolding

in the auditory cortex of the right hemisphere that corresponds to Wernicke's area is thought to be involved in the comprehension of tonal or timbral information (i.e., pitch inflection), and the area of the right prefrontal cortex corresponding to Broca's area is involved in the expression of the emotional content of language. These areas are further connected by the arcuate fasciculus (AF) and the tapetum of the corpus callosum (Figures G-14 and 0-15).

of the motor expression of language. In addition, large bundles of axons in the inferior parietal lobule (a subdivision of the parietal lobe) have been found

Arcuate Fasciculus and Fine Au dito ry - Vocal - M oto r Control

to connect to both Broca's area and Wemicke's area. This area is sometimes referred to as Geschwind's territory. Subsequently, corresponding areas in the right hemisphere have been found to process tonal (musical) or prosodic information. The midtemporal area

"In recent years, there has been increased interest in the use of musicians to examine brain adaptation in response to intense and long-term training of musical skills and notably in the auditory-vocal domain

as compared with fine non-vocal-motor control auditory-instrumental. In contrast to instrumental

Illustrated Guide to Neural

Anatomy xxvii

findings suggest that long-term vocal-motor training might lead to an increase in volume and microstructural complexity of specific white-matter tracts connecting regions that are fundamental to sound perception, production, and its feedforward and feedback control which can be differentiated from a more general musician effect" (Louis et al., 2009).

Cortical Divisions Before we continue our review of research studies

Figure O-15. Arcuate fasciculus-tractographic image. Source: Aaron G. Filler, MD, PhD/Wikinedia Commons/ Creative Commons Attribution 3.O lJnported.

focused on the activation of cortical areas relevant to singing, it will be useful to review additional divisions that are commonly used as a reference. For example, cortical areas are also divided in gyri, or cerebral folds (Figure 0-16), and cell architecture numbers (cytoarchitecture), such as Brodmann's areas (Figure 0-17). Brodmann's Areas

In the early twentieth century, Korbinian Brodmann developed a map of the brain based on differences in the cellular architecture of the various parts of the cortex, assigning those areas with the same architheir vocal apparatus. This added cognitive demand tecture numbers from 1 to 52 (http://MyBrainNotes necessitates stronger connectivity between tempo- .com). Although others have since developed altered ral, inferior frontal, as well as inferior motor/premo- nomenclatures for these cytoarchitectonic areas (e.g., tor, and inferior somatosensory regions; this may be Petrides and Pandya), Brodmann's numbers are still reflected in differing white-matter architecture in the used today to reference brain areas in research studAF of singers, relative to instrumentalists" (Halwani, ies and discussions (see Figure 0-17). For example, Brodmann's area 4 corresponds broadly to the priLoui, Rtiber, & Schlaug,2011). mary motor cortex and the precentral gyrus/anterior central gyrus. Figure 0-L8 provides a helpful guide to the various ways the prefrontal cortex may be divided and referenced in research studies, beginning with Brodmann's areas. Note: Descriptions of cortical, and notably prefrontal areas, are offered as a general guide according to "common understanding." Emerging research together with advancements in brain imaging tools In a comparison study of singers, instrumen- alter and refine our understanding of brain function talists, and nonmusicians and the effects of prac- on a daily basis. Moreover, neural plasticity (changes tice and experience on the arcuate fasciculus, "Tract in brain structure due to learning and practice) volume was largest in singers, especially in the left assures that no two cortices will look or function in hemisphere" (Louis, Alsop, & Schlaug, 2009). "Our the same manner. musicians, who exercise fine non-vocal-motor con-

trol while engaging their vocal system minimally during a performance, singers must always monitor their breathing as well as proprioception from

xxxviii

Mind-Body Awareness for Slngers: llnleashing Opttmal Performance

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Figure o-16. Cortical g1rri. A gltrus is one of the prominent ridges on the surface of the brain. For example, the superior temporal gltrus is believed to be involved in memory function. However, not all gtri are as well defined; the superior, medial, and inferior gStri of the frontal lobe are more like areas. Source: was a bee/Wikim edi a Co m m o n s/p ublicdo m ai n.

The Singer's Brain at Work With the advent of brain imaging techniques, and notably functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRD, scientists have been able to study cortical activity for various musical tasks, notably auditory imagery. Subsequently, musical tasks such as listening, notational audiation (sight-hearing), inner hearing, inner singing, and improvisatory performance have been studied and provide insight into how a musician processes tonal information. Researchers measure changes in brain activity, using the following methods: electroencephalogram (EEG) records electrical activity of neuronal impulses (voltage fluctuations) along the scalp, and an electrocardiogram (EKG) translates the heart's electrical activity into a waveform (i.e., line tracings on paper); changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) can be measured with fMRI or a positron emission tomography (PET) scan that uses a radioactive substance called a tracer.

T?acking the Flow of tnformation in the Cortex for Auditory Tasks

Michael Petrides "proposes that each major sensory modality represented in the posterior association cortices (auditory visual-spatial, visual-object, and somatosensory) projects, with some degree of topographical specificity, to each of several frontal lobe cortical regions critical for distinct executive functions (Marin & Perry, 1999). Moreover, based on a long series of studies, Petrides articulated a hierarchical theory of frontal contributions to mnemonic processing" (Perry,2002, p.259). For example, the posterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is proposed to play a role in associating tonal memory (pitch information) with lexical memory (e.g., notation symbol or pitch name). This suggests the possibility that employing pitch information as memory "triggers" would also result in activation of the posterior dorsolateral frontal cortex. However, as we see in the tonal loop model, the ventrolateral (VL) frontal cortex is first in the proposed hierarchy and

Figure O-17. Brodmqnn's areas. A. Side view, exterior cortex. B. Sagittal section, interior cortex. Source: Tkgd2OoT /wikimedia Com mons/publicdomain.

I

:Q, I ::ffi&Bd,lateral'':

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Figure O-18. Prefrontal cortex: subdivisions. Nofe: the term dorsolateral is used variously, and several terms are given to areas 47, II, and lo. Source: Tkgd2ooT/wikimedia Commons/publicdomain.

xxxlx

xl

Mtnd-Body Awareness for Singerc: llnleashlng optimal Performance

is hypothesized to be critical for the repetition, selec-

tion, comparison, and judgment of stimuli in the working memory (Perry, 2002). Tonal Loop Model

The tonal loop model proposed for the auditory working memory, based on the phonological loop model of Alan Baddeley for auditory-verbal working memory, involves three stages of processing, each of which was demonstrated in multiple subsequent studies (Marin & Perry, 1999). The first stage of the tonal loop model calls for maintenance of tonal information over brief delays in a time-limited store (with anticipated projections between auditory cortex and mid-Vl frontal cortex) (Marin & Perry 1999). Lr a study by Perry, Zatorre, and Petrides designed to measure changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) during the "simple operation of the tonal loop with no monitoring requirements . . . subjects listened to two-note sequences drawn from the major scale, followed by a silent interval twice as long as the stimulus. . . . In contrast to a silent baseline, this condition resulted in activation of the right ventrolateral cortex as well as bilateral auditory cortex, more extensively in the right posterior temporal plane . . . with clear-cut right hemisphere asymmetry" (P erry, 2002, p. 261). The second stage involves the ability to refresh "hold and on-line" tonal information based on vocal fundamental frequency control processes (i.e., inner singing, or tonal imagery). "Inner or imagined singing is proposed to depend on most of the areas active during actual singing" (Marin & Perry 1999). Areas proposed to show increased activation are the supplementary motor area (SMA), which is particularly strongly associated with imagined singing, and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), anterior insula, precentral gyrus/primary motor cortex, primary auditory cortex (right hemisphere), and putamen (part of basal ganglia) (Marin & Perry 1999, cited in Perry,2002). To measure cortical activation during the covert mental rehearsal component of the tonal loop (i.e., inner singing), after listening to two-note sequences drawn from the major scale, followed by a silent interval twice as long as the stimulus, subjects were asked to immediately repeat the two tones once

either was "in their head." When contrasted to listening only, the imaged condition indicated activation of motor cortical areas (including the SMA and putamen) that are believed to support vocal fundamental frequency control (Marin & Perry 1999). The third stage provides for the ability to consciously monitor the contents of the tonal loop so as to be aware of ongoing sysnfs-nn executive function for which the mid-dorsolateral (MDL) frontal cortex is critical (Marin & Perry 1999). For this final stage, Zatorre, Halpem, and Perry examined increases in CBF during a more complex task. Subiects were given two words from a familiar song, such as "Some" and "the" from Somewhere Over the Rainbow and were asked to judge whether the pitch associated with the second was higher or lower than the first. In order to assure subjects were performing an imaged task, they were asked to "play out the song in their mind in real trme" (Perry,2002, p.267).In keeping with the integration of lyrics and melody, cortical activations included bilateral activations in the temporal lobe, frontal regions, and the supplementary motor area. As predicted in Petride's model, the ventrolateral frontal cortex was activated to judge pitch direction from stimuli held in working memory; during song imagery without any auditory stimulation, activation of the superior temporal gyrus was observed exclusively within the auditory association cortex; and activation unique to imagery was seen in brain areas consistent with the retrieval demands of the imagery task (frontopolar cortex bilaterally, in subcallosal cingulate cortex, and in the right thalamus) (Perry 2002). The following study of improvisation offers an insightful and provocative argument for the neural underpinnings (substrate) of the creative mind state.

Cortical Activity and the Creative Mind State In an fMR[ study of jazz improvisation (i.e., spontaneous musical performance) Limb and Braun (2008) propose that a unique pattem of activity indicating "widespread deactivation of lateral portions of the prefrontal cortex together with focal activation of medial prefrontal cortex" offers insight into cognitive dissociations that may be intrinsic to the creative process (Limb & Braun,2008).

lllustrated Guide to Neural

In the continuing discussion, Limb and Braun (2008) argue the focal activation of the medial pre-

frontal cortex (MPFC), associated with the production of an autobiographical narrative, is germane in that improvisation is a way of expressing one's own musical voice or story. Furthermore, the portion of the MPFC that was selectively activated during improvisation, the frontal polar cortex (Brodmann area 10), appears to serve an integrative function, combining multiple cognitive operations in the pursuit of higher behavioral goals, such as utilizing rule sets to guide ongoingbehaviors intuitively (i.e., without conscious reasoning) (Limb & Braun,2008). In comparison, the deactivation of the lateral prefrontal regions (LOFC and DLPFC) during improvisation-areas involved in self-monitoring, conscious planning, and focused attention-may be associated with the defocused, free-floating attention that permits spontaneous unplanned associations, and the sudden insights or realizations associated with an altered creative state (Limb & Braun, 2008). It should be noted that while "decreased activity in the DLPFC may indicate a reduction in working mem-

Anatomy xli

ory demands, we feel that . . . attenuation of activity in the DLPFC in the present instance more likely reflects a reduction in the prefrontal mechanisms . . . for behaviors that conform to rules implemented by the MPFC outside of conscious awareness (Passingham & Sakai, 2004)" (Limb & Braun, 2008,p.4).

