Posting Date: March 15, 2012
Adam Kirkpatrick, associate professor of voice, creates new voice software
Software provides valuable biofeedback for singers and instructors
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Adam Kirkpatrick Photo by Tracie L. Hinnant |
Adam Kirkpatrick, associate professor of voice, has developed a new voice training software program to improve the quality of the sung tone. The BFE Limited Edition Voice Suite was launched earlier this month at the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback's 43rd Annual Conference in Baltimore. The software is distributed by Biofeedback Foundation of Europe.
This training program and methodology evolved from Kirkpatrick’s research, in which he studied using electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback to teach singers to achieve and maintain a lower laryngeal position while singing. The BFE Limited Edition Voice Suite offers a step-by-step training protocol and customized visual aids and animations that are specific to the goal of lowering the larynx and opening the throat. These visual aids give singers real-time confirmation that they are activating the muscles necessary to maintain a lower larynx, a foundational technique in classical singing.
Kirkpatrick is also working with a mobile application development team at KSU's Coles College of Business to develop a sound biofeedback program that can be used on the iPhone, iPad and Droid platforms. The mobile app will give singers real-time feedback about their tone quality, pitch, vibrato rate, vowel clarity and other measurable components of sung tone.
In July 2012, Kirkpatrick will demonstrate both products at the National Association of Teachers of Singing conference in Orlando, Florida.