The themed issue ‘Posthuman Voices: Channels Across Time and Shared Memories’ was curated by the brilliant Francesco Bentivegna and Sophia Edlund, and is part of the 10-year anniversary of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Voice Studies.
Topics include:
decolonizing the algorithm towards a distinct Southern American voice (Paola Torres Núñez del Prado);
AI voices between posthumanism and anthropocentrism (Domenico Napolitano);
composing with cetaceans and countering human exceptionalism through practical zoömusicology (Alex South);
a speculative/ecological exploration of vocal thelxis through devising with seashells (Sophia Edlund);
sympoietic vocal practice (Ute Wassermann);
autobiographic vocal performance through a synthetic clone of one’s voice (Jaume Ferrete-Vázquez);
and cybernetic animisn (K. Allado-McDowell and Francesco Bentivegna)
& the issue concludes with reviews of Norie Neumark’s (Milla Tiainen) and Liz W. Faber’s (by Bentivegna) books.
Feel free to peruse issue 7.1!
Ecological / Speculative Workshop on Voicing Thelxis, Sophia Edlund
Francesco and Sophia’s poetic, provocative editorial is free-access:
To mark Disability Pride Month 2022, and as part of the Centre’s 10-year celebrations, we invite you to peruse through various articles, voicings and special issues CIVS has supported:
• the special issue of the Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies (JIVS 5.2) guest edited by Maria Stuart and Daniel Martin, titled: Metaphoric Stammers and Embodied Speakers https://www.ingentaconnect.com/…/2020/00000005/00000002
• the special issue (JIVS 4.2) guest edited by Nina Sun Eidsheim and Jessica Holmes, titled: ‘A Song for You’: The role of voice in the reification and de-naturalization of ablebodiedness https://www.ingentaconnect.com/…/2019/00000004/00000002
alongside several pieces from other issues, including:
• and Mari Wiklund & Simo K. Määttä’s ‘Therapists’ response strategies in a group session involving French-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder’ (JIVS 6:1): https://www.ingentaconnect.com/…/0000…/00000001/art00008
Or, to follow the brilliant project JJJJJerome Ellis developed out of their essay in the journal:
The Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies (published by Intellect) makes one article freely available per month (check our Twitter for the announcement each month).
Alongside this, the journal’s Open Access resources include:
• The full issue 4.1, including work on Mexican singer-songwriter Amparo Ochoa; music pieces inspired by the humpback whale’s voice; the cultural politics of bio-musicals; frameworks for equitable engagement with voice from a South Indian perspective; vocal autobiography; a techno-feminist approach to the electronic drone choir NYX; and a report on the Transgender Voice Conference. All pieces by Natalia Bieletto-Bueno, Michal Friedlander-Grover, Ben Macpherson, Charulatha Mani, Konstantinos Thomaidis, Francesco Bentivegna and Tracy R. Grady are freely available here: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/jivs/2020/00000005/00000001?fbclid=IwAR3oieVsSL9eqc411T93ZQHJtBeJ2z_jEtR9NGOli9ksiCqYgWHIZJL-3EI
• Josephine Hoegaerts and Ludovic Marionneau’s article ‘Throwing one’s voice and speaking for others: Performative vocality and transcription in the Assemblées of the long nineteenth century’: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/…/0000…/00000001/art00007
• A series of videos by Archibald Rees, Oded Ben-Tal and Caroline Wilkins; Ditte Berkeley-Schultz and Electa Behrens; Ben Spatz; and Elisabeth Belgrano on the journal’s Homepage: https://www.intellectbooks.com/journal-of…
This study reflects on what it would mean to take opera’s decisive attribute—voice—as the foundation of its staged performance. The book thinks of staging through the medium of voice. It is a nuances exploration, which brings together scholarly and directorial interpretations, and engages in detail with less frequently performed works of major and influential 20th-century artists—Erik Satie, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill—as well as exposes readers to an innovative experimental work of Evelyn Ficarra and Valerie Whittington. The study is intertwined throughout with the author’s staging of the works accessible online.
This book will be of great interest to students and scholars in voice studies, opera, music theatre, musicology, directing, performance studies, practice-based research, theatre, visual art, stage design, and cultural studies.
