About The Book
Includes Foreword by Shirlee Emmons
In Mind-Body Awareness for Singers, Dr. Leigh-Post broadens the scope of recent voice science texts by applying an insightful understanding of mindfulness, cognitive neuroscience and functional neural anatomy for the musician seeking to optimize one’s performance in an ideal state–absent anxiety.
This book provides a fundamental understanding of functional anatomy and cognitive neuroscience to guide singers and teachers of singing to unlocking the mystery of the mind-body link involved in the complex audio-motor behavior that is singing. New theories and concepts, rooted in both the wisdom of masters in the field and current scientific research, are introduced from the unique perspective of the performer. Practical application exercises train the singer to work with, rather than against, the systems of singing to integrate the cognitive and conscious with the unconscious sensory and motor processes of our nervous system.
By mapping not only the body’s musculoskeletal structure, but also the body’s voluntary and involuntary behavioral responses, the vocal artist is empowered with an ability to maintain the following with ease:
- Optimal performance, characterized by elite execution, coordination, and self-correction.
- An ideal performance state, characterized by heightened awareness, vigilant attention, and autonomic balance/an absence of anxiety.
- Imagery or manipulation of a mental representation of a sensory event, characterized by an ability to express one’s thoughts and feelings through an infinite supply of phenomenal images.
- Alignment.
About The Author
Karen Leigh-Post, DMA, is on the voice faculty at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, Appleton, WI, and was invited to present her research at the National Conference of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) in 2010. In keeping with the liberal arts tradition, Dr. Leigh-Post has engaged in interdisciplinary studies throughout her performing and teaching career. Her extensive study of the interaction of mind and body includes first-hand work with Alma Thomas, Barbara Conable, Ryugin Myo-O, and Wesley Balk, and spans a broad range of disciplines, including the Alexander Technique, the Feldenkrais Method, yoga, fencing, Chi Qong, and dance.
Critics describe her mezzo-soprano as striking with well-formed supple lines, and in her dramatic portrayals, Leigh is brilliant in her depth of character, her pacing, her facial expressions, her gestures
. Her rich and varied performing career includes the roles of Carmen, the Composer in Ariadne auf Naxos, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Venus in Tannhäuser, Jenny in Die Dreigroschenoper, Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus, Pitti-Sing in The Mikado, and Anita in West Side Story, as well as the premieres of A Death in the Family and Animalen. Leigh-Posts concert appearances include several PBS broadcasts, from the tradition of Mozart with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra to the songs and arias of Bernstein at Lincoln Center, and embrace the intimate chamber works of Loeffler, Respighi, and Ibert as well as the orchestral settings of Ravels Shéhérazade and Martins Cornet, to name but a few.
Among her teachers and coaches are Shirlee Emmons, Joan Dornemann, Emma Small, and Warren Jones.
Table Of Contents
List of Practical Application Exercises (PAEs)
Foreword
Introduction
Illustrated Guide to Neural Anatomy
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. 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
Transmission of Sensory Information
Perception
Attentional Focus and Receptivity
Integration Mechanisms: The Reticular Formation and Arousal (Awareness)
Heightened Awareness, or Mindfulness
Two-Way Transmission — “Top-Down” Processing From Upper-Level Controls
Selective and Executive Attention
Selective Attention and a “Happy 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 While Singing
Auditory Perception
Multimodal Perception
Somatic (Body) Senses
The Vestibular System (Sensory)
Purposeful Perception in Review
Chapter 3. Planning Voluntary Behavior
Introduction — Who Is In Charge?
Volition, Free Will, and Executive Ignorance
Research Trends in Voluntary Motor Behavior
Willed and Sensorimotor Intentions
What & When Planning — “What Are We Thinking?”
Summary
Learning and Memory
Anatomy of Learning and Memory
The Function of Memory and Higher-Level Perceptual Processing
The Working Memory
When Perception Turns 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
Chapter 4. Motor Output Processing
Introduction
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 variability of force are reviewed from the perspective of the motor unit and sensory-guided movement.
The “stretch,” “knee jerk,” and “withdrawal” reflexes are reviewed with regard to voluntary adaptations for complex vocal-motor skills, such as the timing controls for reflex resonance associated with vocal vibrato.
Upper-Level Controls
A review of direct and indirect controls provided by the modulating influences of the basal ganglia and cerebellum, the brainstem, and cortical projections.
Developing Expertise
Postural and Respiratory Controls — “We’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 Performance
Rhythm and Rhythmic Entrainment
Predictability and Variability
Self-Organization of Forced and Spontaneous Entrainment
Summary
Practical Application — Putting It All Together 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
Glossary
References
Index
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