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Cypriot Journal of Educational
Sciences
Volume 15, Issue 5, (2020) 1117-1127
www.cjes.eu
The implementation of virtual choir recordings during distance
learning
Hakki Cengiz Eren
1
, Near East University Ringgold standard institution - Department of Music Education,
Karakum Önel Villa no: 12, Kyrenia 1403, Cyprus https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5331-8328
Emine Kıvanç Öztuğ b, Near East University Ringgold standard institution – music NEU, Nicosia 1403, Cyprus,
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1135-1418
Suggested Citation:
Eren, H. C., & Öztuğ, E. K., (2020). The implementation of virtual choir recordings during distance learning.
Cypriot Journal of Educational Science. 15(5), 1117-1127. https://doi.org/10.18844/cjes.v15i5.5159
Received from June 15, 2020; revised from August 15, 2020; accepted from October 25, 2020 .
Selection and peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu, Higher Education Planning,
Supervision, Accreditation and Coordination Board, Cyprus.
©2020 Birlesik Dunya Yenilik Arastirma ve Yayincilik Merkezi. All rights reserved.
Abstract
This study investigates the implementation of virtual choir recordings in a choir class during distance learning. In this
particular study, a virtual choir is defined to be a computer-generated sound recording that emulates a realistic choir sound.
Students (n=21) practiced their parts using virtual choir recordings for a period of eight weeks; each student received a
recording that excluded his/her own part but included the rest of the parts. After eight weeks of progressive study, students
recorded their own voices on top of the virtual choir recordings and submitted them as final projects. Student opinions
regarding the virtual choir recordings were obtained through a 12-question survey. In addition, two experts evaluated the
final submissions turned in by the students. The data suggests that virtual choir recordings can be helpful to students with
efficiency of practice and can provide a suitable audio environment to foster conscious-listening, accurate intonation and
perception of pacing. Improvements are suggested to make the virtual choir recordings also more encouraging of musicality,
highlighting its future potential not only as a reliable distance education tool, but also as a supplementary device for real-life
choir classes, when in-person learning resumes.
Keywords: music education, distance learning, choir, virtual choir, music technology
* ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE: Hakki Cengiz Eren, Near East University Ringgold standard institution -
Department of Music Education, Karakum Önel Villa no: 12, Kyrenia 1403, Cyprus
E-mail address: cengizhakki.eren@neu.edu.tr / Tel.: +905338630802
Eren, H. C., & Öztuğ, E. K., (2020). The implementation of virtual choir recordings during distance learning. Cypriot Journal of Educational
Science. 15(5), 1117-1127. https://doi.org/10.18844/cjes.v15i5.5159
1118
1. Introduction
Choir classes constitute an important part of music education. Various studies argue that singing
together in a choir not only improves one’s the ability to hear, listen to and to
read music, but also helps build socio-musical skills and collective responsibility. Robinson (1996)
highlights the role of ‘‘singing together’’ on the development of aural skills, intonation, sight-reading
and the aural-internalization of basic elements of music theory. Choir classes incorporate a variety of
activities that can help students learn multiple skills. Dettwiler (1989) demonstrates how exercises
that trigger internal hearing could be used to enhance aural capabilities of students during the warm-
up phases of a choir rehearsal. According to Demorest (1998), frequent individual testing during choir
classes can play a potential role in improving musical reading. In working with children and teachers,
Heyning (2010) describes how, during choir rehearsals, descriptive gestures and emotive words by
teachers encouraged children to listen to the sounds around them more attentively. Choir classes
provide students with an environment of diversified learning. Özçimen (2015) evaluated the opinions
of 54 pre-service music teachers about a choir class they were attending. The survey results showed
that, the most beneficial aspects of being in a choir for the participants were: thinking together,
moving together, sharing, sense responsibility; finding the correct pitch and spreading it around,
becoming a conscious listener; developing interpretation, musical sensibility, and acquiring the ability
to sing together.
Choir practice is one of the most foundational, effective, and also widespread fields in music
education. With respect to the principles of vocal education and the general objectives of a music
program, choir education is shaped by concepts and activities such as practical exercises, solfege,
harmony, interpretation, collective responsibility, choir culture and its stylistic features (Uçan, 2001).