Further information on the book series and its companion website can be found at:
‘Magnat notes that the “non-verbal, non-semantic, non-discursive material and affective efficacy of vocality” is under-theorized in Performance Studies. Her book is a corrective gesture, providing a complex engagement with vocality “with a particular focus on orally transmitted vocal traditions” common among Indigenous nations and in communities facing various forms of hegemonic power.We were impressed by the breadth of Magnat’s research which brings together elements of quantum physics, sound theory, anthropology, philosophy, the work of Grotowski as well as the research of Indigenous scholars in many fields to elucidate what happens in and through vocality and especially in the sharing of songs in language inherited from ancestors. Building on empirical research conducted in collaboration with Indigenous and settler participants who shared songs while being hosted by Indigenous collaborators on their territories, Magnat reflects on what the embodied practice of vocalizing activates in those who sing and those who witness them.
We were equally impressed by Magnat’s methodology which models what Anishinaabe scholar Jill Carter calls a “relational shift” toward the creation of truly respectful and dialogical conversations between Western and Indigenous ontologies, epistemologies and methodologies. From the creation of an Indigenous Advisory Committee to ensure best practices to Magnat’s self-reflective engagement with her ancestors, be they familial in Occitania, a region of France with its own distinct culture and language, or academic (Magnat was trained in and is a scholar of the Grotowski tradition and French theory), [she] models decolonizing scholarship in important ways.’
Award Committee: Henry Bial, University of Kansas (chair); Julie Burelle, UC-San Diego; Shane Vogel, Yale University.
The American Theatre and Drama Society’s John W. Frick Book Award honors the best monograph published each year on theatre and performance of/in the Americas, recognizing that notions of “America” and the United States encompass migrations of peoples and cultures that overlap and influence one another.
The Centre for Interdisciplinary Voice Studies congratulates Prof Magnat on this wonderful achievement!
Barker, Paul (2015), ‘With One Voice: Disambiguating Sung and Spoken Voices through a Composer’s Experience’, in K. Thomaidis and B. Macpherson (eds), Voice Studies: Critical Approaches to Process, Performance and Experience, London & New York: Routledge, pp.xvi-xxvi.
Belgrano, Elisabeth (2016), ‘Vocalizing Nothingness: (Re)configuring Vocality Inside the Spacetime of Ottavia’, Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, 1:2, pp. 183-195. https://doi.org/10.1386/jivs.1.2.183_1
Belgrano, Elisabeth (2021), ‘Mapping the Burden of Vocality: French Seventeenth-Century Vocal Lamentations, Japanese Meditation and Somatic Intra-Action’, in Christina Kapadocha (ed.), Somatic Voices in Performance Research and Beyond, London & New York: Routledge, pp.171-184.
Bentivegna, Francesco (2017), ‘THE ART OF VOICE SYNTHESIS SYMPOSIUM, AMSTERDAM, 11–13 MAY 2016 http://www.artificialvoice.nl/: A Review’, Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, 2:1, pp.79-81. https://doi.org/10.1386/jivs.2.1.79_5
Bentivegna, Francesco (2019), ‘Becoming Robot through Voice: Training in Artificial Voices’, Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 10:3, pp.439-447. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443927.2019.1634639
Bentivegna, Francesco (2020), ‘Voice, Technology and Feminist Community: An Interview with NYX’, Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, 5:1, pp.107-113. https://doi.org/10.1386/jivs_00018_1
Cavarero, Adriana, Thomaidis, Konstantinos & Pinna, Ilaria (2018), ‘Towards a hopeful plurality of democracy: An interview on vocal ontology with Adriana Cavarero’, Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, 3:1, pp. 81-93. https://doi.org/10.1386/jivs.3.1.81_1
Edlund, Sophia & Hannigan, Barbara (2019), ‘A Singer’s Perspective on Sirens and Singing: An Interview with Coloratura Soprano/Conductor Barbara Hannigan’, Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, 4:1, pp.101-110. https://doi.org/10.1386/jivs.4.1.101_1
Grover Friedlander, Michal (2020), ‘Whale Wonder’, Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, 5:1, pp.29-42. https://doi.org/10.1386/jivs_00014_1
Magnat, Virginie (2020), ‘Exploring (K)new Paradigms’, in Virginie Magnat, The Performative Power of Vocality, London & New York: Routledge, pp.124-186.
