Performance activities of vocalists, choir singers and conductors in the light of the neurocognitive paradigm and digital technologies

Abstract

The article highlights the problem of updating methodological approaches to understanding solo and choral vocal performance in the context of the digitalization of arts education and professional communication. The main topic of the study is the neurocognitive paradigm as an interdisciplinary artefact, within which the effectiveness of performance is considered through the prism of the integration of auditory and emotional perceptions, motor actions and bodily sensations, supported by mechanisms of attention, self-control and reflection. The purpose of the article is to justify the expediency of referring to the ideas of the neurocognitive paradigm for conceptualizing vocal performance as a system of interaction between cognitive, emotional, and bodily processes in a culturally and communicatively conditioned context, as well as to identify appropriate forms of digital technology implementation to improve the quality of performance by singers and choir conductors. Particular attention is focused on related types of performance – solo and choral – the commonality between which is determined by the task of simultaneously solving phonation-technical, interpretative-artistic, ensemble-communicative and stage-suggestive tasks and the need to self-regulate the psychophysiological state in stage conditions, the solution of which causes increased cognitive, artistic-creative and emotional-volitional stress. The neurocognitive paradigm allows us to consider vocal performance not only through artistic- interpretative, stylistic and methodological factors, but also through the mechanisms of the brain and body, in particular multimodal-sensory-motor integration, neuroplasticity, interoceptive- auditory sensitivity, developed attention, memory, reflection, and emotional self-regulation. Digitalization is interpreted as a factor in the restructuring of cognitive strategies of self-control, self-analysis, and improvement of the quality of vocal performance and conducting, as well as the mastery of solo and choral repertoire. An interdisciplinary approach contributes to the integration of the neurocognitive concept and digital technologies and, thus, to improving the quality of stage and performance activities of solo vocalists and choir singers. Examples are given of technology-based self-analysis of the quality of a singer’s phonation and mechanisms for using digital music notation programs, which help choristers to learn complex choral works, in particular in terms of intonation properties and polyphonic texture.