Choir classes are multidimensional environments in which students get to develop a variety of musical
skills.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, the Near East University Faculty of Music Education, like all other
faculties within the institution, switched to distance learning in March 2020, as a precautionary
measure. During the initial stages of the isolation period, handling the choir class has been particularly
challenging for teachers; online platforms such as ‘‘Google Meet’’ or ‘‘Zoom’’ could not provide a real-
time environment in which multiple people could sing together. To ensure that such an important
class continued with minimum hindrance during distance learning, a supplementary tool was devised
for students taking the choir course: the virtual choir. Literat (2012), attributes the term ‘virtual choir’
to the acclaimed modern composer Eric Whitacre, who collected 2,052 individual recordings of people
singing the same music and combined the sound clips into a single collective entity. Schnell et al.
(2000), on the other hand, define the term to be realistic choir sound that is more or less synthetic
(computer-generated), without any usage of previously recorded real-life voices. In this case, the choir
sound is generated synthetically using spectral information from a single voice. This study is congruent
with the latter; virtual choir recordings were created using realistic-sounding virtual instruments; SATB
(soprano, alto, tenor and bass) parts were generated one by one, using a virtual instrumentation
program (Kontakt 5, version 10.13.6) and its sound library. The recordings were then subjected to
various enhancements; dynamic shaping for each part was carried out in a digital audio workstation
(Logic-Pro X, version 10.5.1) through volume automation. Ircam’s Spat5 extension, a program that
enables the user to spread out individual voices in a sonic field (left, right, front and back), was used
to distribute each voice part within a 3-D stereo field and to enhance the sounds with reverberation.
A metronome click accompanied the virtual recordings at all times for rhythmic support. The main
objective was to provide students with a realistic choir environment, so that upon interacting with it
regularly, they would continue to develop choir-related skills during distance education.
Virtual recordings of three pieces were created. Two of the pieces are first time arrangements of
Turkish Cypriot songs composed by the group ‘‘Sıla 4’’, while the third piece is a polyphonic
Eren, H. C., & Öztuğ, E. K., (2020). The implementation of virtual choir recordings during distance learning. Cypriot Journal of Educational
Science. 15(5), 1117-1127. https://doi.org/10.18844/cjes.v15i5.5159
1119
arrangement of Seval Köse’s one voice setting of a poem titled ‘‘Memleket İsterim’’ by Cahit Sıktı
Tarancı. The pieces were chosen on the basis of diversity:
Ağaçlar Kalem Olsa, arranged by Hakkı Cengiz Eren
• Complex contrapuntal texture
• Complex harmonies
• Challenging rhythms
Göç, arranged by Hakkı Cengiz Eren
• Dialogue-like counterpoint with instruments
• Different combinations of choir parts (e.g. soprano-alto, tenor-bas)
• Complex harmonies
• Challenging rhythms
Memleket İsterim, arranged by Hakkı Cengiz Eren
• Simple contrapuntal texture
• Tonal harmonies
• Simple rhythms
It should be noted that this study does not attempt to present a device that can ultimately replace a
real-life choir class; the virtual choir cannot provide an incentive for the betterment of socio-musical
abilities, nor can it induce, in the student, the sense of responsibility for a group. However, it is
presumed that, using virtual choir recordings, students can still continue improving skills such as
conscious-listening, harmonic awareness, musicality and sense of pacing, as they would in a real-life
choir class.
1.1. The Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to assess the usability of the virtual choir recording through student
opinions and expert assessments of student performances, determine its shortcomings, and later, in
the discussion section, suggest ways of improving it. Research questions include:
1. What do student questionnaire results tell about the suitability of virtual choir recordings for
fostering (a) efficiency of practice (b) conscious-listening (c) harmonic awareness (d)
musicality (e) sense of pacing in students?
2. Is there a statistically meaningful correlation between any of the elements in the
questionnaire and expert assessments of student performances?
3. What are the shortcomings of virtual choir recordings with respect to the parameters of
research question 1?
4. Based on findings from research question 3, how can the virtual choir recordings be improved
more to suit the needs of students?
