Singers’ Responses to Congruent and Incongruent Verbal and Nonverbal Instructions

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine collegiate singers’ sung responses to and perceptions of congruent and incongruent verbal and nonverbal instructions. Research questions included: (1) To what extent do singers perform dynamics differently when provided with verbal instructions or conducting gestures?, (2) When presented with incongruent messages, will singers respond better to verbal instructions or conducting gestures?, and (3) What do participant comments reveal about their perceptions of the task? Four choirs sang while watching a stimulus video of a conductor showing two different conducting gestures (crescendo for the first four measures followed by a decrescendo for the last four measures, or the reverse) while singing a familiar tune (“Long, Long Ago”). In one condition, videos included written/spoken instructions for singers to crescendo then decrescendo at the same time as the conductor (a congruent message). In the other condition, written/spoken instructions were the opposite (an incongruent message). We subsequently analyzed the sound pressure level (dB SPL) at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the sung excerpt. Results indicated that the choirs tended to follow the verbal instructions, getting louder when instructed to crescendo and getting quieter when instructed to decrescendo. Additionally, the average dynamic contrast was significantly greater during the congruent conditions compared to the incongruent conditions (7.32 dB SPL and 4.71 dB SPL, respectively). This finding provides evidence that when nonverbal cues (conducting gestures) are aligned with verbal instructions, choirs show more of the requested dynamic level.