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Vocal Improvisation‘s Role in Music Therapy, and its Importance as an

Intervention for Pathological Professional Voices: a Single Case Study of a
Dysphonic Opera Singer

Research · May 2016

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4986.4565

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Tina Hörhold
Universität der Künste Berlin
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 Title Vocal Improvisation‘s Role in Music Therapy, and its Importance
as an Intervention for Pathological Professional Voices:
a Single Case Study of a Dysphonic Opera Singer

Author Tina Hörhold - th[at]euphonikum.com

Euphonikum - Zentrum für Körper & Stimme Berlin,
Masterthesis - Berlin Career College, University of the Arts Berlin

Abstract

Professional singers represent a special group of clients within the vocal therapy field. In
order to treat these professional singers when they suffer from a functional dysphonia, a
special interdisciplinary expertise in the areas of medicine, vocal pedagogy, singing and
vocal therapy is necessary. Also, psychological factors play a role in the development of
vocal problems. The implementation of a multi-modal therapy is necessary to help a
dysphonic opera singer. One approach is a short-term music therapy in the framework of a
vocal therapy oriented vocal instruction. This concept consists exclusively of a free vocal
improvisation in the context of a multi-modal treatment in individual sessions.
The effectiveness of this therapeutic method is examined in this paper. The procedure as
well as the contents of the music therapy are examined by means of a mixed-methods
design. For evaluation purposes, the German version of the Center for Epidemologic Studies
Depression Scale, long form, Allgemeine Depressionsskala, long form (ADS-L), as well as
the Singing Voice Handicap Index (SVHI) are used. Through a qualitative contents analysis,
the conversations following the improvisations are worked through, the procedures
compared, and the final interview carried out with the client are analyzed. The evaluation as
well as the qualitative investigation indicate a significant decrease in the dysphonia and the
psychological symptoms, allowing the singer to resume working. In the context of the
therapy, the singer realizes that in the course of becoming a professional, the joy of singing
has been lost. This can be recovered through reactivating the resources of singing during the
music therapy intervention.

Keywords
music therapy, vocal improvisation, high-performance voice, functional dysphonia,
multi-modal approach, mixed-methods research

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