1.2. Assumptions
A series of assumptions are put together regarding the usability of virtual choir recordings during
distance education. It is expected that students will have efficient practice sessions with virtual choir
sounds; with the opportunity to practice anytime, anywhere, they will have more time to enhance
their skills compared to real-life rehearsals, which are limited in number. This way, they will be able
to address their individual musical problems as many times as they wish. Virtual choir recordings used
in this study constitute realistic sounds, distributed within a 3-D stereo field, with sophisticated
reverberation. Thus, it is expected that virtual choir recordings will provide a suitable environment for
students to listen consciously to other voices as well as their own. Moreover, the virtual choir
recordings, being computer generated, are impeccable with respect to the accuracy of pitches, and so
Eren, H. C., & Öztuğ, E. K., (2020). The implementation of virtual choir recordings during distance learning. Cypriot Journal of Educational
Science. 15(5), 1117-1127. https://doi.org/10.18844/cjes.v15i5.5159
1120
it is assumed they will provide a suitable audio environment for students to work on their intonations
(a sub-category of musicality). A metronome sound is provided for each virtual recording, and this
feature is expected to help students keep track of their timing in the absence of a conductor.
1.3. Literature Review
There have been various studies that incorporate some form of technology in choir classes, albeit
very limited in number. Cremata (2010) investigated the use of technology in various music classes.
During a semi-structured interview, a student (HH) praised one particular teacher for making them
compose music during choir classes using various multimedia software. HH says this particular activity
helped them better understand and internalize the music they were singing
Petty and Henry (2014) tested the effects of voice recognition technology on the sight-reading
abilities of beginning choir students. During an 8-week program with sixth grade students (n=83) as
participants, 47 students practiced sight-reading with SmartMusic software and headphones, while
the remaining 36 students with only camera projection. Both groups were responsible for the same
class material. No significant difference was found between the posttest results of the technology and
the non-technology groups. Both groups improved at a similar rate.
Sever (2017) tested the usage of a computer, a projector and a sound system in choir classes. The
subjects (n=30) were students enrolled in a choir class at the Karabük University of Fine Arts. Pieces
used in rehearsals were transferred into Sibelius (a music engraving program) and the notational
progress was projected onto a screen while the sounds were played through a sound system. This
way, the students benefited from both audio and visual support as they sang. A survey questionnaire
revealed that students approved the use of technology insofar as how it contributed to their
motivation, hearing and musical perception.
2. Method
The participants were 11 male and 10 female students (n=21) enrolled in a choir class at the Near
East University Faculty of Music Education, during 2019-2020 spring semester (distance learning
period). Each student was provided with virtual choir recordings that excluded his/her own part but
included the rest of the parts. In addition, slower versions of the same recordings were provided for
more meticulous study. Students were also provided with single-voice versions, so that they could
practice duets (e.g. soprano-alto, tenor-bass) before tackling 4-voice textures. Students were advised
to study regularly with the virtual choir recordings for a period of eight weeks. The recommended way
to practice was to sing along with the recordings using either headphones or a sound system. During
the first 20 days, students practiced with single-voice versions (practicing duets), the next 20 days they
practiced with slow three-part versions and the final 20 days with up-to-tempo three-part versions
(the fourth part being their own voice). After each 20 day period, students, using a smartphone,
recorded their own voices on top of the virtual choir recordings and uploaded them to the distance
learning website, to be assessed by two experts, a choirmaster and choral conductor.
2.1. Data Collection Tools
After the eight-week period, students were asked to complete an online questionnaire. The
questionnaire consisted of 11 closed-ended and one open-ended question. The closed-ended
questions were categorized according to the parameters of research question 1: (a) efficiency of
practice (b) conscious-listening (c) harmonic awareness (d) musicality (e) sense of pacing. Students
could answer each question on a 3-point Likert scale (3- always 2- sometimes 1- never). The reason
behind the implementation of a 3-point Likert scale, as opposed to a 5 point or more, was to be able
to obtain as clear a data set as possible, without any ‘gray areas’ with respect to the responses. For
the open-ended question, students were asked to write, in prose, the beneficial and inadequate
aspects of practicing with virtual choir recordings. In addition to the questionnaire, the two
aforementioned experts were given a scale to assess final student submissions. Using the scale, the
Eren, H. C., & Öztuğ, E. K., (2020). The implementation of virtual choir recordings during distance learning. Cypriot Journal of Educational
Science. 15(5), 1117-1127. https://doi.org/10.18844/cjes.v15i5.5159
1121
experts evaluated each student over a grade of 1-5 with respect to accuracy of pitch, nuances,
dynamics, articulations and rhythm for each of the three pieces.