Future Research in Cortical Activations in the Singer's Brain Changes in cortical activation during various auditory imagery tasks by expert singers, such as "irner

hearing" versus "inner singing," "inner singing with no intention of singing overtly" versus "inner singing with the intention of singing overtly," and "performance of over-learned vocalises" versus "improvised vocalises" falls under future research. However, we will explore these and other tasks for auditory-vocal-motor control through practicalapplication exercises in Chapter 3, "Training the Singer's Brain" (p. 73).

Acknowledgments After several years of writing, I am now intimately acquainted with the reasons authors express their gratitude for the support and patience of their families. To my husband Bryan and daughters Ashleigh and Kaleigh, who so often set aside their own needs, I thank you not only for making it possible for me to devote extended periods of time and attention to the project but also for cheering me on when my perseverance ebbed.

I offer my thanks to my colleagues at Lawrence University for their role in facilitating the completion of the manuscript: to voice department faculty Kenneth Bozeman, |oanne Bozeman, Steven Spears, Teresa Seidl, and John Gates, who took on additional duties; to Kathy Privatt, Associate Professor Theatre Arts and ATI Certified Alexander Movement Technique Teacher, Beth Haines, Associate Professor of Psychology, and Terry Gottfried, Professor of Psycholo1y, for offering their expert advice; to Asha Srinivasan for supplying an excerpt of her composition; to Arno Damerow and David Berk for their technical expertise; to research librarians and personnel, Antoinette Powell, Gretchen Reevie, Peter Gilbert, Angela Vanden Eizen, Erin Dix, and Cynthia Patterson, for their knowledgeable assistance and guidance; and to illustrators Christopher Moore, Alexis Ames, Alison Thompson, Christopher Bozeman, and Kelsey Stalker, and engravers Alex Johnson and Bethany Gee, who contributed their time and talents beyond any reasonable expectation. I am particularly grateful for expert consultants, Raymond Kent, Professor Emeritus and Co-Investigator of Vocal Tract Development Lab, Waisman Center, University of Madison, Wisconsin, and coauthor Functional Anatomy of Speech, Language, and Hearing (1991,A11yn & Bacon), J. Timothy Petersik, professor and chair of Psychology Department,

Ripon College, Wisconsin, and associate editor, Perceptual €t Motor Skills (Ammons Scientific, Missoula, MT), Ingo Titze, University of Iowa Foundation Distinguished Professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology and the School of Music, and Peter Watson, specializing in respiratory function in the department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences at the University of Minnesota, who patiently guided my study and generously reviewed the text to ensure its veracity; and Gib Koula, who conducted clinical trials using biofeedback-assisted Iearning technologies. I offer my sincere thanks to musician, friend, and editor, Susan Lawrence McCardell, McCardell Editing, for her tireless encouragement and faith in the project as demonstrated in her cheerful if not enthusiastic review of multiple drafts and generous supply of expert editorial advice. To the mentors and teachers who have inspired me over these many years, I will be forever in your debt. I must offer a special note of thanks to Emma Small for introducing me to the wonders of what I called "balansinging" on Chango Paws@; and of course to my longtime mentor, Shirlee Emmons, without whose early concomitance I could not have mustered the courage to begin such a daunting task, and whose leadership by example inspired me to see the project through to completion even after her untimely passing. Finally, I offer my heartfelt thanks to my students: to Claire Burke who was an indispensable research associate, and Alex Johnson, who ably assisted in the preparation of our first paper presentation; and to all who courageously embraced new concepts with open minds and assiduously kept pace with the ever-advancing strides, leaps, and occasional sidesteps along our journey to uncover the mysteries of the mind-body link.

xliii

The Role of Cognition in Sensorimotor

fo, Optimal Perfo*ance: " I Think, TLterefore I Sing! "

Processing

If awareness is a state of consciousness characterized by an ability to integrate sensations from our environment and ourselves with our immediate goals to guide behavior, and is therefore essential to optimal performance, what is the role of cognition, the conscious and unconscious executive functions of the thinking mind, in maintaining awareness during the various stages of sensorimotor processing? How do our thoughts influence the heightened awareness, or mindfulness, associated with optimal performance? The complexity of mind-body communication is evident as we recognize the extent to which sensory and motor processing, as well as the whole of behavior processing and a significant share of sensory and cognitive processing, occur unconsciously. So much so, in fact, that upon learning of this research on the role of cognition in singing, a behaviorist and amateur singer exclaimed, "But that would mean singing is cognitive!" Of course, absent the ability to execute behavior automatically and intuitively, we would be unable to articulate speech and singing at a rate "faster than we can think" (about 140,000 signals per second) (Perkins & Kent, 1986). Moreover, we would be unable to free the mind to use higher cognitive functions, such as the imagination, to expertly guide complex behaviors, such as the fluid expression of our thoughts and emotions through the art of singing. Yet maintaining awareness and cognitive atten'tional focus on the task at hand, or "piloting our automation," is universally recognized as critical to achieving and maintaining optimal performance in an ideal performing state (absent of anxiety).

The ensuing discussion explores the role of cognition and body awareness within the framework of sensorimotor processing for singing, or, simply put, the planning processes that guide singing behavior

and the perception of one's own voice while singing. Key concepts from cognitive psychology and neuroscience relative to sensorimotor processing for singing are presented, including diagrams and practical-application exercises that provide an opportunity for us to associate the function of our neural anatomy and the language of cognitive neuroscience with the experience of singing. Framing mind-body awareness and singing as sensorimotor processing more accurately represents how the conscious, thinking mind interfaces with our unconscious sensory and motor-processing systems. Moreover, it provides a language that more accurately describes what we as singers experience from our internal perspective as performers, thus adding to the external perspective of the observing scientist and the useful but often misinterpreted metaphorical descriptions and demonstrations relied upon in our field. Empowered with this knowledge, we can train the mind to work with our nervous system-and thus our systems of singing-to unleash optimal performance at any skill level and enjoy an ideal performing state characterized by heightened awareness/ vigilant attention, and equilibrium or calm. In so doing, we free our conscious mind to enjoy the highest of cognitive functions-the imagination thereby create an endless stream of multi-and modal images to guide our bodies in an effortless

2

Mind-Body Awareness for Singers: llnleashing Optimal Performance

succession of fluid movements. For the artist, imagery, the phenomenal product of our imagination, is

Ilae;

a conscious and cognitive function of the working memory that, it would seem, cannot be delegated to automated behavior (see Chapter 3, "When Per-

ception Turns to Planning-Images and Imagery," P.6e).

Sensorimotor processing is the processing of neural information involving sensory and motor systems, functions, and pathways for the purpose of executing the task at hand in accordance with behavior outcome goa1s. To better understand how sensorimotor processing works, it will be useful to track the various functions of the sensorimotor processing loop for a common goal in singing behavior, such as pitch matching (see Thble 1-1., page 4; see Figure 0-10 for a diagram of auditory pathways).

Key PoinL Sensorimotor processing takes time. It takes about a second, or a "beat," from the impulse to act (mind to body) to a conscious perception (body to mind) that a task has been executed. In addition, the generation of a simple motor plan of action has been estimated to begin 1 to 10 seconds prior to the impulse to act.

Sensorimotor Processing Loop The various functions of sensorimotor processing may be categorized as sensory information processing (input), planning, and motor output (Figure 1-1). Sensory information, or "input" processing, involves the processes by which sensory information from a stimulus event in our environment or ourselves is received, transmitted, interpreted, and then perceived as a mental representation or image with the potential to be stored as knowledge. Planning of voluntary behavior is a cognitive process requiring accurate definition of our immediate goal

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Figure ,-1. Sensorimotor processing loop. Courtesy of Alex lohnson.

for the task at hand, as well as the ability to recall knowledge and generate a mental representation, or image, to guide intuitive performance of that task. Moreover, artistic performance requires the ability to mentally manipulate that image for a phenomenal (one of a kind) experience. Behavior, or motor output processing, involves the largely unconscious response of passive and active motor controls to a stimulus, or plan of action. That behavior in turn stimulates our sensory information processing systems, which monitor and correct behavior according to the imaged plan of action and past experience or knowledge. Key Point The stimulus-response phenomenon is a basic attribute of the brain and nervous system without which normal life would be impossible (Dickman,2007).

Systems of Singing Uppermost in the systems of singing is the brain, where cognitive functions operate both consciously

The Role of Cognitlon ln Sensorimotor Processlng for Optimal Performance:

and unconsciously. The hierarchy of the interdependentbehavior, or motor output systems,begins with the postural systems and continues with the respiratory, phonatory, and articulatory systems (Figure 1-2). The sense organs of the inner ear, which Process feedback information (stimuli) from these behavior systems, are separated according to their distinct and separate functions. When we sing, the auditory system receives and processes sensory information stimulated by phonation assound, whereas the vestibular system processes this information as motion. In addition, as a sensory and motor integration system, the vestibular system uses this information to both monitor and correct our physical balance (postural orientation to gravity and space) during the complex behavior of singing.

Given the cyclical nature of sensorimotor processing and the reciprocal natute of our nervous

"I Think, Therefore I Slng!" 3

system in general, we could begin our discussion of the function, behavioral purpose, and voluntary application of these systems at any point. However, because the role of the conscious and cognitive mind is to process perceptual information as knowledge and to use this knowledge to plan and guide voluntary behavior, we begin with sensory information processing (Chapter 2), followed by the processes for planning voluntary behavior (Chapter 3) and executing motor output (Chapter 4). The role of the conscious and cognitive mind in in{luencing optimal performance of voluntary behavior for the whole of sensorimotor processing and maintenance of an ideal performing state is then summarized in Chapter 5, "Putting It All Together," including practical-application exercises based on the principles of what & whenplanning, metamonitoring, and rhythmic entrainment.

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The systems of singing and sensorimotor processing loop. Courtesy

Alex Johnson.

Table

l-1.

Sensorimotor Processing Goal: To Match a Demonstrated Pitch

We prepare for a

task.

Ceneral Arousal

Reticular activating system (RAS) alerts brain to indiscriminate incoming information. A pitch is sung or

played.

We choose to listen to the pitch

Stimulus event

model.

Attentional focus on select information (cognitive and consciou s)

The auditory signal reaches our

ears.

Auditory Reception (unconscious) Vibrations received by the sensory organs (cochlea) are transduced into neural signals and transmitted via the peripheral auditory nerves to the auditory nuclei in the brainstem. These signals continue along neural pathways, and after many stations along the way, to the thalamus where they are ultimately projected to the auditory cortices in the temporal lobes.

ear. this information.

We hear the sound in our mind's

Auditory Perception (conscious)

We choose to remember

Auditory image (mental representation) is associated with existing knowledge (e.g., name) and stored as a neural trace in immediate short-term auditory memory.

,,Wdaulqg We decide to sing the same

pitch.

We recall and inner sing the modeled

we

Willed Intention (conscious)

pitch.

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(set-gol).

We sing the

pitch.

wbuwry beh*ttgr

Recollection and auditory imagery-pitch is "held" in

act ;:H;::::

ffi:rared

and projected ro rhe correx.

Execution of Singing Behavior (unconscious)

o Includes self-correction.