Neumark, Norie (2015), ‘Enchanted Voices: Voice in Australian Sound Art’, in K. Thomaidis and B. Macpherson (eds), Voice Studies: Critical Approaches to Process, Performance and Experience, London & New York: Routledge, pp.132-145.
Roney, Matthew (2016), ‘Music in the Noise: The Acoustic Ecology of John Clare’, Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, 1:1, pp. 23-40. https://doi.org/10.1386/jivs.1.1.23_1
Posthuman Voice: educating and training voices in practices of well-being together
A virtual interdisciplinary symposium (Zoom)
Friday 16th – Saturday 17th July 2021
Registration is now open for the Posthuman Voice symposium, taking place online (Zoom) on the 16th and 17th July. This interdisciplinary symposium is organised by postgraduate researchers at the University of Exeter. The programme includes presentations on whale song; on octopus consciousness; on posthuman pedagogy and reflective practice; on field recording as a political practice and on voice cloning and more. You are invited to attend and to participate in the cross-disciplinary discussion which will follow each presentation.
This activity is a Researcher-Led Initiative funded by the University of Exeter Researcher Development and Research Culture team.
Musicking with other animals: Countering human exceptionalism through a practical zoömusicology Alex South| Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
Toto too? Animal companions, reflective practice and the forging of professional values Kay Sidebottom| Leeds Beckett University
11.30-1.00
Lunch
1.00-2.00
PANEL 2: Animality
Octopus Consciousness: A conversational provocation Sarah Scaife, Stephanie Moran, Lucinda Guy |University of Exeter, University of Plymouth, Stellaria Media
‘Kusemezana na Ndovu – in conversation with elephants’ Lizzie Jago |University of Exeter
2.00-2.20
Break
2.20-3.20
Keynote Paper
Amy Cutler
Day 2, 17th July ‘Non-human/inhuman as political practices of reckoning’
Time
Subject
10.00-10.15
Introduction
10.15-10.30
Artistic response ‘Tongues III’
Chinasa Vivian Ezugha | University of Exeter
10.30-11.30
PANEL 3: Non-human/inhuman as political practices of reckoning
Soundscapes and the practice of field recording as gateway to ecological awareness and political practice Tine Blom | Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences
Human as Prosthesis: Portrayals of Conjoined Twins in Literature Joe Holloway | University of Exeter
11.30-1.00
Lunch
1.00-2.20
PANEL 4: Non-human/inhuman as political practices of reckoning
Artistic response Jaume Ferrete | The Creative Pursuit/ Basque University
Compost-convolution: trials around resonant organs Vincenzo Ottino | Central Saint Martins
Voice cloning and the tension between anthropocentrism and posthumanism in AI Domenico Napolitano | University Suor Orsola Benincasa
2.20-3.15
Plenary Forum
The Centre for Interdisciplinary Voice Studies supports the symposium as part of a series of events that will mark its 10-year anniversary in the academic year 2021-2022.
To mark World Voice Day 2021, we take a moment to reflect on some of our work at the Centre of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies over the last year and celebrate our collaborators’ work:
1. The Routledge Voice Studies series keeps expanding with the addition of books by Virginie Magnat, Christina Kapadocha, Amanda Glauert, and Margaret Pikes & Patrick Campbell.
