A Comparison of Facial Muscle Activation for Vocalists and Instrumentalists

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the muscle activation of singers and instrumentalists while performing simple vocal exercises. Volunteer participants ( N = 28) were undergraduate music majors and minors, with an equal number being vocalists and instrumentalists. Participants performed five vowel sounds (ah, eh, ee, oh, oo), while electromyography of the zygomaticus and masseter muscles was sampled at 1,000 Hz. A statistically significant multivariate analysis of variance effect was obtained and follow-up analyses of variance showed instrumentalists had more masseter muscle activation than vocalists when performing “eh” and “ee.” Instrumentalists also had more zygomaticus muscle activation than vocalists when performing the “eh” vowel, but vocalists had more zygomaticus muscle activation when performing the “ah” vowel.