Edinburgh Napier University

  This pilot study focuses on the use real-time visual feedback technology (VFT) in vocal training. The empirical research has two aims: to ascertain the effectiveness of the real-time visual feedback software ‘Sing & See’ in the vocal training of pre-service music teachers and the teachers' perspective on their experience with VFT. Forty participants from an undergraduate music teacher education programme were randomly assigned to three groups. The first two groups were assigned the teacher and student versions of Sing & See, respectively, and the third group served as a control group without access to the software. The experimental groups were given 12 weeks to use the software for vocal training on a self-regulated basis. The technique of complex selections (TCS) was designed to assess the pitch accuracy and richness of vocal timbre. Pre- and post-test singing tasks showed that the participants from the experimental groups significantly improved their vocal timbre. A questionnaire survey conducted after the training period found that most of the participants in the experimental s were positive about the effectiveness of VFT software in vocal training. As future leaders in the implementation of music education technology, pre-service music teachers expressed a positive attitude towards the use of VFT as a technology-enhanced learning (TEL) component in music education.