How New Research Can Help Keep Broadway Voices Healthy
Gordon Cox Theater EditorJust how vocally demanding are roles in Broadway musicals like “Hamilton” and “Dear Evan Hansen” — and how much singing is too much? If two professors at New York University had their way, Broadway singers would soon have access to a “vocal Fitbit” that could help them answer those questions.Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:“Similar to how your iPhone nowadays tells you, ‘Oh, you listened to music a little too loudly this week; watch out, because we don’t want you to get a hearing impairment due to overuse’ — it would be the same idea [but] for the voice,” said Ana Flavia Zuim, a musician and conductor who is also the associate director of vocal performance at NYU’s Steinhardt School. “It could tell you, ‘We see that you’ve used [your voice] up to a particular amount that has been considered a safe threshold of use.'” Zuim appeared on the new episode of Stagecraft, Variety‘s theater podcast, with her colleague Celia Stewart, associate professor of communicative sciences and disorders.