Weeks 5–6: The Voice as Instrument
Table of Contents
The voice poses unique questions and perspectives for analysts.
Week 5
Reading due Wed, Sep 24
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Eidsheim, Nina Sun. 2017. “Maria Callas’s Waistline and the Organology of Voice.” The Opera Quarterly 33 (3): 249–68. https://doi.org/10.1093/oq/kbx008.
- Discussion leader: Huijie
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Malawey, Victoria. 2020. “Quality.” In A Blaze of Light in Every Word: Analyzing the Popular Singing Voice, 0. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190052201.003.0004.
- Discussion leader: Julianna
Homework due Sun, Sep 28
I’ve found two different recordings of Luciano Pavarotti singing his signature aria, “Nessun Dorma,” from Puccini’s Turandot:
After completing these readings, what do you make of these two performances (and feel free to bring in others if you wish) and how they differ? Malawey and Eidsheim consider physical changes to the bodies (i.e., the instruments) of the singers they discuss as well as the social contexts and reception of the performances—try to do the same. Here’s a link to the score and Wikipedia’s translation.
Write 250–500 words on your findings, save as a PDF beginning with 05, and upload to your homework submit folder.
Week 6
Reading due Wed, Oct 1
- Duguay, Michèle. 2022. “Analyzing Vocal Placement in Recorded Virtual Space.” Music Theory Online 28 (4). https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.22.28.4/mto.22.28.4.duguay.html.
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Barna, Alyssa, and Caroline McLaughlin. 2024. “Vocal Production, Mimesis, and Social Media in Bedroom Pop.” Music Theory Online 30 (4). https://doi.org/10.30535/mto.30.4.1.
- Alyssa Barna will be joining us to discuss her article!
Homework due Sun, Oct 5
Prepare for the Analysis Symposium!
If you think you might be interested in using some technological tools to aid your analysis, you might check out my guide to setting up Sonic Visualiser that I wrote up for last year’s timbre seminar. Sonic Visualiser is very powerful, but rather user-unfriendly, just to warn you.