Visible Voice

Brendan Hurst '09 blends singing with physics in new voice lab

April 28, 2009

Baritone Brendan Hurst '09, a physics and music (vocal performance) double major, belts out a note in the music department's new voice lab, which features a VoceVista computer program.

As a physics and music (vocal performance) double major, Brendan Hurst '09 can talk about Pavarotti one minute and photon particles the next.

He can also blend the two majors into one topic, as he did last week with the unveiling of the music department's new voice lab in room 311 of the Weiss Center for the Arts.

Hurst, working with Lynn Helding, associate professor of music, set up the VoceVista computer program, which processes the voice in real time so that it shows up on a computer screen in the form of electronic waves and graphics. Helding, a leading expert in voice science, will work with future vocal-performance students by analyzing the computer data and making recommendations on how to enhance their singing voices.

"Voice science is still a very new field," Hurst said. "I can explain what it means, but it takes an experienced teacher like Professor Helding to understand the science as well."

Gesturing to the screen graphics, Hurst said, "I could look at this and say, 'Here is what you're doing, and here's how the screen for Pavarotti looks when he sings this song.' I could say they look different, but I couldn't say, 'Do this to make it better.' Professor Helding can look at the frequency of a note and tell you if it would pair better with a certain vowel."

Voice conference

Hurst and Helding attended an International Physiology and Acoustics of the Singing Voice conference in San Antonio, Texas, in January. Attendees included the creator of VoceVista—which means visible voice—and other experts in voice science.

Helding said Hurst fit right in with the experts.

"On day one of the pre-conference VoceVista workshop, he had already introduced himself to everyone and was deep in conversation with a graduate student from SUNY-Fredonia," said Helding, a mezzo-soprano. "By the end of workshop, Brendan was well-known by all in attendance and had actually been able to help those new to the program navigate the program on their own laptops."

During the actual conference, Hurst "popped up to the mic to ask questions so often that people began to wonder who the young man in the blue blazer asking all the intelligent questions was," Helding added. "I was very proud to answer, 'My double-major-in-voice-and-physics-student from Dickinson College.' "

Hurst is used to the stage. In 2007 alone, the baritone led the singing of the college alma mater at Convocation, performed with the Dickinson College Collegium during its tour of Italy, and ended the year with a selection from Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro" at a holiday concert with the college orchestra at St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Physics presentation

Showing he can do more than sing, last fall he played Frederick in the college performance of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, and recently gave his senior physics presentation, along with three other physics majors, on photon quantum mechanics.

"I think what physics has taught me most about music is quite frankly patience," Hurst said with a laugh. "When you're doing an experiment or even something more abstract like a homework problem, you're only going to see small gains depending on how much work you put into it. That's definitely true of learning anything in voice, because it's a physical skill, the ability to get your muscles used to producing the sounds you want to produce."

Hurst, who lives in Downingtown, Pa., hopes to land a physics-related job in the Baltimore area but has no plans to relegate singing to the hobby bin.

"I want to continue private music lessons," Hurst said. "I hope to move into a career later in life, possibly in opera or in a small group. The best-case scenario would be one that allows me to do physics and sing. I really, really like physics, and I really, really like music and singing."