cry utter intone shout speak scream talk express pronounce enunciate articulate converse chat shriek yell gossip spout bellow bawl murmur sigh hush moan groan moan bemoan boast blare whimper wail weep howl warble belt yelp squawk sob lament call exclaim screech roar plea snivel bleat declare blurt trill chant croon squeal whisper mutter stutter sputter wheeze mew whine coo eee aayy aaa ohh oooo feu feu ai ai io io moi moi ea ea omoi omoi
After creating the governing concepts for this project, I approached the sound artist, composer and performer, James Andean. I have been fascinated with James' improvisation performances, his use of objects as instruments and his electroacoustic compositions from the very beginning of this study because they have challenged and shaped the way I define music, singing, and musical performances.
I define a musical performance as a specific time and space wherein composers, audiences and performers collaborate to engage with sound in creative ways; I define music as the culmination of the collaborative actions that performers, composers and audiences partake in to create performances and the performances themselves; I define singing as the use of the voice to make musical sounds.
The use of the voice to make musical sounds is where the above list comes in. Since we were creating a story and a performance out of vocal sounds, the first step was to create a palette for James to work with. To do this, we recorded my own improvisations based on our list. Because of my interest and connection to historical repertoire, we also recorded excerpts of and improvisations on three 17th century baroque pieces. From this palette, James composed his Medea piece which will define the story and sound world for episode three of this project. In the live experience, my voice will improvise and interact with the world James has created to tell this particular part of this story.
Moving away from working with traditional notation and the twelve tones I am so accustomed to has challenged me to expand my understanding of what singing is and what singing can be. In the context of this project and under the definition above, can a yell, can a whimper, can a wheeze, can a cry, be considered singing?
In my third doctoral concert, The Winter Of Our Discontent, I worked with the Finnish guitarist, Otto Tolonen to create new depictions of Shakespearean characters. To do this, we created a performance that combines Shakespearean monologues, with renaissance lute songs and the contemporary guitar solos of Hans Werner Henze. In our depiction of Lady Macbeth, I improvise various different vocal sounds - I speak, I call, I yell, I weep, I laugh, I hush, I sing, I hum - over Henze’s Mad Lady Macbeth. My improvisations are intended to become a part of the musical landscape that Otto is creating with the guitar, all of which aim at producing a more poignant depiction of Lady Macbeth’s madness. In this context, where the vocal sounds become a part of the musical landscape, how should I describe my voice - is this part of my singing voice?
After Henze’s Mad Lady Macbeth, I perform John Dowland’s lute song, In Darkness Let Me Dwell. This is more easily recognized as singing, but within the song, I gasp during the introduction, I translate some of the notation into moans, I yell some of the text, I whisper the last word. In the context of this song, are my gasps, moans, whispers, yells, also part of the singing? They, too, are musical gestures that I create with my voice; are they part of my singing? Is this the same as the vocal sounds used in Henze’s Mad Lady Macbeth?
In my original proposal to apply for doctoral studies, I spoke of the struggles I was having as a singer within the traditions of western art music and historical performance practice. I wanted to use this study to expand my understanding of what it can mean to be a singer within these traditions and to explore new kinds of performing and performances. I wrote that I wanted to step away from being a classical singer and towards being a storyteller.
Now, at the end of my study, I realize that this focus on storytelling is what has allowed me to move beyond the imaginary boundaries I previously struggled up against. But I am not a storyteller. I am, I always have been, I always will be, a singer, a musician who uses her voice to perform, to express musical gestures, to connect with composers and audiences, to bring characters, worlds, stories, histories, to life. Whether it is a lute song recital, a dramatic Shakespearean show, or a fully improvised vocal performance, it is all a part of my singing and my performance practice in Western Art Music.
You are warmly invited to join James and I for Medea on October 11, 2017 at 19.00 in the Black Box Theatre at Musiikkitalo (Helsinki). After the performance, I encourage you to consider the questions I have posed above - My answers to them all are: yes.
Yes, it is all singing. It is all a part of my singing, my musicking, my performing. This might be different from your singing, or your performing or your experiences of performing and singing, but isn’t that the beauty of all art? That we can all have unique voices and yet still speak and connect to one another.
