Breakout Session
Quantifying Repertoire Tessituras Through Real-Time Measures
Saturday, June 23 • 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
Presenter: Matthew Schloneger
Introduced by: Reginald Pittman
Location: Cohiba 6-7
Voice teachers use anecdotal evidence and experience when examining the tessitura of pieces they assign to their students and in determining the appropriateness of that repertoire for a particular student’s development. Tessitura, however, is something that has until recently remained un-quantified by scientific methods. This session will review the results of a study that quantified the tessituras of standard vocal repertoire using a voice dosimeter to measure frequencies (Hz) and vocal dose in real time to create “tessituragrams.” Multiple singers were recorded for each selected work. These singers also completed Voice Range Profiles, which were compared to the vocal dose information and individualized tessituragrams. The data will be discussed in terms of repertoire selection for developing singers, as well as the next proposed steps in the development of tessituragrams. This project is the outcome of the 2017 Van Lawrence Fellowship awarded to Dr. Schloneger.
About Matthew Schloneger
Matthew Schloneger is assistant professor of applied music/voice at Friends University. He taught voice and music theater at Hesston College from 2001-2017. Schloneger holds a PhD in vocal pedagogy from the University of Kansas, as well as degrees from the University of Cincinnati, Goshen College, and Hesston College. He was a 1999-2000 Rotary Scholar at the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milano and has a certificate in French language from the Sorbonne (Paris). He has performed principal roles with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Operafestival di Roma, Wichita Grand Opera, Opera Kansas, and others. Schloneger is co-winner of the 2017 Van Lawrence Fellowship of NATS and the Voice Foundation. He was also awarded Best Research Poster at the 2014 NATS National Conference and Best Student Presentation at the 2015 Voice Foundation Symposium. His research has been published in Journal of Voice and International Journal of Research in Choral Singing.