'

,.r,fi.WUWW We listen to the sound of our own voice and Feedback Monitoring (conscious and unconscious) notice adiustments until we intuitively know . Attended information (conscious) we have matched the pitch' o Self-correction (unconscious) :,:;,:::.:'':t{;::.:.;::r,:,,'sil:lr::t::f::;:ii;,rlri; ' '. - r

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Perception (conscious and unconscious)

4

Sensory Wormation Processing: Perception of Our Enaironment and Ourselaes rlannal

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lf

awareness is a state of consciousness characterized by an ability to integrate sensations from our enaironment and ourselaes with our immediate goals to guide behaaior; and if our perception of that behaoior may be stored as knowledge that may in turn be recalled as a mental representation or image to guide aoluntary behaaior, how does the conscious and cognitiae

mind influence the receptiaity and perceptual accuracy of sensory information?

Our sensory systems provide a rich confluence of information about our world in a wonderfully complex process that engages our nervous system at every level. Sensory information processing occurs consciously and unconsciously, actively and passively, and cognitively and noncognitively; it is

selective and limited, and requires interpretation and memory; it is influenced by context and perspective, experience, and emotion; it is the source of all knowledge and stimulates our imagination; and it is a neurophysiological and biopsychological process that exists in space and occurs over time.

6

Mtnd-Body Awareness for Slngerc: llnleashlng Opttmal Performance

Optimal functioning of the nervous system is dependent on the continuous influx of sensory information. After all, neural signals from our sensory receptors are generally the only source of information the brain has about what is actually going on in our intemal and extemal environments (Culham, 2006). The surface of the human body is one large information-gathering entity. Aristotle, in his treatise "de Anima" (350 nc), linked the sense of touch (tactile) with the capacity for movement, and rightly maintained that the skin was more than an organ of touch but rather a mode much like vision and hearing, citing the skin's ability to sense variations in temperafure, dampness, pain, and pressure, perhaps even from deep within the body (Gillespie, 1999a, p.231). Receptors in the layer of skin that covers our bones (periosteum) sense variations in intensity and frequency of pressure at our body's structural core. Similarly, each of our sensory modalities (vision, audition, olfaction, gustation, touch, and motion) is composed of varied components. For example, the auditory sense organs detect variations in frequency

rate (pitch and timbre) and amplitude (dynamics) to inform us of the source and location of a sound. Our vestibular sense organs of the inner ear detect the rate and amplitude of changes in our head position relative to gravity (i.e., linear and angular acceleration) to control head and eye movements, gravity-dependent autonomic reflexes, and postural controls, which maintain our physical orientation to gravity (including the larynx) and inform our sense of motion in space (Dickman, 2007). As such, the auditory and vestibular systems are particularly well equipped to sense events that occur through space and over time (duration).

Key Poinfi Perception is the process by which we take the information received from our senses and then organize and interpret it, which in tum allows us not only to see, taste, smell, hear, and feel events in our internal and extemal environments, but also to do so as meaningful and recognizable experiences with clear locations in space and time (Culham, 2006). To gain a more complete understanding of the sensory information processes that shape our knowl-

edge of ourselves and our environment and, in fum,

influence our actions, we will explore the function and behavioral purpose of the conscious and unconscious processing of a stimulus event-including reception, transmission, interpretation, and perception-with particular focus on aspects unique to singing, namely, the development of a multisensory representation or image of one's own voice while singing and the neryous system's ability to balance excitation and inhibition of a sensory stimulus to maintain an ideal performing state. Practicalapplication exercises will provide effective methods from the internal perspective of the singer for increasing the accuracy, vividness, and efficacy of sensory percepts.

There is a long chain of processes between the stim-

ulus events going on in our internal and external environments and our perceptual registrations of those events (Shepard, 1999, pp.21-22). The physical sensory system is a complex network that could be likened to the New York transit system; sensory information is projected via two-way transmission pathways with various "telay stations" and "hubs" along the way, representing an integrative system that "keeps things running smoothly and on time." Let us begin with sensory information processing in its simplest form. For the "classic" transmission of sensory hprt, the information flows in a linear, bottom-up (afferent) direction from the receptor to the cortex, where it may be perceived consciously (Figure 2-1). More complex processes of two-way transmission are reviewed later in this chapter.

Processing begins when receptors (hair cells) located in a sensory organ (cochlea) for a sensory system (auditory), convert (transduce) information (stimulus) from the environment into a neural signal that is transmitted by way of the sensory nerve to the system's nucleus in the brain for processing.

Sensory Information Processing: Perception of Our Environment and

Ourselves

tI ^*.Ll cortex

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Cochlear nuclei Dorsal

Ventral:

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Posteroventral

Anteroventral

Supeiior olive

Figure 2-1. Ascending auditory transmission pathway, The specialized anteroventral, posteroventral, and dorsal cochlear nuclei, together with the superior olive and nuclei in the nidbrain and thalamus, process separate and distinct information, which enables us to perform discrete tasks, such as regulating hair-cell sensitivity in the cochlea (selectivity), or detectingthe temporal pattern ol sound (timbre). For example, the anteroventral nucleus processes frequency information relative to horizontal localization of sounds (intensity) (Martin, 2OI 2). Courtesy of Alexis Ames.

This is the point where the world of neural processing of sensory information gets especially interesting. Once neural signals enter the brain, or central nervous system (CNS), there are several hubs and

synaptic relay stations (nuclei) where information may be shared and processed, or even compared within modalities (i.e., left ear to right ear) and, in some cases, across modalities, before reaching the uppermost hub of sensory information in the unconscious brain, the thalamus. The thalamus is the point from which sensory information may finally be projected to the cortex. The cortex is where we can become consciously aware of sensory information and where we can make conscious and cognitive associations. At the end of the transmission pathway (cortex) we experience a perceptual image or mental representation of what is going on in our internal or external environment-coincidentally with the activation of its corresponding neural structure

7

8

Mind-Body

Awareness

lor Singers: llnleashlng Optimal Performance

(network or trace). According to prevailing theories of perception, stimulus events, or obiects and their sensory qualities, are represented by the particular neurons or neuronal networks that they trigger in the brain (Culham, 2005). Therefore, the perceptual imagery that we experience when we mentally rehearse a melody involves many of the neural functions and networks that would be stimulated if we were to sing the melody overtly (aloud). Key Poinh In reality, there is no finite ending to sensory information processing. "Percepts evolve and are updated over time. The very act of perceiving itself leads to changes in the percept" (T. Petersik via e-mail August 28,2011). That is, we never perceive or reconstruct an event the same way twice.

As the source of all knowledge, sensory information is the stuff of which learning and mental imagery is

made. If we perceive information often enough or associate it with enough meaning, any neural trace has the potential to be encoded into our long-term memory as knowledge. As such, it may be recalled as a mental representation or image of that experience (stimulus event). Thke a moment to recall singing a great "money note" or a favorite phrase. The image is likely to be a confluence of rich and varied multisensory information that is associated with notated symbols, meaning, and emotional thought. This is no mere procedural memory. (See "Procedural Memory," p.60.)

of the moment, context, perspective, and existing knowledge or prejudice. Unlike the recording of a football play with many camera angles so that it can be replayed and viewed more closely at a later time, the sensory information that is the source of our perceptual knowledge will never be more accurate, detailed, or vivid than at the time of reception. While we can recall information and ponder its meaning at a later time, what we see, hear, or feel-the sensory information we receive in the space and time the stimulus event occurs-is what we get. This means that what occurs outside the frame of our attentional focus remains outside the frame of our perceptual knowledge. ln addition, only information deemed worthy of our attention-information that is judged (unconsciously) to be novel and potentially pleasant, or motivationally necessary to our well-being and/or the task at hand-is likely to be received and processed, with the potential of being projected to the cortex where we can perceive it consciously, if we so choose. For example, although we may have seen someone several times and believe we could recognize them easily, if we did not take note of that person's eye color, this information will not likely be available to us for recall. Similarly, if we do not attend to the cello line in the Mozart aria, Martern aller Arten, it is unlikely we will be able to sufficiently recall it to sing it, even if we believe we know the aria intimately. Sensory information processing is limited and selective by design (Figure 2-2).

How is this impressive process of accepting or rejecting a stimulus achieved? We have systems for it.

Integration Mechanisms: The Reticular Formation and Arousal (Awareness)

Attentional Focus and Receptivity As the aforementioned "long chain of events" suggests, perception is not always achieved simply. Only a small fraction of sensory information is accepted at our receptors and still less will be processed to the extent that it will be projected to our cortex for conscious attention. The whole of sensory information processing, including receptivity, is subject to our temporal world; it is influenced by the purpose

In addition to the two-way transmission pathways that are specific to our various sensory systems, the reticular formation is a nonspecific integration mechanism. Spanning the length of the brainstem, it interfaces with multiple structures and systems (e.g., sensory and motor systems) involved in the selective aspects of attention and awareness. (See Chapter 3, "Getting Into the Zone," p.73, and Chapter 4, "Upper-Level Brainstem Controls," p. 125.)

Sensory lnformation Processing: Perception of Our Environment and

Figure

2-2.

Ourselves 9

Attended stimulus. Courtesy of Alison Thompson.

The ascending reticular activating system cortex will (ARAS) provides general arousal of the brain and

maintains its readiness to respond to select sensory input (afferent) signals. Were it not for this activation, the brain would literally sleep through even the heaviest bombardment of stimulation (Perkins & Kent, 1986, p.404). When the ARAS projects information to the sensory thalamus and its gating mechanism (inhibitor), the thalamus becomes more sensitive to sensory information. In effect, the "gate is opened" and the now uninhibited thalamus projects sensitive information to the cortex (Figure 2-3). IA/e recognize general arousal as the alert and temporarily disoriented state we experience when sunlight wakes us in the moming, or when we step into the shower and the continuous repetitive pressure of the cool water spray stimulates our skin. If, however, we fail to focus on select sensory input, the

rln

become overstimulated and desynchronized in its response to sensory input, and we will likely feel out of control and anxious.

Key Poinh Activation of ascending projections from the reticular formation corresponds to an awake, alert state. \Atrhen the ARAS is quiet, the thalamus is insensitive to sensory information, the "gate is closed," and the cortex can sleep (Perkins & Kent, 1986, p. 405). Stimuli devoid of novelty or motivational value are stimuli for which the reticular activating system will not arouse the brain. A change in any parameter of a stimulus is the basis for detecting novelty and arousing the

brain from "sleep." "Perceptual systems respond predominantly to change; they do not record absolute levels-whether of loudness, pitch,l brightress, or

color-and

this has

a positron emission tomography (PET) brain scan study of musicians with absolute pitch (1996), the association of verbal labels (note names) with musical pitches was hypothesized to depend in part on the left dorsolateral frontal cortex, as was the association of the names of musical intervals (e.g., major/minor third) with pairs of tones whose frequencies formed the same ratio. The posterior dorsolateral frontal cortex is thought to play a role in conditional associative learning, one of the higher-order frontal lobe memory functions (s.v. "il. MUSICAL MEMORY" http: / /www.credoreferenc e.com/ entry /

esthumanbrain/iii-musical-memory (retrieved luly 22, 2011).

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Mind-Body Awareness for Singers: Unleashing Optimal Performance

Corpus

callosum

Thalamus

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Figure 2-3. Thalamocortical projections ascending from the reticular formation (ARAS)-"ArousAl." Courtesy of Christopher Moore and Sobotta, I. (r 9OB). Human Anatomy/wikimedia commons/public domain. [Sobo_I 9O9_624.pnq, Wikimedia Commonsl.

been demonstrated perceptually in every sensory domain (e.g., Kluender, Coady, & Kiefte,2003). This sensitivity to change not only increases the effective dynamic range of biological systems, it also increases the amount of information conveyed between environment and the [perceiver] (Kluender & Alexander, 2008; Kluender & Kiefte, 2006)" (cited in Stilp, Alexander, Kiefte, & Kluender,2010).

