Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
2-2021
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
D.M.A.
Program
Music
Advisor
Norman Carey
Committee Members
Eliot Bates
Thomas Bogdan
Johanna Devaney
Subject Categories
Arts and Humanities | Music | Music Pedagogy | Music Performance
Keywords
singing, vocality, performance, selfhood, Cathy Berberian, vocal pedagogy
Abstract
Every vocal training technique relies on understandings of how a singer’s “voice,” both literal and metaphorical, participates in the act of interpreting the works of composers. Western classical singing, as codified by the early twentieth century, typically puts the singer in the role of the “medium” or “channel” for the composer. Later twentieth-century reactions promised liberation from the composer’s “voice” with a validation of the singer’s “authentic” or “natural” voice. This dissertation questions both sides of this binary and asks: what alternative models are possible? This work is in three parts. The first section provides an overview of pedagogical constructions of the singer’s “self” and “voice.” Next, an in-depth examination of singer and composer Cathy Berberian, whose collaborations with avant garde composers and use of expanded vocal techniques brought about new models for the relationships between composer and singer, singer and self. The final section of this work envisions new practices that draw upon the work of Berberian and others, seeking to offer contemporary singers tools for expanding artistic capacity and agency by exploring different understandings of the relationship between voice and self.
Recommended Citation
Eagen, Emily C., "The Singing Self: An Exploration of Vocality and Selfhood in Contemporary Vocal Practice" (2021). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/4212