2.2. Data Analysis
The questionnaire results have been analyzed through percentage and frequency distributions, as
well as mean scores. The expert assessments of final student submissions have been grouped with
respect to the three pieces used in the study. The mean scores for each category of assessment
(accuracy of pitch, nuances, dynamics, articulations and rhythm), as well as the overall mean scores
have been calculated. Finally, a Spearman Rank Correlation Test has been implemented to seek out
correlations between student responses and overall expert assessments (p<0,05).
2.3. Reliability of Data
The reliability of the questionnaire has been determined by the test-retest method. At the end of
the 60 day period, the students received the questionnaire twice at 10 days interval. The overall
Cronbach alpha value turned out to be 0.73, demonstrating good internal consistency and therefore
adequate reliability.
3. Results
In this section, questionnaire results are displayed in table format as frequency/percentage
distributions and mean scores. In addition, the answers to the open-ended question are broken down
by means of coding, and presented here in prose. The mean scores of expert assessments of student
performances for each of the three pieces with respect to the aforementioned categories are given in
table 6. Table 7 shows the correlations between student responses and overall mean scores of expert
assessments (p<0,05).
3.1. Efficiency of Practice
The students answered two questions regarding efficiency when practicing with virtual choir
recordings, one regarding the regularity of study and the other regarding motivation.
Table 1. Student responses to questions about efficiency of study when practicing with virtual choir recordings
(n=21)
Question
Always
Sometimes
Never
Mean
Score
I practice regularly with virtual choir recordings
I am motivated to practice with virtual choir
recordings
12 (57,1%)
9 (42,9%)
9 (42,9%)
9 (42,9%)
0 (0%)
3 (14,3%)
2,57
2,29
The majority of the students (57,1%) reported that they ‘‘always’’ practiced regularly with the
virtual choir recordings. In terms of being motivated, the number of students who answered ‘‘always’’
and ‘‘sometimes’’ are equally distributed (42,9%), while a relatively small percentage of students
(14,3%) preferred to answer ‘‘never’’.
3.1.1. Conscious Listening
The students answered two questions regarding conscious-listening. These two questions sought
to find out whether or not the students could clearly hear their own voices and the voices from the
virtual choir simultaneously. The questions themselves do not refer to conscious listening because if
the virtual choir is to foster conscious listening, the individual SATB parts in the recordings first need
to be clearly audible for the student.
Eren, H. C., & Öztuğ, E. K., (2020). The implementation of virtual choir recordings during distance learning. Cypriot Journal of Educational
Science. 15(5), 1117-1127. https://doi.org/10.18844/cjes.v15i5.5159
1122
Table 2. Student responses to questions about conscious-listening when practicing with virtual choir recordings
(n=21)
Question
Always
Sometimes
Never
Mean
Score
I can hear my own voice
I can hear and distinguish the voices from the virtual
choir
7 (33,3%)
12 (57,1%)
11 (52,4%)
9 (42,9%)
3 (14,3%)
0 (0%)
2,20
2,57
Evaluating the results from table 2, it can be deduced that the students could hear the voices from
the virtual choir recordings (57,1% reported as always) more clearly than their own voices (only 33,3%
reported as always). 14,3% of students reported ‘‘never’’ being able to hear their own voices, whereas
no student reported ‘‘never’’ being able to hear the other voices.
3.1.2. Harmonic Awareness
The students answered three questions regarding harmonic awareness. These questions sought to
find out if the students could clearly hear the intervals, chords and the function of their own voices
with respect to voice leading when practicing with virtual choir sounds.
Table 3. Student responses to questions about harmonic awareness when practicing with virtual choir
recordings (n=21)
Question
Always
Sometimes
Never
Mean
Score
I can hear the intervals
I can hear the chords
I am aware of the voice leading
5 (23,8%)
7 (33,3%)
9 (42,9%)
13 (61,9%)
14 (66,7%)
9 (42,9%)
3 (14,3%)
0 (0%)
3 (14,3%)
2,10
2,33
2,29
Upon evaluating the results from table 3, it can be deduced that a larger portion of students
preferred to answer ‘‘sometimes’’ or ‘‘never’’ for questions regarding harmonic awareness (76,2% for
intervals, 66,7% for chords and 57,2% for voice leading). 14,3% of students reported ‘‘never’’ being
able to hear intervals and the voice leading. No student reported ‘‘never’’ being able to hear the
chords.