Heightened Awareness, or Mindfulness Therefore, sensory perception is also the stuff of which arousal and the heightened awareness associated with mindfulness, optimal performance, and an ideal performing state is made. Without arousal, perceptual awareness and learning, to say nothing of attentional focus and mindfuLress, are not possible (Perkins & Kent, 1986, p. 406).

Research exploring phenomena in auditory perception illustrates how the auditory system calibrates its receptivity to reliable properties of a listening context in ways that enhance its sensitivity to change. For example, Stilp et al. (2010) found listeners were more likely to report hearing a saxophone when stimulus thatincluded a saxophone sound followed a context filtered to emphasize spectral characteristics of the French horn, and vice versa. This operates much like visual color constancy, for which reliable properties of the spectrum of illumination

Sensory lnformation Processing: Perception of Our Environment and

are factored out of (or subtracted2 from) perception of color (Stilp et a1., 2010). That is, a reliable or famil-

iar sensory stimulus is inhibited from processing; it is deemed "old news" and unworthy of our time and attention. If perceptual systems respond predominantly to change, we begin to understand the difficulty in maintaining awareness when performing wellJearned repertory and during repetitive practicing. No wonder we sometimes feel the need to "stand on our head" to see things in a new light.3 In the New York transportation analogy, the reticular formation is the routing system that gathers, processes, and directs signals according to preprogrammed or automated switching and control mechanisms (self-regulated unconscious brain); when novel or motivational (need-to-know) information appears that cannot be managed by the automated processes,

the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS)

ultimately alerts the control tower (conscious mind) of incoming information that requires its attention. "Try it!" (Practical-Application Exercise [PAE] 2-1). PAE 2- l: Neutral to Arousal. If possible, remove your shoes and stand in a room that has windows or doors that may be opened to ambient sound. (Note: You may wish to stand with your hand on the back of a chair or piano to maintain steadiness. We want a happy body that is well equalized, where our sensory and motor systems are able to self-monitor our place in space and stimulate corrective postural responses without conscious effort.)

1. Stand at rest, breathing comfortably. We will call this neutral. 2. Notice the spaces surrounding you, inside the room and beyond. 3. Listen to the sounds surrounding you,inside the room and beyond. \Atrhat happens when you recall a favorite melody (inner sing)?

Ourselves t I

4. Stand on your dominant leg, placing the toe of your other foot just ahead of you or in a tree pose, if you like. Now shift your weight ever so slightly from what is equalized pressure between the ball and heel of your foot so that about 75% of your weight is on the ball of your foot. Do this without lifting the heel of your foot from the floor and maintain easy balance. Try shifting your weight toward the heel of your foot. What changes? What information alerts your conscious mind? Repeat the exercise and notice the various ways that changes in sensory information (visuospatial, audi-

tory, motion) stimulate arousal, alerting your conscious mind to events in your environment. Can you recognize even subtle arousal? Does your mind feel alert? Did your posture respond? This alert state is sometimes referred to as active repose.

Two-Way Tfansmission- "Top-Down " Processing From Upper-Level Controls order for higher centers in the brain to synchronize all systems in accomplishing a task, a top-down (mind-to-body) sensory control mechanism adjusts Ir:r

receptivity, or gating,

of incoming information

according to its usefulness in accomplishing the task at hand (Perkins & Kent, 1986,p.404). This descending (efferent) pathway parallels, in reverse direction, the classic ascending (afferent) transmission route

with all of its synaptic relay stations (Figure 2-4). fust as the classic ascending pathways send sensory information into the reticular formation, or routing system, in the brainstem, so too do the descending sensory control pathways (Perkins & Kent, 1986, p. a}$.In this way, the reticular formation facilitates voluntary amplification or inhibition of information

2Subtractive color mixing occurs when pigments create the perception of color by "subtracting" (i.e., absorbing) some of the light waves that would otherwise be reflected to the eye. For instance, if a blue pigment (which absorbs long wavelengths of light) is mixed with a yellow pigment (which absorbs short wavelengths of light), only the medium-length waves will be reflected, and the resultant mixture will be perceived as "green." Elseoier's Dictionary of Psychological Theories. Oxford: Elsevier Science & Technology, 2006. s.v. "COLOR MIXTURE, LAWS/THEORY OR" http:/ /www.credoreference.com,/entry/

espsyctheory/color_mixture-laws-theory_of (retrieved August 24, 2011). 3ThisstatementreferencesEloiseRistad'spopularbook,ASopranoonHerHead(1982).Ristad,E.(1982). Right-Side-up Reflections on Life and other Performances. Moab, UT: Real People Press.

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Figure 2-4. TWo-way neural pathway of the auditory system. About 98Vo of the information transmitted via the auditory nerve is afferent information projected from the sensory receptor to the brain, and the remaining 2%o is efferent information projected from the brain to the ear (Perkins & Kent, 1986, p, 285). Efferent signals that control the sensitivity of the receptor organs, and therefore the selectivity of information gathered, can be projected from various levels ranging from the cortex to the cochlear nucleus, Courtesy of Christopher Moore and Chittka L. Brockmann/Wikipedia/wikimedia commons/Attribution 2.5 Generic.

according to the consciously willed purpose of the moment. For the auditory system, some of this descending information goes to the middle ear muscles, which help protect against dangerously loud sounds and tune the smallbones of the middle ear (ossicular chain) to respond to faint and distant sounds. However, much of this descending information goes to the cochlea, where the sensitivity of hair cell receptors is regulated, mainly by inhibiting their response (Perkins & Kent, 1986, p.285). By means of this cochlear regulation, response to unimportant sounds can be inhibited to help screen out irrelevant background noise and improve attention to important sounds (Perkins & Kent, 1986,p.285). Furthermore/ the distinct and separate neural anatomy for each function of a sensory system enables us to perceive distinct

and separate information. For the auditory system, this means we can distinguish a fundamental pitch from overtones, the bass line from the melody, or even recognize the timbre of a single voice in a choir. "Try it!" (PAE2-Z). PAE 2-2: Attentive Listening. Our auditory system is particularly well suited for detecting the source and location of a sound. While standing, and preferably in a room with windows and a door that are opened to ambient sound, listen intently to a faint and distant sound. Follow the sound for several

minutes using timbre information to determine its source. If you hear footsteps or a voice, is it a man or a woman? How old? Use intensity information to determine if the sound is moving toward you or away from you. Perhaps you hear a car or a truck.

Sensory lnformatlon Processlng: Perceptlon of Our Envlronment and

Ourselves I 3

If you are in a room with others, can you detect the sounds of those breathing around you? Can you detect the ticking of an analog clock? What sounds are amplified? Repeat the exercise several times, focusing on a variety of sound sources. And so it is with most of the various sensory modalities,a which, together with integration mechanisms (e.g., reticular formation and cerebellum), provide considerable flexibility in the direction and control of sensory information between the cortex and the receptor. The innate ability of our sensory systems to gate information according to its motivational significance or useful:ress in accomplishing the task at hand is known as selective attention.

Key Poinh We can exercise our executive influence and voluntarily manipulate the gating of sensory information by focusing our executive attention on the task at hand. That is, we choose to be receptive to select information-to listen more intently or feel more carefully. We can even super-intend our

Selective Attention and a "Happy Body" Selective attention is an innate function of the nervous system that regulates the balance of excitation

(amplification) and inhibition of sensory stimulus for the purpose of maintaining a state of equilibrium, or homeostasis. Moreover, our ability to weed out unnecessary information, and its related behavioral response, enables our entire neryous system to regulate anxiety by matching energy levels (noradrenaline) to the task at hand (Robertson & Garavan,2004, p. 634). That is, we not only have all the information we need when we need it, we also have all the enerry we need when we need it, and the task at hand is performed optimally with ease in an ideal state, absent of anxiety.

will to the point of overriding

receptor fatigue, or adaptation."Tryitl" (PAE 2-3).

An ldeal Performing State

PAE 2-3: Overriding Receptor Fatigue. When you are in the shower, choose to keep feeling the

Barbara Conable refers to this optimal state as inclusive awareness/ which she characterizes as an rapid repetition of the water spray on your skin even awareness of kinesthetic, tactile, auditory, and visual as it becomes increasingly familiar "tiresome old information and the full experience of one's emonews." You will need to maintain attentional focus. tions (Conable, 2000, p. 37).She goes on to describe How frequently do you need to focus your atten- what can only be the ideal state of homeostatic tion on the information to maintain vivid perceptual equilibrium. "Inclusive awareness contains all relawareness? Change it up. Feel the pressure on differ- evant information in the moment the information is ent areas of your back, neck, and shoulder. This exer- needed and is characterized by a rich and pleasurcise for overriding receptor fatigue, or adaptation, able state of being" (Conable, 2000, p.37). is also useful when attending to bone-conducted Shirlee Emmons and Alma Thomas theorize vibrations during singing. (See PAE 2-9, "Buzzing that the strength of the mind-body link exhibited Bones.") (We will continue to explore attending to in peak performance relies on an ideal performing select information from the auditory, vestibular, and state characlerized by a sense of "inner calm and a somatic (bodily) sensory systems later in this chap- high degree of concentration" and "an extraordinary ter in "Perception of One's Own Voice \tVhile Sing- awareness of body and surroundings" (Emmons ing," p.23.) & Thomas, 1998, p. 11). Furthermore, this ideal

aOlfaction (the sense of smell) transmits signals directly to the limbic system, as this information is essential to the survival of many species. This explains why we can inhibit an odor only by plugging our nose. Furthermore, while we can recognize a scent or be reminded of a scent, it is generally understood that we cannot recall a mental image of a scent-hence the value of flowers and perfume!

14

Mind-Body

Awareness

for Singers: llnleashing Optinal Performance

performing state is reported to elicit uninterrupted focus and concentration as well as an ability to regulate anxiety and arousal during performance (Emmons & Thomas, 1,998, p. 11). The perceived coexistence of the seemingly contradictory states of vigilant attention and heightened awareness with a sense of inner calm is supported by recent studies that, with a better understanding of how our brain regulates arousal in response to task demands, provide neuroanatomical guidance on how the vigilant attention system might interface with subcortical (unconscious) arousal mechanisms (Robertson & Garavan, 2004, p.634). That is, the notion that vigilant attention is linked to deactivation of inappropriate areas suggests inhibition may be regarded as one means by which vigilant attention is maintained (Robertson & Garavan, 2004, p. 63$. For example, vestibulo-autonomic regulation is primarily inhibitive in its function and, while efferent (top-down) projections to the parasympathetic system effect a reduction in heart and breathing rate, afferent (bottom-up) vestibulo-thalamo-cortical projections of our sense of motion and space activate arousal. (For more on deactivation of inappropriate brain areas, see Chapter 4, "The Limbic Structures ," p.124.) Homeostasis (Calm) Homeostasis acts as a coping mechanism that seeks to maintain a condition of balance (equilibrium, sta-

bility, and constancy) within our internal environment when dealing with changes in stimuli under varying degrees of stress. For example, when singing signals a change in respiration rate, that in turn motivates (stimulates) a response from the autonomic and neuroendocrine systems that regulate respiration and keep us running smoothly. In this way, motivational states (needs, or wants) "dri.ve" (stimulate) the mechanisms that monitor and control homeostasis-below our level of consciousness.