3. We published 2 issues of the Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies:
5.1 included work by Natalia Bieletto-Bueno, Michal Grover Friedlander, Ben Macpherson, Tracy R. Grady, Francesco Bentivegna and Charulatha Mani (whose article was selected by Intellect as part of the publisher’s International Women’s Day celebrations): https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/jivs/2020/00000005/00000001
5.2 was a special issue on ‘Metaphoric Stammers and Embodied Speakers,’ edited by Maria Stuart and Daniel Martin, with contributions from Josephine Hoegaerts, Riley McGuire, Joshua St. Pierre, Roshaya Rodness, JJJJJerome Ellis, Conor Foran, Daron Oram: https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/jivs/2020/00000005/00000002
4. We curated a series of blogs for Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, as part of the 1-year anniversary of the Special Issue ‘What is New in Voice Training?’, with entries by Petronilla Whitfield, Anna-Helena McLean, Charulatha Mani, Francesco Bentivegna, Faye Rigopoulou, Sarah-Holden Boyd, Sophia Edlund, Chan E. Park, Luis Aros, Margaret Pikes, Patrick Campbell and Masi Asare:
5. We organized the ‘Vicarious Vocalities’ conference, with thought-provoking contributions by Merrie Snell, Jacob Bird, Anne Tarvainen, Francesca Millar, Kiranmayi Indraganti, Ian Wilkie, Sam Fouts, Freya Jarman, Solimar Otero, Marie Bennett, Jan Creutzenberg, Jennifer O’Meara, Francesco Bentivegna, Clare Parkinson, Eleanor Russell, Melissa Morton, and Kit Danowski.
6. Personally, I had the honour of collaborating with colleagues around the world whose research keeps provoking, inspiring and nourishing our work at CIVS. These included:
a) the launch of Luis Aros’s brilliant book Cartografía de la Voz en el Inicio y Desarrollo de los Teatros Universitarios: https://youtu.be/1TAB2npQsUk
[This is part of the Aural/Oral Dramaturgies stunning website – please explore in full!]
c) a roundtable on ‘Voice and Well-being’, facilitated by Virginie Magnat, Michael Elliott and Sasha Covacs, with fellow voice practitioners Gey Pin Ang, Anna-Helena McLean, Christina Shewell and Rena Sharon: https://youtu.be/XPIXFiqRfqk
This has been an incredibly tough year, and we are deeply grateful to all authors, artists, collaborators and voicers for their generosity, thoughtfulness and patience. Yes, we are all overwhelmed with caring responsibilities, sustaining teaching and supporting our brilliant UG students and PG colleagues, under extraordinary circumstances, and, although it takes longer to respond, we always look forward to our continuing exchange.
Thank you for your groundbreaking work, thank you for your trust.
And we very much look forward to celebrating World Voice Day 2022 in the same studio or conference room.
This is a special issue on the inersections of voice studies and dysfluency studies, titled “Metaphoric Stammers and Embodied Speakers”, guest edited by Maria Stuart and Daniel Martin.
As 2020 is drawing to a close, we are welcoming a new title to Routledge Voice Studies. Owning Our Voices: Vocal Discovery in the Wolfsohn-Hart Tradition by Margaret Pikes and Patrick Campell offers a unique, first-hand account of working within the Wolfsohn-Hart tradition of extended voice work by Margaret Pikes, an acclaimed voice teacher and founder member of the Roy Hart Theatre.
This dynamic publication fuses Pikes’ personal account of her own vocal journey as a woman within this, at times, male-dominated tradition, alongside an overview of her particular pedagogical approach to voice work, and is accompanied by digital footage of Pikes at work in the studio with artist-collaborators and written descriptions of scenarios for teaching. For the first time, Margaret Pikes’ uniquely holistic approach to developing the expressive voice through sounding, speech, song and movement has been documented in text and on film, offering readers an introduction to both the philosophy and the practice of Wolfsohn-Hart voice work.
Owning Our Voices is a vital book for scholars and students of voice studies and practitioners of vocal performance: it represents a synthesis of a life’s work exploring the expressive potential of the human voice, illuminating an important lineage of vocal training, which remains influential to this day.
Margaret Pikes is a founding member of the Roy Hart Theatre who trained with Roy Hart and participated in all of the Roy Hart Theatre’s early experimental performances. She has been teachingthe Wolfsohn-Hart approach to vocal expression internationally for more than 50 years and regularly leads workshops in the UK, France and Germany.
Patrick Campbell is Senior Lecturer in Drama and Contemporary Performance at Manchester Metropolitan University. He is a core member of Cross Pollination, an expanded, nomadic laboratory for the dialogue in-between practices, and is Associate Editor of the Brazilian Journal on Presence Studies.
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