Singing the Body Electric: The Human Voice and Sound Technology
Singing the Body Electric: The Human Voice and Sound Technology

Author: Miriama Young

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-03-03

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1317054857

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Singing the Body Electric explores the relationship between the human voice and technology, offering startling insights into the ways in which technological mediation affects our understanding of the voice, and more generally, the human body. From the phonautograph to magnetic tape and now to digital sampling, Miriama Young visits particular musical and literary works that define a century-and-a-half of recorded sound. She discusses the way in which the human voice is captured, transformed or synthesised through technology. This includes the sampled voice, the mechanical voice, the technologically modified voice, the pliable voice of the digital era, and the phenomenon by which humans mimic the sounding traits of the machine. The book draws from key electro-vocal works spanning a range of genres - from Luciano Berio's Thema: Omaggio a Joyce to Radiohead, from Alvin Lucier's I Am Sitting in a Room, to Björk, and from Pierre Henry's Variations on a Door and a Sigh to Christian Marclay's Maria Callas. In essence, this book transcends time and musical style to reflect on the way in which the machine transforms our experience of the voice. The chapters are interpolated by conversations with five composers who work creatively with the voice and technology: Trevor Wishart, Katharine Norman, Paul Lansky, Eduardo Miranda and Bora Yoon. This book is an interdisciplinary enterprise that combines music aesthetics and musical analysis with literature and philosophy.

Singing the Body Electric
Singing the Body Electric

Author: Miriama Young

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 9780549230090

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The main body of the text is woven together with two other voices---in the form of etymological interlards and radio interludes---the latter address the author-composer's own musical works.

Einstein on the Beach: Opera beyond Drama
Einstein on the Beach: Opera beyond Drama

Author: Jelena . Novak

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-12-06

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 1317145380

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Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s most celebrated collaboration, the landmark opera Einstein on the Beach, had its premiere at the Avignon Festival in 1976. During its initial European tour, Metropolitan Opera premiere, and revivals in 1984 and 1992, Einstein provoked opposed reactions from both audiences and critics. Today, Einstein is well on the way itself to becoming a canonized avant-garde work, and it is widely acknowledged as a profoundly significant moment in the history of opera or musical theater. Einstein created waves that for many years crashed against the shores of traditional thinking concerning the nature and creative potential of audiovisual expression. Reaching beyond opera, its influence was felt in audiovisual culture in general: in contemporary avant-garde music, performance art, avant-garde cinema, popular film, popular music, advertising, dance, theater, and many other expressive, commercial, and cultural spheres. Inspired by the 2012–2015 series of performances that re-contextualized this unique work as part of the present-day nexus of theoretical, political, and social concerns, the editors and contributors of this book take these new performances as a pretext for far-reaching interdisciplinary reflection and dialogue. Essays range from those that focus on the human scale and agencies involved in productions to the mechanical and post-human character of the opera’s expressive substance. A further valuable dimension is the inclusion of material taken from several recent interviews with creative collaborators Philip Glass, Robert Wilson, and Lucinda Childs, each of these sections comprising knee plays, or short intermezzo sections resembling those found in the opera Einstein on the Beach itself. The book additionally features a foreword written by the influential musicologist and cultural theorist Susan McClary and an interview with film and theater luminary Peter Greenaway, as well as a short chapter of reminiscences written by the singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega.

Your Body, Your Voice
Your Body, Your Voice

Author: Theodore Dimon, Jr

Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Published: 2011-09-27

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 158394320X

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In this innovative book, Theodore Dimon, EdD, shows how each part of the vocal organ (breathing, larynx, throat, and so on) works as part of a larger musculoskeletal system that is often interfered with, and how identifying this larger system and understanding in a practical way how it works allows a person to train and improve the voice, whether speaking or singing. Traditional vocal training methods, says Dimon, cannot be effective without restoring the functioning of the musculature that supports the voice. Enhanced with over 50 detailed full-color illustrations, the book discusses the fallacy of traditional breathing exercises and explains that the key to efficient breathing lies in the expansive support of the trunk and rib cage. Investigating the elements needed to produce a strong supported tone, Dimon describes the importance of voice “placement,” or directing the sound to a part of the body in order to produce a fully rounded, resonant tone. He identifies harmful patterns of speech and singing, and offers helpful methods for reestablishing the natural function of the vocal mechanism. Individual chapters cover elements of the whispered “ah,” producing a pure sung tone, vocal registers, the suspensory muscles of the larynx, and more.

The Mechanism of the Human Voice
The Mechanism of the Human Voice

Author: Emil Behnke

Publisher: Good Press

Published: 2019-11-22

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13:

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"The Mechanism of the Human Voice, authored by Emil Behnke, serves as a comprehensive study of vocal physiology and mechanics. Behnke's exploration goes beyond mere anatomy, delving into the complexities of vocal production and modulation. This work unveils the intricate workings of the human voice, shedding light on the science behind speech and song. Whether one is a vocalist, scientist, or simply curious about the wonders of human communication, Behnke's book offers a harmonious blend of scientific insight and artistic appreciation."