Singing and a "Happy Body"

When singing, we may consciously experience homeostasis as an ideal performing state, commonly known as poise or calm. It is a state of well-being

characterized by autonomic balance (optimal levels of energy, blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, salivation, and body temperature, etc.), which we experience as ease when performing the task at hand; optimal arousal, which we experience as an abitity to maintain perceptual awareness and attentional focus absent anxiety; and an optimally regulated limbic system, characterized by an ability to modulate expression and our emotions, which we experience as a rich and pleasurable creative state absent self-judgment, or "self-consciousness" (Limb & Braun, 2008). As such, our sense of well-being is essential to optimal performance; it is a signal from the body to our conscious mind that we are optimally balanced and have a "happy body." (See Chapter 3, "Getting Into the Zone," p.73.)

Point Optimal arousal is a balance of excitation and inhibition associated with optimal performance of the task at hand. It is characterized by heightened awareness, attentional focus, and calm. The Yerkes-Dodson law proposes that any task will have an optimal level of arousal below and beyond which performance will decline (Robertson & Garavan, 2004, p.635). Key

Selective Attention and a "Smart Body" Selective attention ability is innate to our bodily intelligence and, as such, can be developed (Gardner,1982). \A/hen we consciously choose to be open, or receptive, to sensory information-to listen more intently or taste more discerningly-we can voluntarily influence the selective amplification and inhibition of information. Moreover, exerting executive influence in this way not only serves our system's ability to regulate arousal for the purpose of maintaining homeostasis and a "happy body," but also serves the purpose of developing perceptual acuity and attentional focus, or a "smart body." Consider how instinct and volition interface to manipulate selective attention in the following sce-

Sensory lnformatlon Processlng: Perceptlon of Our Envlronment and

nario. The setting is a crowded restaurant where you are listening to a speaker (selective attention), when

a friend calls your name (novel stimulus). Due to its positive association, this information is not only likely to be received but also to alert your conscious mind, at which point you may voluntarily redirect your attention to your friend, placing the speaker outside the frame of your attentional focus. \A/hen a fire alarm sounds, which you have learned to associate with a threat to your survival, your attentional focus will likely be redirected to locating the source of danger and escaping to safety (drive for self-preservation). In all cases, kitchen noises and neighboring conversations go unnoticed. Similarly, during a concert, audience noise or the sounds of technicians working backstage may be intentionally inhibited while, at the same time, a critical cue from the conductor alerts our conscious mind. How many of us have walked off the stage to leam that set pieces had fallen or a bat was swooping around above us-all quite unbeknownst to us-while we vigilantly attended to our task athand. As innate bodily intelligence, selective attention ability may go underappreciated and underdeveloped. Key Poinh The ability to modulate arousal and anxiety associated with the stress response for periods of time may well be highly adaptive (Robertson & Garavan, 2004, p. 63M37). Purposeful Amplification To illustrate just how effective intent, or purpose-

ful definition of the task at hand, is in influencing the selectivity of auditory stimulus, try this exercise. Play a triad on the piano. If our immediate goal

includes hearing the pitch in tonal context, we will be receptive to hearing the entire chord. However, we may also quickly shift our attention to the root followed by the fifth and third. The desired pitch information will be amplified while stimuli unnecessary to the task at hand or purpose of the moment are dampened or inhibited. Similarly, in our simple pitch-matching scenario, we apply selective attention when we choose to listen or attend to the pitch

Oarselves

we want to match. Lr so doing, the stimuli necessary

to our pitch-matching task at hand are amplified, and unnecessary stimuli, along with their demand on brain time and energy, are inhibited from reception. As an innate ability, selective attention and its corollary planning process, attentional focus on the task at hand, may be developed as intuitive processes. Innate Ability + Learning = lntuition.

Unintentional Inhibition Unfortunately, it is also possible that we will unintentionally inhibit or be "closed to" necessary information as a result of a predetermined prejudice or unpleasant associations. It is not only a case of "I can't," or "I don't want to know," but also often, "I know better"-the effect of which permeates our entire nervous system from autonomic to voluntarily controlled processes. Thus, we likely prohibit optimal performance and equilibrium. As Charles Darwin observed, inhibition of sensory information and its related cognitive, emotional, and motor response is likely to adversely affect our bodily intelligence. "Postural muscles are the hiding place for the emotion. Inhibition of movement limits kinesthetic awareness and perception which are essential to psychological awareness" (Sillick, 1996, p.87). For instance, in the case of pitch matching, if we have a predetermined prejudice that good posture is defined as fixed position "X," or 7f we associate a "high C" with either cracking or our one and only perfect sound (OOPS),s we are likely to undermine a sensorimotor system that relies on a constant influx of sensory information to stimulate responses. Remember, the stimulus response feature of sensorimotor processing is essential to keep all of our systems running smoothly. For example, the vestibular organs detect changes in head position. The vestibular system processes this information to stimulate corrective postural responses that maintain our physical orientation to gravity (including the supraand infrahyoid muscles of the larynx, which are further explained in Chapter 4). Moreover, vestibular reflexes that stimulate head and eye movements support the gathering of sensory information. If we

5OOPS (one and only perfect sound) and UBU (unusual but useful) are terms from the Wesley Balk Opera Music Theater

Institute of Nautilus in Minneapolis, MN.

15

16

Mind-Body Awareness for Singers: Unleashing Optimal Performance

get in our own way and inhibit reflexive postural, eye, and head movements that assist auditory Perception, we may likewise unintentionally inhibit our ability to hear (or sing) the pitch we want to match. "Try it!" (PAE 2+). Key Point Expert guidance of a dual-conhol system relies on a well-developed ability to mediate the selection of "to be attended to" information, or gating of sensory information.

PAE

2-4: Attentive Listening and Vestibulo-

Motor Reflexes (Adapted from Smith, Wilson, & Reisberg,1995)

1. While standing, Iisten intently to a faint and distant sound. Follow the sound for several minutes using timbral information to determine its source. If you hear footsteps or a voice, is it a man or a woman? How old? Perhaps you hear a car or a truck. Use intensity information to determine the location of the sound. Is the sound

moving away from you or toward you? How quickly is it moving? Rate the vividness of percept and sense of physical ease:

Vividness

123 45

Ease

t23 45

signaled in response to this sensory information to effect equilibrium. This is further discussed in Chapter 3, "Imagery and Vestibulo-Autonomic

Control-Zoning Into an Ideal Performing State," p.74.)

"The entire brain, sensory and motor transmission systems as well as the integrative system, is organized to accomplish one's purpose of the moment. . . . It means that the sensory system is plastic rather than fixed in its response to a stimulus-that more is required for perception than the receipt of sensory data in the cortex" (Perkins & Kent, 1986, p.399). When, where, how, and even if interpretation of sensory information occurs is a subject that has given rise to considerable discussion. Theories as to how perception and interpretation function that dominate the field today may be categorized as either active or passive. In reality, however, perception is a mixture of both, with active theories more accurately describing how some perceptual functions work, and passive theories describing the remaining functions (Wraga & Kossllm, 2006). Key Point Perception involves both active and passive processes.

2.

Did your head turn to help you better hear the sound? Did your eye focus adjust or go "soft"? Perhaps your weight shifted or your heart and breathing rates adjusted. What happens to the position of your larynx? As you listen intently, are your teeth parted or clenched? These and other motor reflexes are stimulated by the vestibular system to better position ourselves and our receptors-to both amplify sensory information from our environment and in response to that information in order to better orient ourselves to that environment. For example, a vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR)

"fixes" our gaze for the unconscious processing of visual information that informs our orientation

to gravity. The vestibulo-sternocleidomastoid (VSCM) reflex tums our head to better position our inner ears and eyes to receive stimuli. Subsequently, postural and autonomic reflexes are

Active Perception Among the active theories, unconscious inference, which is most closely associated with Herman von Helmholtz, holds that percepts are constructed from incomplete evidence provided by our senses (Shepard, 1999, p.23). From this sensory evidence our unconscious brain develops hypotheses about sensory events that are further tested for accuracy and probability, or likelihood. Consider a system that processes a small amount of information from the senses, makes an inference about the sensory event and its context, and then proceeds to fill in some of the missing information or generates hypotheses about what other sensory information might confirm or refute the current inference (multisensory perception) (Shepard, 1999, p. 24). F or example,

with

Sensory Information Processing: Perceptlon of Our Environment and

speech, active theories propose that we do not know

what speech sounds we have heard until we have understood the meaning of what was said (Perkins & Kent, 1986, p.408). Experiments in support of unconscious inference show that what we feel depends partly on what we expect to feel or that we hear what we want to hear. Consider our surprise when we miscalculate the number of stairs we are traversing. Similarly, if we see a series of descending 16th notes beginning on sol, we may infer the intervening pitches are fa, mi, and re, and anticipate do will fall on the next beat. We would be surprised, even alarmed, to turn the page and see a rising leap to la without enough foresight to alert our processing systems to a variation in a well-learned pattern. Of course, this is just the kind of presupposition composers from ]. S. Bach to PDQ Bach count on. It would be neither interesting nor funny without the element of surprise. With selective attention ability for the auditory system/ sensory information (stimulus) may be accepted or rejected at the receptor before entering the central nervous system (Perkins & Kent, 1985, p. am). As such, selective attention is an active and anticipatory mind-body (top-down) sensory control system that, in effect, provides perceptual processes with a purposeful plan or model against which incoming signals are tested for novelty or worthiness for analysis in the higher neural centers. This means that when we choose to stop aitending to "what's next," be it seeing an upcoming stair step, reading a notated pitch, or recalling a memorized pitch pattern, we delegate the responsibility of selective information processing entirely to unconscious inference. We "sign off" conscious piloting of automated processes and "switch on" automatic pilot. Key Poinh Stated theoretically, if according to unconscious inference or likelihood theories, perception requires recognition (i.e., matching incoming information with stored information or knowledge), successful perception

Ourselves

relies on the conscious receipt of enough sensory information to stimulate the correct tag or mnemonic for the most desirable neural representation (learned trace or network) to be managed unconsciously. The positive effect of knowledge and recognition on perceptual acuity can be observed in distinctly different brain activity when specialists with differing areas of expertise observe the same event. This is true in every sensory domain. Whether a dancer and a martial artist observe an ice skater, or a cellist and a vocalist hear the same performance of Die Zauberfl5te, they will each have entirely different perceptual experiences. In other words, it takes one to know one. You can read about riding a bike, but you will not know what it is to ride a bike until you have ridden a bike. Moreoveq, once you have leamed to ride a bike, you can recognize the sensation of riding a bike, whether that recognition is stimulated by

seeing someone ride a bike or by remembering the feel of riding a bike.6

Passive Perception Passive theories, such as direct perception (Gibson, 1966), may agree more closely with our innate intel-

ligence and intuitions; the things we "just know" without evidence of rational thought or inference, such as whether or not we have lost or regained our balance, the moment when we perceive two pitches that match, or when we know two objects will, inevitably, collide. Passive theories hold that our perception of the world around us is direct in the sense that there are no intermediate step inferences-and no drawing on learned knowledge or unconscious cognitive functions for us to perceive the world. The scheme for direct perception is strictly bottom-up processing in that the proximal stimulus triggers a chain of events from the sensory receptors toward the higher centers in the brain, which reliably leads to an accurate perception absent

6"The ventral premotor area (near Broca's area identified for language) is linked with the mimetic system" (Martin 2008). These "mirror" neurons are of particular interest because they respond not only to our own action, but also to the sight (or sound) of another individual performing the same action (Knierim, n.d.a.). Imitation is an essential innate ability for motor learning and generating a motor plan of action, whether a behavior is modeled extemally or internally via imagery; the behavior may be subsequently initiated by the simple command, "Do that!" (See Chapter 4, "Upper-Level Controls.")

