Sensing Voice

Materiality and the Lived Body in Singing and Listening

Bibliographic Data

ID4364485
AuthorsNina Sun Eidsheim (0000-0001-6373-3998, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume6
Issue2
Pages133-155
Publication date2011-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Senses and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1745-8927 • E-ISSN: 1745-8935
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.2752/174589311x12961584845729
OpenAlexW2324777252
LanguageEN
Citations received11
References cited15

Through a consideration of the underwater singing practiced by contemporary American soprano and performance artist Juliana Snapper, this article addresses the inherent relation between materiality and the voice, the sensed and the embodied. I focus on the physical and sensory properties of singers' and listeners' bodies; the space within and the matter through which sound disperses; and how the relation between these aspects plays an integral part in what it feels like to sing, and what it is possible to hear. I aim to demonstrate that a sensory reading of singing and listening may capture dimensions of the voice that are difficult, if not impossible, to account for using conventional analyses of music or standard readings of vocal repertoire. However, a sensory approach to sound does not offer a stable explanation of what sound or music is. Instead each such account unveils a composite manifestation of our understanding of sound at a given moment in time and space.KEYWORDS: voicewater acousticsbody and listeningfeminist philosophy

Speech recognition · Computer Science · Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation · Music Technology and Sound Studies · Speech and Audio Processing