OBSVAC Home General Information: • Equipment • The Founder • Affiliate Scholars • Student Assistants • Pedagogy tapes for sale • Vocal Studies Home		Welcome to the Otto B. Schoepfle Vocal Arts Center Lorraine Manz, Director Salvatore Champagne, Associate Director Richard Miller, Founder and Director Emeritus The purpose of the Otto B. Schoepfle Vocal Arts Center (OBSVAC) is to further the art of singing through the application of measurable analyses. Although the traditional language of imagery is useful in the teaching of singing, the singing voice is a physical and acoustic instrument (aerodynamic/ myoelastic) that depends on the coordination of vocal-fold vibration, airflow, and resonation factors. When relying solely on subjective experience, it is often difficult for a teacher of singing to convey how healthy and efficient vocal function can best be achieved. Specificity of communicable language is increased through visual and auditory feedback; the singer In 1989, in response to a proposal devised by Professor Richard Miller, The Kulas Foundation pledged generous funding for the purchase of equipment for an acoustic laboratory that would deal with measuring the events of the singing voice. This contribution was matched by The Elyria Chronicle-Telegram. The laboratory was named in honor of Mr. Otto B. Schoepfle, long actively associated with both media and music in Northeastern Ohio. As the needs of the laboratory developed, additional grants were forthcoming from The Kulas Foundation and from private donors. OBSVAC (Otto B. Schoepfle Vocal Arts Center) was officially dedicated Dec. 17, 1989. Because of extensive use of the laboratory, and the need for space to accomodate additional instrumentation, new quarters were developed and dedicated in February, 1998. OBSVAC is housed in Robertson Hall, 306-308, Oberlin Conservatory of Music. is thereby able to overcome technique problems more quickly, arriving sooner at effective artistic expression. Acoustic analysis can measure such parameters of the singing voice as stability of the fundamental frequency, resonance balancing (including relationships among regions of acoustic strength in the sung spectrum, i.e., 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th formants), vowel definition and modification (covering), the clean onset of vocal sound, the presence or absence of legato, intensity changes, and vibrato rate. Observations include visual representation of vowel tracking, balanced vocal timbre, degrees of nasality during the production of sung and spoken phonations, economy of airflow, and the degree of freedom at the laryngeal level through comparing breathy, pressed, and normal phonation. Effects on the artistic result is precisely measurable. A singer may simultaneously view spectrum analysis and stage demeanor, as well as other performance facets, while listening to a playback of the performance. Through the use of a video window generator and changing vocal spectra and other selected acoustic and physical factors, the entire procedure can be filmed, and printouts can be made. Such information is of value to all styles of vocalism, and is of great assistance in improving patterns of performance behavior. Pedagogic and artistic values are not limited to the study of an individual's own instrument. OBSVAC's ability to analyze the techniques and artistry from recorded performances of great singing artists (including videotapes) by vocal category (sopranos, mezzo-sopranos, tenors, baritones and basses) offers the singing student and voice researchers a powerful study resource. —Authored by Richard Miller
			Oberlin students, e-mail obsvac@oberlin.edu for appointments. Other inquiries, contact Director of OBSVAC Lorraine Manz