17

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Mind-Body

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for Singers: llnleashing Optimal Performance

interpretation (Pomerantz, 2006). Passive theories might best explain the appreciation for direct perception of qualia or "raw" sensory information that originates from within us (interoception) without the reservation or judgment that is often encouraged by awareness methods. Additionally, passive theories would allow for direct perception of first experiences, such as our birthing cry or perhaps even singing our first "high C." In our simple pitch-matching example, it could be argued that little to no interpretation or thought is required and the task is perhaps entirely innate, if not instinctual, imitation. We hear it, we imitate it, and we know we have matched 71. "Try it! " (PAE 2-5). PAE 2-5: The Matching Game. We have an innate learning ability to imitate behaviors and recognize when objects or behaviors match. We can use this ability in a "matching game" as a tool for stimulating heightened awareness-for stimulating the "Th da!" moment that occurs when we recognize that two patterns match:

1. With your left hand in front of you at eye level, make an "OK" sign. Then, with your right hand, make a matching (mirrored) pattern. Notice the "Ta dal" moment when you recognize that the patterns match. There is a rhythm to it. Repeat the exercise with various patterns such as a "Y" fot victory or create a diamond with "", 2. With your hands placed behind your back, repeat the above patterns or improvise your own. Tiy varying the orientation of your hands to the floor, positioning your hands parallel to the floor with your palms upward, or perpendicular to the floor with your palms toward the back wall. 3. With your eyes closed, place your hands in front of you at eye level. Once again, make a circle using the index finger and thumb ("OK" sign) of your left hand. Then make a circle with your right hand, this time lining it up with the left

hand so that you couldlook through the circles. Open your eyes. Were you right? (Note: Step 2 can be particularly effective for guiding elegant coordination of behaviors, i.e., rhythmic entrainment, when singing.)

Active and Passive Memory and Association Typically, perception requires memory. Without the immediate memory of what we just saw, heard, or felt, we would not be able to recognize a change in stimulus, sense our body in motion, or hear a melody rising and falling. Without the ability to hold information in our mind, even in the time-limited store of our working memory, the formulation and comprehension of language would be impossible. We would be unable to monitor our behavior, to determine if what we are doing correlates with what we intend. Our varied memory stores serve a variety of functions. For example, we have both passive (immediate) and active (working memory) short-term memory stores; and passive (procedural) and active (episodic) long-term memory stores that hold the varied and distinct information perceived from our sensory systems; and the iconic and lexical memory stores for the visual symbols (i.e., notation and written word) associated with those stimulus events (Perry 2002). (See Chapter 3, "Learning and Memory," p.54.) Each modality represented in the cortices (auditory, visual, spatial, somatic) projects, with some degree of topographical specificity, to cortical areas in the frontal lobe that are responsible for distinct executive functions (Perry, 2002) (Figure 2-5). For example, an area in the frontal lobe known for executive cognitive processing (dorsolateral) has been identified for conditional associative leaming and is active when testing "absolute" pitch, or the ability to associate tonal information with a name.7 (See also Figures 0-13 and 0-14.)

T"Deepak Pandya and associates hypothesized that retention of auditory information might involve specific temporal-frontal

projections, just as Patricia Goldman and colleagues had proposed for visuospatial retention and parietal-frontal projections. Based on a long series of behavioral lesion analyses in nonhuman primates and further analyses of posterior association cortex-frontal projections, one of Pandya's associates, Michael Petrides, has articulated a hierarchical theory of frontal contri-

Sensory lnformatlon Processing: Perceptlon of Our Envlronment and

Ourselves

Primary motor

Flgure

2-5.

Frontal projections for tonal working memory task-"sight-hear-singing."

(199il and Zatorre et al. (1994, 1996) tdentified mld-dorsolateral (46) and mid-ventrolateral (45, 47, 44) frontal activation during active processing of musical informatlon (i.e., tonal working memory) (Perry, 2OO2). Figure 2-5 illustrates cor"tical Perry et al.

projections for seeing pitch information notated in a musical score (visual cortex) and associating that information with stored pitch/tonal information (auditory association cortex), and a lexical name (MDL and VL in frontal association cortex), followed by singlng (motor cortex)-processes that parallel phonological language processlng. Courtesy of Christopher Moore and Myslin/Grays 728/Wikimedia Commons/public domain.

Perception and Integration of Active and Passive Processes

In practice, when we perform purposeful behaviors that are more complex, perception is likely the result of both active and passive processes. Percep-

tion relies on innate abilities and intelligences that integrate incoming stimuli with acquired experiential knowledge according to the purpose of the moment. That is, we see, hear, or feel in a series of stimuli what we want (limbic will) and expect (cortical thought) to see, hear, or feel.

butions to mnemonic processing. . . . First in the hierarchy of proposed frontal lobe contributions, ventrolateral frontal cortex is hypothesized to be critical for the repetition, selection, comparison, and judgment of stimuli held in working memory. Auditory cortex may be sufficient for the passive retention of tonal information, but ventrolateral frontal cortex may be required for any form of more active maintenance. Furthermore, as suggested by the patient study of Zatorre and Samson and the asymmetry in the aforementioned rehearsal intervals, there may be a complementary right hemispheric asymmetry in frontal as well as temporal cortical contributions to pitch processing" (nI. MUSICAL MEMORY. (2002). In Encyclopedia of the Human Brain. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com.proxy.lawrence.edu:2048/enfiy /esthumanbrain,/ iii_musical_memory).

19

20

Mind-Body

Awareness

for Singers: Llnleashing Optimal Performance

Key Poinh For voluntary tasks (including perceptual tasks), it is our cognitive and conscious anticipation of incoming information that provides the purposefuI plan to which our bodily intelligence responds. Do not underestimate the power of your limbic system. If we want it badly enough, our systems are obliged to deliver. Sooner or later they will find a way.

Interpretation and Auditory Perception Consider the succession of perception tasks that are processed when we adjust our simple pitch-matching example to the context of receiving a cue from an orchestral interlude. Successful perception of anticipated information (recognition) from an orchestra requires advance knowledge (memory) of the sound source (instrument's timbre), its location (intensity),

pitch (frequency), scale degree (context of tonal language), and space in time (context of meter and rhythm). It is a, "This is what I'm listening for. There sequence. The recollection of musical knowledge is often cued from a notated score. It requires the ability to generate auditory images and hold information in our tonal working memory as well as to cognitively anticipate pattems of pitches in relation to those recently heard. In essence, it requires the ability to process tonal language in a cognitive manner that parallels speech and language processing. (Auditory imagery, or inner hearing, used in this fashion was aptly coined audiation in 1975 by music education researcher Edwin E. Gordon.)

it is!"

Key Poinh "We have addressed one of the central questions of human cognition, the specificity of language processing . . . our results suggest that processing temporal (auditory) information in both language and music relies on general cognitive mechanisms" (Schon & Besson,2002).

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that data strongly suggest auditory percepts reflect considerable interpretation and are not uninterpreted sensory experiences; rather, auditory images contain both depictive ("sounds like") information and descriptive information (expression of thoughts and feeling) (Hubbard, 2010,p.324). There is little doubt

that inner hearing or auditory imagery requires tonal memory and the ability to actiuely regenerate and even mentally manipulate those images as a function of higher perceptual processes and the highest

of cognitive processes, the imagination. Moreover, the generation of auditory imagery is an active process that engages the whole of our nervous system (cognitive and sensorimotor processes), bridging the divide between conscious perception (mind) and unconscious production (body) processes that guide singing behavior. It exists in the moment and space where perception furns to action and stimulus becomes response. "Try rt!" (PAE 2-6 Mental Manipulation). Key Poinh Mental manipulation of perceptual images, or imagery, is the cognitive ability to stimulate and transform perceptual images generated by sensorimotor processes. PAE 2-6t Mental Manipulation. Imagineasquare in your mind's eye. Now transform the square into a cube; now into a basketball; now a globe. Spin the globe to see the opposite hemisphere; now spin again to see your home country and zoom into your street.

This is mental manipulation of a visual image. For additional exercises in imagery, see Chapter 3, "When Perception Tums to Planning-Images and Imagery."

The overarching purpose of the nervous system is to maintain homeostasis so as to keep each of our systems running smoothly. To be effective, sensory systems must maintain perceptual stability (constancy) across substantial energy flux in our intemal and extemal environments (Stilp et a1.,2010,p. a7$. Accordingly, our sensory system is not prepared to deal with a world of unlimited variety.

"Brain Time" and Perceptual Awareness Limitations on the amount and variability (complexity) of information that may be processed and poten-

Sensory lnformation Processing: Perception of Our Environment and

tially perceived are determined by the mechanisms that regulate homeostasis below our level of consciousness, the higher centers of the conscious and cognitive mind that guide and monitor voluntary behavior, and our temporal world. Temporal limits on perception are determined in part by the speed of our equipment, such as how rapidly our receptors can reset to receive incoming information, and the capacity of our resources (i.e., conscious and unconscious brain) that may be devoted to processing that information and still perform the task at hand optimally while maintaining homeostasis. The selectivity of attended information or economy of perception is largely a function of ztolume, while automation of information processing is largely a function of speed. Were it not for the ability to delegate sensory and motor information processing to the unconscious brain for intelligent automation, elite execution of complex behaviors would

Ourselves 2l

sciously attend to the planning processes that guide sensorimotor processing. Key

Point

lnnate Ability + Leaming = Intuition.

We generally hear about automation in terms of motor behavior and noncognitive procedural memory. However, learning, as in the development of our varied intelligences, relies on cognitive processes for comparing, associating, and categorizing information that may likewise be automated. We would not be able to interpret our own thoughts and emotions or the expressions of others in any medium (e.9., mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic), with any degree of facility or speed if these processes could not be automated. There is little wonder why accomplished artists often do not know how they do what they do so well. Quite naturally, it is intuitive.

be impossible.

