Hear Me Now: the implication and significance of the female
composer's voice as sound source in her electroacoustic music
Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner
Computing and Information Technology Center, University of North Texas
[email protected]
Abstract
In her writings about the role of the female voice in
electroacoustic music, noted Dutch researcher Hannah
Bosma has identified a variety of issues surrounding the
compositional choices of those utilizing spoken and sung
text in their work and illustrated the differences of use in
relationship to the chosen vocalist's gender. Bosma
exclusively focuses upon the musical works of men in her
studies. This paper explores how women utilize the voice in
electroacoustic music and more specifically whether their
treatment of the female voice in any way differs from the
treatment of the female voice by their male counterparts.
The paper uses the works of Pamela Z., Alice Shields,
Christine Baczewska and Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner as
examples of contrasting creative approaches.
1 Hear Me Now
The composition of electroacoustic music first and
foremost requires the accumulation of an "orchestra" of
sonic material for use in the final construction of the work.
Much electroacoustic composition is of an abstract nature
and audio sources may be chosen primarily for their sonic
richness, complexity, and interest. However, audio materials
may also be chosen for symbolic and thematic intent: the
message of the piece and its creator demands that a certain
sound source be used. In her writings about the role of the
female voice in electroacoustic music, noted Dutch
researcher Hannah Bosma has identified a variety of issues
surrounding the compositional choices of those utilizing
spoken and sung text in their work and illustrated the
differences of use in relationship to the chosen vocalist's
gender. Bosma finds precedents for the primary roles of the
male and female voice in noted works by Berio,
Stockhausen, Dodge and others in both the cinematic and
operatic genres. Interestingly, Bosma almost exclusively
focuses upon the musical works of men in her studies so her
fascinating work inspired me to explore an area which she
has only briefly discussed: how women utilize the voice in
electroacoustic music and more specifically whether their
treatment of the female voice in any way differs from the
treatment of the female voice by their male counterparts.
This subject also interests me as I am myself a composer
of primarily text-based electroacoustic music and video
works. In several instances I am the recorded female voice
on the tape. After reading Bosma's research which is readily
available on her website, I began to think about how I had
used my own voice in my music and also why I had done
so. The reasons range from the practical to the symbolic and
will be discussed later in this paper. A question from an
article reviewer about the music of Alice Shields (which I
have researched extensively) got me thinking about other
women who use their own voice in the creation of their
music. The result is Hear Me Now, a discussion of a very
small number of the many women who use their voice as the
sound source and/or the vocal soloist for their
electroacoustic works and how such creative use can
contribute to an expanded conception of how the female
voice could be utilized in the future in a variety of artistic
genres.
Bosma references the work of feminist cinematic theorist
Kaja Silverman, literary critic Catherine Clement, and
musicologist Joke Dame when giving a thorough
background in the traditional roles for which male and
female voices have been used in film, opera, and vocal
music in general. After studying the writings of the cited
authors themselves, I developed a list of possible
compositional uses of the voice in electroacoustic music.
First, the voice can be used as a non-verbal expression of
impotence. This is the traditional role assigned to the female
voice in movies (the scream of Marion Crane in Psycho)
and in opera (the "death aria" of Butterfly). Often the female
victim is confined to an enclosed space as is Crane in the
shower. Typical musical expressions of this role include
non-linguistic text, melismatic singing, syllabic utterances
and very high soprano vocalizations. In electroacoustic
music this role is reinforced in works for voice and tape in
which the soloist employs traditional operatic singing
techniques with the tape acting as an accompaniment.
Bosma notes that in this scenario the female singer is in a
sense confined in a "box" created by the tape part which
never stops and whose timing must be adhered to absolutely
or the entire performance will fail. She also mentions that
very few works have been created for male voice and tape (a
notable exception to this is Olly Wilson's hauntingly
beautiful Sometimes for tenor and tape in which the male
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