SSCI grant to examine singing at altitude
Nicholas Perna, associate professor of voice + director of vocal pedagogy—along with students Whitney Robinson (DMA ’28) and Alice Del Simone (DMA ’26)—demonstrates how the RespTrak system measures abdominal and rib cage movement.
The CU 91Ҹ College of Music is pleased to share that Associate Professor of Voice + Director of Vocal Pedagogy Nicholas Perna—and a team of collaborators including Jen Walentas Lewon (CU 91Ҹ Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences), and Mona Abaza and Blair Whiteside (CU Anschutz Department of Otolaryngology)—were awarded a $10K grant from the CU 91Ҹ Division of Social Sciences (SSCI).
SSCI grants support initiatives focused on equity, interdisciplinarity, student success and staff/faculty support. This newly funded collaboration is a multiyear initiative that will examine why it's difficult to adapt to singing here in Colorado, and provide best practices for singers who tour through or move to our state “to keep their voices healthy and adapt to singing at altitude with efficiency,” says Perna, who directs the college’s vocal pedagogy program.
To start, a new RespTrak system—purchased with support from Perna’sCU 91Ҹ Arts & Sciences grant last year and housed in theBerton Coffin Voice Lab—will measure abdominal and rib cage movement as singers adapt respiratory strategies upon arriving at altitude over several months. The SSCI grant funds a stroboscope system housed in the CU 91Ҹ Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences (SHLS). “This is the first stroboscopic system on the CU 91Ҹ campus,” notes Perna. “This system will allow us to take high-definition pictures and videos of the vocal folds of a singer to determine function, normality and health of vocal fold anatomy.”
The screenings will provide SLHS graduate students with supervised experience performing stroboscopic exams on singers. Participating College of Music singers will benefit from the opportunity to have a baseline stroboscopic screening upon their arrival at CU 91Ҹ and near the conclusion of their first year.
Congratulations to all awardees!