Therefore, the complexity of sensory information processed while performing a task optimally in an ideal state varies significantly from early to endstage learning. That is, the speed with which we are able to fully form complex and detailed perceptual images within the temporal limitations of our working memory store for ongoing behaviors (i.e., about one second) is directly dependent on the degree to which processing for the task at hand is automated or learned. The more automated the processing, the richer is the experience. That is, if more early stage perceptual processes are automated for more information, then less information will require conscious attention; and if /ess information requires conscious attention, then the mind has time to engage in more end-stage, executive-level perceptual processes, which results in more richly integrated and vividly defined images. This selectivity of information processing or economy of perception must be viewed as an integral manifestation of purposeful functioning of the entire organism (Perkins & Kent, 1986,p.401). Therefore, optimal performance at any stage of learning relies on adjusting the complexity (volume and variability) of information to be processed to the current level of expertise. Fortunately, as we will see in the following chapter, it is an equation that is easily managed by the unconscious brain when we con-

Coping With Change: Novelty Versus Constancy Within a system that is designed to maintain homeostasis and a sense of constancy, and therefore to seek out farniliarity, novelty is determined by an unconscious process of comparison, judgment, and categorization of all incoming information against our memory store, to the extent that these stimuli are dissimilar (Perkins & Kent, 1986, p.400). We deal with change or a novel stimulus in one of two ways: distort it to conform to our past experience and/ or expectations, or respond to it with arousal and awareness.

Disturtion As perceivers, we are more often interested in the constant properties of an object or stimulus event than we are in the often accidental variations of the stimuli as they reach our receptors. This distortion may be an important factor in our ability to effectively monitor complex behaviors. That is, just as we generally care more about the "true" color of our friend's car, than the variations in color it assumes as it moves from shadow to sunlight, when monitoring our own singing, we generally

22

Mind-Body

Awareness

for Singers: tlnleashing Optimal Performance

care more about the constancy of vibration and the

"ttt)e" pitch, than we do about the fluctuations in action and variations of pitch that occur with each rapid-fire articulation of the vocal folds or the various reflected echoes from the hall. Attending to each variation in detail when performing ongoing sequences of well-learned complex behaviors would result in a breakdown of our system. There simply is not enough flze. Key Poinh In practice, we metamonitor our performance. That is, we consciously monitor the unconscious monitoring and correction of our behavior according to the purpose of the moment and past experience (knowledge).

However, relying solely on the efficiency of automated processing that conforms percepts to the familiar, to our existing knowledge-even our most recent one and only perfect sound-limits learning, inhibits the imagination, and prohibits phenomenal experience. With this approach, we are scarcely able to stay awake. We lull ourselves to sleep singing on autopilot, passively observing our beautiful singing until our mind wanders off course to attend to our

"laundry list," or worse, what the audience might be thinking, and some unexpected mishap sounds the alarm and we are jolted awake. just as with the previous binarisms for interpretation and transmission, in practice, optimal processing of information

ing reticular activating system (ARAS) is told to forget it; as far as this stimulus is concerned, the brain can sleep. If the limbic system determines that this novel situation holds threat of punishment, it notifies the ARAS to prepare all systems to fight or flee" (Perkins & Kent, 1986, pp.40H06). But, if the novelty holds prospects of pleasure, the ARAS is notified to "prepare all systems to go forth and seek more of the same." What is more, theories of optimal arousal propose that any stimulus that will move us toward an optimal state will be pleasurable. Accordingly, the thalamocortical gate is opened and desirable information that suits our wants and needs fills our mind. We, and our audience, feel compelled to maintain awareness and attentional focus. We want to actively anticipate what will happen next; we want to "stay awake." Although awareness, even heightened awareness, is associated with mindfulness and peak performance, our motivational state will likely require executive guidance. As we have discussed, information that is novel and unanticipated inforrnation may be unintentionally associated with alarm. Consider how comforted we are by singing a constant legato versus our disturbed or surprised reaction to singing a trill for the first time, or our resistance to novel feedback information when we finally "get rt right" coupled with the tendency to intentionally "miscorrect" this positive change to conJorm to familiar behavior.

necessary to the task at hand relies on the integrated

employment of both unconscious conformity and the executive attention of an alert mind.

Key Poinh Learning depends on our willingness to be open to change, to be receptive to unusual but (potentially) useful (UBU) sensory

Novelty and Awareness

experiences.s

The neuroanatomical fact that the reticular formation interfaces extensively with the limbic system signifies the vital nature of the relationship between our motivational state (emotionally driven wants and needs) and our ability to maintain awareness (Perkins & Kent, 1986,pp.40H06). As our example just illustrated, "if a stimulus is judged as familiar, and therefore of little or no importance, the ascend-

Therefore, this second method of coping with the stuff of which learning is made. Apparently, learning occurs when the nervous system, confronted with a novel situation, is unable to force the unexpected stimuli to conform to past experiences and present purposes (Perkins & Kent, 1986, p.406). Given that acceptance or rejection of unanticipated stimuli evi-

novelty-to respond to it with awareness-is

sOne and only perfect sound (OOPS) and unusual but useful (UBU) are terms coined by the Wesley Balk Opera Music Theater

Institute in Mirureapolis, MN.

Sensory lnformation Processing: Perception of Our Environment and

dently occurs early during the process of perception recognizing the powerful influence of core -and systems, such as the limbic system (emotional or motivational state), on our ability to receive and process information-if the purpose of the moment is to learn, we must, from time to time (or even moment to moment) exercise conscious and cognitive cortical influence over our subcortical brain and choose to expect the unexpected.

Ourselves 23

Key Point The role of the conscious and cognitive mind is to selectively attend to relevant information and form associations that will strengthen our memory networks and that will develop and integrate the whole of our various intelligences. A smart body is a happy body. (See also "Anatomy of Leaming and Memory" p.54.)

Key Point Thke the risk. Expect the unexpected, without prejudgment.

Novelty - Leaming and Progress. Familiarity = Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained.

Learning-as the development of our intelligences through perceptual awareness-depends

on our ability to choose to take risks, expect the

unexpected, and welcome novel information before the unconscious brain conforms it to existing knowledge and "corrects" it.

Summary The essential nature of perceptual awareness in developing the art and craft of singing requires that we develop our ability to not only acquire vivid and accurate perceptual images from both external and internal sources, but also to integrate this information with our purpose of the moment. That is, perception requires more than the mere receipt of information in the cortex. We must choose how we will spend our time and cognitive resources. If the purpose of the moment is to develop knowledge (to learn), we need to spend our executive time and resources on examining less complex information that is repeated frequently; we must take the time for perceptual images to fully form and make the cognitive associations that enhance meaning and facilitate the encoding of neural traces into our long-term memory. In effect, we must ask to learn. \Alhat is different? How does this alter my understanding?

As we consider the perception of one's own voice while singing, we will explore effective means for perceiving information essential to the formation of accurate and vivid mental representations (images) and the development of knowledge. Special attention will be given to the distinct and separate functions of auditory perception, and notably the auditory, vestibular, and somatic perception of the boneconducted signal, which originates with the action of our vocal folds.

Auditory Perception It is helpful to consider auditory feedback of one's own voice as coming from two sources, one constant and the other variable, as presented by Earl Schubert (19m)e and charted in Figure 2-6. Variable sources include not only sounds that originate from external sources, such as another singer or an orchestra, but also sounds that originate from one's own voice that are reflected to us from the surfaces of a "live hall," or what we do not hear in a "dead" space. Reflected sound is therefore both distorted and delayed (by 20 to 30 milliseconds) (Howell, 1985). The constant signal emanates directly from our vocal cords and follows us wherever we go. It comprises bone-conducted and airborne signals.

eEarl D. Schubert (1917)OOO) psychoacoustician, was a longtime faculty member in the Medical Center's Hearing and Speech Sciences program and at the Stanford Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA).

24

Mind-Body

Awareness

Figure

for Singerc: Llnleashing Optimal Performance

2-6.

Auditory transmission of one's own voice while singing.

Airborne Tlansmission The airborne signal for sound is most familiar to us and travels from the mouth to the outer ear (Figure 2-7). This signal is affected by alterations in the vocal tract and is one means by which we detect phonemes or know that we said what we meant to say. Bo n e - Co n d ucted Tra

nsmissior

The bone-conducted auditory signal may be less familiar and is most unique as to its effects for the singer. It is credited with being largely responsible for the "perceptual disparity" between the live and the recorded sound of one's own voice (von B6k6sy, 1949). When we sing, rhythmic pitch-frequency information generated by the action of the vocal folds is transferred by direct mechanical force through tissue and cartilages to skeletal structures

to produce wide-ranging bone-conducted vibrations, or resonance. It is likely that we intuitively attend to bone-conducted sound when humming. (See PAE 2-8,"Buzzing Bones.") Peter Howelll0 describes two potential contributions to this so-called "forced" bone-conducted vibration during singing: the first being the result of direct stimulation by the structures associated with phonation, and the second stimulated indirectly by the movement of the air in the cavities of the vocal tract (Howell, 1.985, p.273) (Figure 2-8).

Direct Stimulation. Bone-conducted vibrations that originate with the action of our vocal folds are passed directly by mechanical force (as opposed to neural transmission) to the laryngeal cartilages and then, via their suspensions, to bone (Howell, 1985, p.272).It stands to reason that these vibrations, which travel a fairly direct path through tissue and bone to the fluid of the inner ear, transmit a fairly strong

loPeter Howell, Professor, Department of Cognitive, Perceptual, and Brain Sciences, University College, London.

Sensory lnformation Processing: Perception of Our Environment and

n oY, r" (\C^ ?0

Ourselves 25

L,XA J

\?

{)

ts t)"'t

loo

oo o

Figure 2-7. Sense organs of the outer, middle, and inner ear. The airborne signal travels from the mouth to the outer ear, or pinna (A), and on through the ear canal (B), middle ear (C), and finally to the inner ear or cochlea (D), where the information is received and transduced into neural signals by hair cell receptors, and transmitted via the auditory nerve to the brain (E), where, after several junctions along the way it is projected to the auditory cortex where it is heard, or perceived as sound. From The Hearing Sciences, by T. A. Hamill and L. L. Price, 2O13. San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing,lnc. Llsed with permission.

signal (Schubert, 1983, p. 162). von B6k6sy (1949) different phonemes and timbres would account for estimated it was equal to the airborne signal.11 "This our interpretation of bone-conducted sound as "colvibration is the only one that occurs in the audio- orless" and even metallic. Though most commonly frequency range that is directly associated with [pho- described as a "bLtzz," Luciano Pavarotti was known natoryl articulation. . . . This is determined mainly to describe his sense of the sound of his own voice by the rate of vocal-fold vibration" (Howell, 1985, while singing as"razor blades." p. 272). Additionally, we hear directly the "actual vibration of the folds, early unaffected by the changes Key Poinh The rhythmic bone-conducted signal in the configuration of the vocal tract" (Schubert, is a reliable source of the pitch frequency pro1983 p. 162). The absence of changes that produce duced by the action of the vocal folds. llSound transduction through bone conduction has been used for more than 50 years in subjects with certain types of hearing impairment . . . the best place to "interface" with the bone is on the mastoid section of [the temporal bone], which is the bone behind and above our ear. Although the back of the head is also a good point, there is a loss of signal of about 50 db. Also, intervening tissue can account for a loss in the acoustical signal of as much as 10 to 20 dB (Belinky & ]eremijenko, 2001).

!\I

i#-

Figure 2-8. Bone conduction. The rhythmic vlbrations originating with the action of the vocal folds are transmitted by direct mechanical force through the thyroid cartilage to resonate throughout skeletal structures, such as our vertebral spine, skull, and frontal and sphenoid sinuses, Courtesy of Alexis Ames.

