Gemma Turner

The University of Sydney · Sydney Conservatorium of Music

There are many books written on singing technique and control of breath support is almost invariably cited as being central to successful, healthy and sustainable singing, whether it is classical or contemporary popular in style. Rarely, however, is it explained exactly what it is and how it works physically. Often singing students are completely i...

There is a stereotype of the protest song, involving a guitar and a sing-along chorus—possibly delivered from the back of a truck. Pete Seeger’s album Dangerous Songs came from that period of protest. Moving ahead 50 years, the songs haven’t stopped coming. But how do you write lyrics that convey the magnitude of climate change or massed species ex...

Voluntary restriction of body movement is associated with the reduction of sound pressure level (SPL) peaks in western contemporary popular singing. This paper investigated whether overall SPL and SPL range are affected when singers voluntarily restrain their movement during performance. Six professional singers performed a section of a song in two...

This paper reports on the acceptability, experience of participation and the immediate impact on maternal mood state of group singing sessions, introduced as a routine component of a mother-baby unit (MBU) treatment programme. Data was collected from 27 women who participated in the pilot programme. Results showed that implementation of a singing i...

This study assessed the presence of body movements that may be common to all western contemporary popular (WCP) singers that may be integral to both the physical production of the sung sound and to acoustic output, in this case sound pressure level variation. Since torso movement appears to be closely linked with dynamic variation in this style of...

In 2016, a three month pilot group program, ‘Singing with your baby’ was run in St John of God Burwood Hospital’s Mother and Baby Unit with Musica Viva led by Senior Research Associate, Dr Nicole Reilly and facilitated by musician and singer Dr Gemma Turner with Jamilie Taouk from the clinical team.

Song is an important aspect of Australian indigenous language and cultural revitalisation. Voice quality describes the distinctive timbre of a voice and is central to singing with the appropriate style and feeling. Languages are associated with particular voice qualities and linguists have taken preliminary steps to describe those associated with A...

Scads of medical research from recent years and many millennia of human experience before that has shown that singing is good for us. After 2 years spent co-researching and delivering an award-nominated singing therapy programme for mothers with clinical post-natal depression and anxiety, Gemma is now on a mission to help families prevent the baby...

Since the beginning of European colonisation of the Americas, it was noted that western music notation was inadequate in conveying the richness of indigenous song, in particular, its variability and inclusion of pitches that fell outside standard European equal temperament. Voice quality is also not described in standard notation even though it is...

This presentation describes the pilot singing programme mother-baby unit (MBU) treatment programme at St John of God psychiatric hospital in Sydney and how singing sessions had an immediate positive impact on maternal mood state of the 27 women who participated in the group singing sessions over a 12 week period as studied by researchers from the S...

In western contemporary popular (WCP) singing, body movement is integral to overall stage performance. However, singers are often directed to stand still while singing during recording sessions or music theatre productions. No assessment has been undertaken by sound engineers or directors to determine whether singers can produce the same sound leve...

The relationship between spontaneous body behaviour and vocal intensity generation in Western contemporary popular singing styles It can be observed in the behaviour of singers across many styles from around the world that some of the same physical gestures will be used singers of different cultures at similar dynamic points in musical phrases. Cou...

Singers of Western contemporary popular (WCP) music are known for their dynamic stage behaviour, both physically and vocally. This paper tests the hypothesis that body movement in WCP singing may be associated, not only with idiosyncratic expression but with the generation of the high sound amplitudes achieved by singers in this vocal style. Six pr...