3.1.3. Musicality
The students answered four questions regarding musicality. These questions sought to find out if
the students were able to control the intonation of their own voices when practicing with virtual choir
sounds, and if the recordings provided enough incentive for them to execute nuances, dynamics and
articulations. Here it might seem like intonation would be a separate topic, but as Cuesta et al. (2018)
mention, intonation not only implies pitch accuracy, but also slight deviations from the ‘correct pitch’:
the vibrato component. Drieger et al. (2016) note that musicians frequently resort to the usage of
vibrato for expressive purposes.
Eren, H. C., & Öztuğ, E. K., (2020). The implementation of virtual choir recordings during distance learning. Cypriot Journal of Educational
Science. 15(5), 1117-1127. https://doi.org/10.18844/cjes.v15i5.5159
1123
Table 4. Student responses to questions about musicality when practicing with virtual choir recordings (n=21)
Question
Always
Sometimes
Never
Mean
Score
I am able to control the intonation of my voice
I am encouraged to execute nuances
I am encouraged to execute dynamic gestures
I am encouraged to execute the indicated
articulations
14 (66,7%)
10 (47,6%)
9 (42,9%)
8 (38,1%)
6 (28,6%)
8 (38,1%)
10 (47,6%)
12 (57,1%)
1 (4,7%)
3 (14,3%)
2 (9,5%)
1 (4,8%)
2,62
2,33
2,33
2,33
The results from table 4 reveal that a larger portion of students (66,7%) reported they could
‘‘always’’ control the intonation of their voices. Only one student (4,7%) reported ‘‘never’’ being able
to control the intonation of his/her voice. As for nuances, dynamics and articulations, a larger portion
of students reported ‘‘sometimes’’ or ‘‘never’’ being encouraged to execute them (52,4% for nuances,
57,1% for dynamics and 61,9% for articulations). A relatively small percentage of students reported
‘‘never’’ being encouraged to execute nuances, dynamics and articulations (14,3% for nuances, 9,5%
for dynamics and 4,8% for articulations).
3.1.4. Pacing
The students were asked one question regarding pacing. This question sought to find out if the
students were able to execute correct rhythms, thereby being able to keep track of their timing in the
absence of a conductor.
Table 5. Student responses to the question about pacing when practicing with virtual choir recordings (n=21)
Question
Always
Sometimes
Never
Mean
Score
I am able to execute correct rhythms without losing
track of my timing
14 (66,7%)
6 (28,6%)
1 (4,8%)
2,62
The data from table 5 shows that a larger portion of students (66,7%) reported they were ‘‘always’’
able to execute the correct rhythms without losing track of their timing. Only one student (4,8%)
preferred to answer ‘‘never’’ in this case.
3.1.5. Student Responses to the Open-ended Question
Of the 21 students participating in this study, 17 students answered the open-ended question
regarding the beneficial and inadequate aspects of practicing with virtual choir recordings. 5 students
mentioned that practicing with virtual choir sounds was an efficient way to study for the choir class. 6
students were of the opinion that they could control their intonation better with virtual choir
recordings than they could in a real-life rehearsal. 4 students mentioned that there was not enough
incentive for them to be musical with respect to gestures and nuances. No students touched upon the
subject of harmonic awareness.
Below are the expert assessments of the students’ final submissions with respect to accuracy of
pitch, nuances, dynamics, articulations and rhythm. The final submissions, as mentioned before,
contain the student’s recorded voice as he/she sings on top of the virtual recordings. For each of the
categories below, the students were graded over a maximum grade of 5. The Mean scores and the
medians of each category were calculated separately for each of the three pieces used in this study.
Eren, H. C., & Öztuğ, E. K., (2020). The implementation of virtual choir recordings during distance learning. Cypriot Journal of Educational
Science. 15(5), 1117-1127. https://doi.org/10.18844/cjes.v15i5.5159
1124
3.2. Expert Assessments Of Students’ Final Submissions and Correlations Between Student Responses
and Overall scores
Table 6. Expert assessments of student final projects (n=21)
Ağaçlar Kalem
Olsa
Memleket
isterim
Göç
Overall
Mean
Score
Median
Mean
Score
Median
Mean
Score
Median
Mean
Score
Median
Accuracy of
pitch
3,62
4
4,1
4
3,76
4
3,82
3,67
Nuances
2,38
2
2,57
2
2,86
2
2,60
2,33
Dynamics
2,61
2
2,67
2
2,71
3
2,67
2,67
Articulations
2,38
2
2,67
2
2,52
3
2,52
2,66
Rhythm
3,96
4
4,43
4
4,2
5
4,19
4,00
The mean scores for pitch accuracy and rhythm turned out to be the highest for each of the three
pieces, whereas the mean scores for nuances, dynamics and articulations are lower in comparison.