26

Sensory lnformation Processing: Perception of Our Environment and

Indirect Stimulation. The second component of vibration is converted to tissue vibration of the walls of the vocal tract. Although it is generally accepted that only a small fraction of the energy is transferred and cannot cause "appreciable" bone vibration (Schubert, L983, p.163; Howell,1985, p.272), clinical trials with trained singers indicate the signal is sufficient to transmit frequencies relevant to vowel formants and overtones. the bone-conducted signal is created when air

Spontaneous Resonance. Spontaneous resonance provides a third, unforced source of bone-conducted sound. Skeletal structures, such as our larynx, vertebral spine, skull, and frontal and sphenoid sinuses, have their own resonances that spontaneously respond to vibrations at or near their "natural frequency" and interact with the original vibration (Howell, 1985, pp. 273-275). Finally, what we hear as the composite constant signal during vocal performance is a rather elaborate mixture of bone-conducted signals and the airborne signal that is radiated from the mouth and travels directly to the extemal ear (Schubert,1983, p. 163).

Ourselves 27

to us in differing acoustical environments. Schubert suggests, "this can be only because the auditory system learns to listen . . . to the reflected signal" and points to the overwhelming evidence in favor of singing in a reverberant shower stall (Schubert, 1983, pp. 763-764). The size of the average shower stall does provide a shorter feedback response time for the reflected sound. Flowever, the fun of singing

in the shower is also likely the result of the "general arousal" stimulated by the water spray and the

"forgiving" partial masking of the airborne sound by the sound of the water. Masking the airborne signal would then serve to amplify the rhythmic boneconducted signal and would, subsequently, stimulate spontaneous rhythmic entrainment (synchronization) throughout the whole of our nervous system. After all, it is not nearly as much fun once we turn off the water. (See Chapter 5, "Rhythm and Rhythmic Entrainment," p. 17a.) While it may be true that many of us enjoy indulging in the reflected sound of an acoustically live space, the professional singer and teacher of singing are all too aware of the dangers lurking in the allure of reflected sound. It is rather like

studying our footprints while running in wet Law of the First Wavefronttz and Selection Ability

sand. The information is unreliable (begins to distort as soon as it is made) and after the fact. "Try 7tl"

The auditory system, like all senses, responds to attentional focus (cortical guidance). According to the law of the first wavefront, when we as listeners locate the source of a sound, "we give much greater weight to the earliest arriving sound-that directly from the source-and are not much in{luenced by the direction of the many reflected signals that arrive later" (Schubert, 1983, p. 163). This suggests that the sound of one's own voice reflected from the surfaces of a practice room or concert hall would normally be suppressed. However, in spite of the fact that the

(PAE2-7).

constant signal is the earliest and the strongest signal

to reach the ears, our voice often sounds different 12The Haas effect is a

PAE 2-72 Footprints in the Sand. Attending to, or listening to, reflected sound while singing could be likened to watching our footprints in wet sand while running:

1. As you run from one corner of the room to the other, imagine you are running in wet sand, and carefully observe your footprints as you go. How quickly were you able to run? Can you recall what your footprints looked like?

psychoacoustic effect, described rn1949 by Helmut Haas in his PhD thesis. It is often incorrectly equated

with the underlying precedence effect (or law of the first wavefront) (Haas, H. "The lnfluence of a Single Echo on the Audibility of Speech" ,IAES, Volume 20, Issue 2,pp.146-159; March 1972).The "precedence effect" or "law of the first wave front" is a psychoacoustical effect. Similar sounds arriving from different locations are solely localized in the direction of the first sound arriving at our ears. Similar sounds need to arrive between 2 ms and about 50 ms after the first sound for the precedence effect to become effective. The effective time range varies from about 50 ms for speech to about 80 ms for music. Longer delays are perceived as echoes (Blauert, 1997,p.203).

2A

Mhd-Body Awareness for Singers: Llnleashlng Opttmal Performance

Rate the vividness of the image of your

footprint

and the ease with which you were able to run: Vividness

1,23 45

Ease

123 45

the exercise and study the feel of the floor beneath your feet while running.

2. Repeat

Did your pace change? Were you able to develop a perceptual image?

fully formed

footprint and the ease with which you were able to run:

the receptors in the cochlea are consistent with the frequencies produced by the vocal folds and in the vocal tract. Finally, it stands to reason that if we learn to selectively attend to the direct and constant boneconducted signal, we will enhance our ability to monitor the complete constant signal (bone conducted and airborne), such as might be required when performing in a variety of acoustic environments, and that this "perceptual stability" would contribute to our sense of well-being, or calm. "Try it!" (PAE 2-8).

Rate the vividness of the image of your

Vividness

1,23 45

Ease

12345

Key Point: The trained auditory system can sort out an amazing number of simultaneous events,

and

it pays to improve

those listening skills

(Schubert, 1983, p. 764).

Summary

The effects of environmental factors on airborne feedback are so problematic that Howell argued "strongly against auditory feedback being used for vocal control" (Howell, 1985, p. 282). Nonetheless, Schubert warns us against thinking our "kinesthetic patterns are sufficiently well developed" to disregard listening altogether. "When subjects are asked to perform in the presence of enough masking noise to eliminate the auditory feedback channel, both voice quality and intonation suffer, even for highly trained performers" (Schubert,1983, p. 1,6Q. It is important to note that the studies referenced by Schubert confused both the airborne and the boneconducted signal, whereas preliminary tests conducted during the CKA and singing research study found that masking only the airborne signal (with earplugs) resulted in improaed intonation, consistent vibrancy, and physical ease when singing (LeighPost & Burke, 2009). These findings are consistent with Howell's hypothesis that "while research findings suggest auditory feedback cannot be used directly to control all aspects of the voice . . . pitch is one aspect of the voice that may be controllable by listening to bone-conducted auditory feedback" (Howell, 1,985, p.282). Unlike the highly interpreted airborne signal that is subject to distortion from the "hall," we may rest assured that vibrations transmitted via skeletal structures to

PAE 2-8: Buzzing Bones-Auditory. The auditory system is especially well equipped to detect information from which we can determine the source and location of a sound. To develop knowledge of the sound of one's own voice while singing,

we will explore methods for selectively attending to the bone-conducted signal for reliable pitch (frequency), intensity (amplitude), and legato (duration) information transmitted directly from the action of the vocal folds and indirectly from the vocal tract; to the constant airborne signal for auditory information that is influenced by the vocal tract, such as timbre and phonemes (acoustic resonance); to any necessary variable sounds from the hall, including the orchestra, other singers, or a director; and finatly, to the complete constant signal. In performance, the task of selectively "sorting out" information of motivational significance will be done for us by the unconscious processing of sensory information, according to the planned purpose of the moment and the task at hand. For the following exercises, refer to Figure 2-8:

L. Plug your ears and repeatedly sing "ma rr.a-" Selectively attend to the skeletal pathways that transmit vibrations from the larynx to the auditory sense organs (cochlea) lodged deep within the temporal bone. What information is amplified?

Sensory Information Processlng: Perceptlon of Our Environment and

Rate the vividness of percept and sense of physical ease:

Vividness

1,23 45

Ease

1,23 45

Rate the vividness of percept and sense of

physical ease: Vividness

for a moment. Can you recall the "btJzz" of the bone-conducted signal?

2. Pause

Rate the vividness of percept and sense of

physical ease: Vividness

t23 45

Ease

1.23 45

sing "ma ma" and attend to the bone-conducted signal while plugging and unplugging your ears. When the sound seems the same whether your ears are plugged or unplugged/ you are effectively attending to the

J. Repeatedly

bone-conducted signal. Rate the vividness of percept and sense of

physical ease: Vividness

1,23 45

Ease

1,23 45

with ears unplugged. a. Attend to the constant bone-conducted

4. Repeat the exercise

signal.

b. Attend to the constant bone-conducted signal for "m" and the reflected airbome signal for "ah," seeking out change. Rate the vividness of percept and sense of

physical ease: Vividness 5.

1,23 45

Ease

123 45

Attend to the composite constant signal effected bone-conducted vibrations transmitted directly from the larynx and those transmitted indirectly by the airborne signal of the vocal tract (throat and mouth), seeking constancy. Note: It may be helpful to focus attention on the skeletal transmission pathways and ultimately on the cochlea lodged deep within the temporal

by

bone.

Ourselves 29

1,23 45

Ease

1.23 45

Multimodal Perception Howard Gardner noted our intelligences seldom work in isolation. This is likewise true of the corresponding sensory systems that inform one's knowledge of one's own voice while singing. For example, Alfred Tomatis'13 interpretation of the vestibular and auditory organs of the inner ear is intriguing. He postulated they have the same role in that they both sense movement (cited in Madaule, 1994,p.51; Sillick, 1996,p.90). Strange as it may seem, we detect changes in our head position relative to the forces of gravity with the same type of equipment with which we detect sound. The sensory organs for hearing and motion sense are housed in the same bony exterior, are filled with the same type of fluid, and have the same type of receptors (Perkins & Kent, 1986, p. 8) (see Figure 2-7).Tl:te spaces are actually joined by a small connection from the vestibular nerve, which contains auditory efferent fibers (Purves et a1.,2004, p.316). In addition, the forced vibration that travels from the phonator via skeletal structures to the inner ear, which is simultaneously processed by the auditory system as sound and by the vestibular system as motion, is at the same time processed as tactile vibration and muscle (kinesthetic) sensation. Furthermore, bone-conducted vibration has long been an effective tool for studying vestibular reflexes (e.9., head-tum reflex), and bone-conducted sound is known to activate the vestibular apparatus more effectively than air-conducted sound (Welgampola et a1.,2003).

Converging Sensory lnputs-The More the Merrier

Simultaneous cues from two (or more) sensory modalities can enhance the salience of a stimulus and eliminate ambiguities about its identification

l3Alfred Tomatis was an otolaryngologist (ENT) to opera singers and was himself a former singer and the son of an ENT.

30

Mind-Body

Awareness

for Singers: llnleashing Optimal Performance

that might occur when cues from only one modality are available (Stein et a1.,1995, p. 68a). That is, multimodal perception of an event increases the vividness and intensity of images, heightens our awareness/ and seemingly fills our mind. Presumably, whenever different sensory inputs converge onto individual neurons in the central nervous system, there is the potential for cross-modal integration and perceptual calculations, such as the

calculation of spatial coordinates. The many sites where such convergence could occur include the upper-level control areas of the brainstem integration systems (e.g., vestibular nuclei), the limbic structures (motivational drives), and the cortex, where conscious associations are made. For example, at the

junction of the auditory, visual, and somatosensory

cortices, the neurons in the inferior parietal lobule are multimodal and can process multisensory information simultaneously (Culham, 2006), which is essential to spatial cognition (Andersen et a1.,1997) and speech and language processing (Figure 2-9). Cross-modal sharing below the cortex is poorly understood, although there is some evidence that the pathways for such sharing exist. In some cases/ we have solid evidence for subcortical sharing: for example, in some animals the areas for vision and hearing (which correspond to our superior colliculus and inferior colliculus, respectively) map onto one another and interact quite nicely so that an animal

hearing something knows reflexively where to look (T. Petersik via e-mail August 4,20L1). While data are missing for most potential examples of subcorti-

Vestibular cortex

417J /';4 --;, ',9 i;',r,rr l(r1-t_Y-