ICT training with wearable devices to enhance emotional communication and musicality in vocal education

The article examines the effectiveness of wearable technologies and mobile applications for developing musicality and vocal performance skills in vocal performance among first-year students of the Department of Vocal Singing at the Kharkiv National University of Arts named after I.P. Kotlyarevsky (N = 218). The study employed an eight-week training program incorporating the mobile application SingTrue alongside biometric data from wearable devices used to record physiological parameters to monitor breathing and heart rate during singing. The results of the study suggested that the training programme had improved the overall musicality of the first-year students from the experimental group (p = 0.00). It did not affect the ability to express emotions with voice (p ≥ 0.05). Physiological data indicated changes in heart rate and respiration, reflecting an increase in physiological engagement during the singing process. The materials from this paper will be of interest to those who study the possibility of integrating mobile applications and complex software for musicians into areas such as higher music education. This paper draws attention to a limited number of scientific studies about the development of musicality of first-year students by using separate training programmes and applications, and emphasizes the need for further research aimed at the targeted development of emotional communication in vocal training.