Conscious listening and harmonic awareness were not incorporated into the assessment sheet,
because the scope of this particular study allows only the students to testify for their perceptual
presence. The mean scores for Ağaçlar Kalem Olsa, the most challenging piece, are the lowest,
whereas Memleket İsterim and Göç, being relatively less challenging, received higher mean scores.
Table 7. The correlations between overall expert assessments and student responses (n=21)
Overall expert
assessments
Efficiency of Practice
r
0,312
p
0,169
Conscious Listening
r
0,392
p
0,078
Harmonic Awareness
r
0,583
p
0,006*
Musicality
r
0,475
p
0,030*
Pacing
r
0,262
p
0,252
*p<0,05 (r: Spearman test)
Observing Table 7, it is seen that there is statistically significant and positive correlation between
overall expert assessments and students’ harmonic awareness and musicality responses (p<0,05). This
means that as the students’ harmonic awareness and musicality responses increase, overall expert
assessments scores also increase. No statistically significant correlation has been observed between
Eren, H. C., & Öztuğ, E. K., (2020). The implementation of virtual choir recordings during distance learning. Cypriot Journal of Educational
Science. 15(5), 1117-1127. https://doi.org/10.18844/cjes.v15i5.5159
1125
overall expert assessments and students’ efficiency of practice, conscious listening and pacing
responses.
4. Discussion and Conclusion
A specific attribute of the virtual choir used in this study is said to be sufficient, and therefore
suitable for the needs of the students, if the majority of the responses for the corresponding element
of the questionnaire lie in the ‘‘always’’ range, with no more than %5 accounting for the ‘‘never’’
range. These include regularity of practice (the first element of (a) efficiency of practice); the ability to
distinguish specific voices from the virtual choir (the second element of (b) conscious listening);
intonation (the first element of (d) musicality) and (e) pacing. A specific attribute of the virtual choir
is said to be insufficient, and therefore not suitable for the needs of students, if the majority of the
responses for the corresponding element of the questionnaire lie in the ‘‘sometimes’’ and ‘‘never’’
range. These include motivation (the second element of (a) efficiency of practice); the ability to hear
his/her voice (the first element of (b) conscious listening); all elements of (c) harmonic awareness and
all elements of (d) musicality, excluding intonation. The responses to the open-ended question reveal
that students had easier time with issues like pitch accuracy and efficiency as opposed to musicality.
Expert assessments of the final student submissions show higher mean scores for intonation and
pacing/rhythm than those of musicality. In general, these results agree with student opinions;
students reported being able to handle pitch and rhythm better than parameters of musicality. The
overall mean scores are also congruent with this conclusion. As mentioned before, elements of
conscious listening and harmonic awareness were not incorporated into the expert assessments;
nevertheless, pitch accuracy results could be an indication that students listened consciously, and to
a degree, with somewhat adequate harmonic awareness. The Spearman Rank Correlation Test shows
statistically significant correlations between student responses for harmonic awareness/musicality
and overall expert scores. This means that the lower the overall grade a student received, the lower
his/her Likert scale selection with respect to harmonic awareness and musicality. This can have the
implication that lower grades are more associated with lower levels of harmonic awareness and
musicality than any of the other categories. These implications are indicative of the shortcomings of
the virtual choir, namely that the particular recordings used in this study might not entirely be suitable
to foster harmonic awareness and musicality in students. These issues are to be dealt with in the
following paragraphs.
But firstly, one particular issue belonging to the category of conscious listening needs to be
addressed. The majority of the students reported either ‘‘sometimes’’ or ‘‘never’’ being able to hear
their own voices when practicing with virtual choir recordings. This issue might arise from the
discrepancy of acoustic space between the student’s voice and the virtual voices; the student sings
into his/her surroundings, whereas the virtual voices come out of the headphones. A new
recommended way of practicing could incorporate a microphone, which could be used to redirect the
student’s voice into the computer and out from the headphones, bringing the student’s voice and the
virtual voices into the same acoustic space.
The data in this study shows that majority of students were only ‘‘sometimes’’ or ‘‘never’’ aware
of aspects of harmony (intervals, chords and voice leading). Perhaps the culprit here is not necessarily
the virtual choir recordings or choir classes themselves, but rather long-term inefficiencies in theory
and ear-training classes. Music education programs, the majority of which still implement rather
conservative methods of teaching, could incorporate more technological tools to induce harmonic
awareness in students. Molumby (2014) asserts that mobile technology (iPAD in this case) has a big
potential for use in classes designated for training ears. He suggests ‘‘Ear Trainer’’, whose many
features include: interval comparison; interval identification; chord identification; chord progressions;
scales, etc. Molumby also recommends ‘‘Virtuoso Piano Free3’’; he claims that with this application,
a student can indulge in a series of exercises designated for ear-training classes, practice for class
anytime, anywhere, and check his/her homework before turning it in. Chen (2015) found out that
Eren, H. C., & Öztuğ, E. K., (2020). The implementation of virtual choir recordings during distance learning. Cypriot Journal of Educational
Science. 15(5), 1117-1127. https://doi.org/10.18844/cjes.v15i5.5159
1126
Auralbook, an application that enables students to sing, clap, record and answer computer generated
questions, contributed to aural skill levels of students associated with ABRSM (grades 1-8). As useful
as they might be in training ears to a degree, many of these applications come with unsophisticated
and non-realistic sounds, with few instrument choices (mostly a piano sound). Applications like these
should be developed further to include more realistic sounds, with more virtual instrument choices.
The more the students enhance skills related to harmony in such classes, the more awareness they
would attain with respect to harmony, and technology, as mentioned, can have a large impact.
One other shortcoming of the virtual choir has been its unsuitableness for encouraging musicality;
student evaluations and expert assessments confirm this. The sound samples used in this recording
were realistic to a degree, but lacked expressivity and naturalness. When a singer uses a particular
gesture, the sound undergoes timbral variations; but the ‘‘imitation-expressivity’’ in the virtual choir
recordings does not incorporate these timbral variations (e.g. volume automation for dynamics). Thus,
the resultant sounds were not convincing in terms of musicality. According to Bonada and Blaauw
(2020), the main parameters controlling the naturalness and expressivity of a singing voice are the
fundamental frequency (F0) ‘‘trajectories’’ (sound qualities that result from manipulation of singing
gestures centered around F0). Taking advantage of recent advances in Deep Neural Network (DNN),
they have proposed a model that can accurately extract and internalize parameters of complex F0
trajectories from a real recording and thereby produce highly realistic virtual choir sounds with
expressive qualities. In their research, Schnell et al. (2000) sought to generate realistic choir sounds
by implementing a technique called ‘‘Pitch Synchronous Overlap Add (PSOLA)’’. With this technique,
they were able to generate a highly realistic choir sound with a wide range of timbers and textures.
Research should be undertaken to make such advances in virtual sound generation more compatible
with technological tools used in music classes, considering that most such tools for training musicians
are unmusical, with dull and uninspiring sounds. Virtual choir sounds used in this study could also
benefit from these. It can be presumed that making the virtual choir more musicality-inducing might
also increase the motivation levels of the students when practicing.
This study initially aimed to test the usability of virtual choir recordings during distance learning. As
the virtual recordings were being built and certain hypotheses structured, it became clear that these
recordings could potentially be a perpetual part of choir classes as an auxiliary tool, even after in-
person learning fully resumes. Initial predictions and the data obtained suggest that virtual choir
recordings can be helpful to students with efficiency of practice, and that they can provide a suitable
audio environment to foster conscious-listening, intonation, and perception of pacing in students.
While it might seem like virtual choir recordings are not ideal for students to enhance their harmonic
awareness, this issue, as mentioned above, needs to be addressed within a more general framework
that also includes theory and sight-singing courses. What might help overcome this issue in the long
run is the inclusion of ever-advancing technological tools in more areas of music education, such as
aural skills or music theory classes. Virtual choir recordings used in this study did not turn out to be
ideal for encouraging students to be more musical; while the artificial sounds were realistic to a
degree, they lacked the timbral and textural variety of an actual choir sound. If a more ‘‘musically-
convincing’’ virtual choir recording is to be created, new techniques in virtual sound generation, like
the ones mentioned above, should be incorporated into its making. With these improvements, the
virtual choir can become not only a reliable tool during distance education, but also powerful
supplementary tool for choir classes when in person learning resumes. Further research should
incorporate a larger sample of subjects and more advanced technology.
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