Books by Anne Tarvainen
>>> The book is available here (in Finnish): http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:978-951-44-8803-0
What is s... more >>> The book is available here (in Finnish): http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:978-951-44-8803-0
What is singer’s expression and how can it be approached? How does a listener understand a singer’s expression through his or her own body? And what is the relationship between the singer’s expression and the singer’s voice? These are the primary questions of this research, which is a phenomenological study of the subject. The researcher examines the phenomenon in her own bodily experience using different methods of listening. The main aim of this research is to develop a new kind of body-based method for listening and analysing a singer’s performance. The other important aim is to analyse the singer’s expression and voice without losing the connection to the bodily experience and to the aspects that make the singer’s performance “moving” and “touching”. Another aim is to find ways to describe the singer’s expression in greater detail.
The basic theoretical field of this study is phenomenological ethnomusicology. The focus is on the vocal expression of a human being – and how another human being can understand this expression. The phenomenology of body and movement is also an important field of study here (Timo Klemola, Jaana Parviainen, Maxine Sheets-Johnstone). The phenomenology of music is also included (Thomas Clifton, Juha Torvinen). Some concepts and methods outside the above theoretical frames are also used. These derive from the field of psychoanalytic research (Daniel N. Stern, Julia Kristeva) and also from phonetics and vocology (Anne-Maria Laukkanen and Timo Leino, John Laver).
The difference between the experiential body and the physiological body is established (cf. lived body and object body). The first is the location of the listener’s experience and the second is the source of a singer’s voice as an acoustic fact (singer’s physiological body). Another essential pair of concepts is the ego-awareness and the body-awareness (Klemola). The former refers to thinking, remembering and other ego-based activity, while the latter refers to focusing on the bodily experience at hand. A listener may, for example, listen to music through the knowledge he or she has about the music (e.g. musical genres) (ego-awareness), or focus instead on the nuances of the experience itself (body-awareness). In so doing the listener has thus moved away from the symbolic and is now closer to the semiotic aspects in the process of meaning formation (Kristeva).
A listener may even move away from verbalizing and categorising the emotions he is feeling and focus instead on what is actually felt in his/her body. What kind of sensations are at the core of the feeling itself ? This means that the listener is now experiencing the vitality affects (e.g. “bursting sensation”) as opposed to the categorical affects (e.g. sorrow, joy) (Stern). Now the listener is sensing the aspects of the singer’s expression, here called the movement qualities. At this level the nuances of the singer’s expression can be discussed in greater detail. Underlying all movement qualities are the basic qualities: tensional, linear, amplitudinal and projectional (Sheets-Johnstone).
This study is based on the two following ontological starting points: (1) A listener can sense the singer’s expression with his own body and understand another bodily being through the proprioseptive inner sensitivity of his own body. The listener need not always be aware of this bodily process of understanding, although he may become more aware of it. (2) The singer’s expression can “move” or “touch” the listener. This “being moved” can actually be felt as a sensation of movement or change in the proprioseption of the body.
Experiential listening is a starting point in the process of listening in this study. It means surrendering to the music as a whole, listening without trying to achieve anything. The experience can take shape freely without words, categorisations or knowledge beyond the experience itself. Experiences are approached through different types of verbalizations, for example fictive writing. Experiential listening is a listening position in this study but not a method in its own right.
The first methodological listening position is empathetic listening that refers to listening with the whole body. The focus is on the listener’s own proprioseption, “the inner sense of the body”. In empathetic listening the main aim is to sense the vitality affective movement qualities in the singer’s performance. This is a kind of affect attunement, where present moments may arise (Stern). Through empathetic listening it is possible to identify the key phrases of a singer’s performance. These are phrases that are affectively strong in the performance experienced. The methods of imitation (singing), drawing (graphic presentation of empathetic listening) and verbalization (metaphors) are used here.
The next phase of the listening process is analytic listening, a method where musicological (rhythm, melody), phonetic (articulation) and vocological (voice quality) aspects are considered. The singer’s voice is listened to on the micro level as small fragments. The last phase of the whole listening process is to connect the understanding achieved through experiential and empathetic listening to the knowledge achieved with analytic listening.
The subject of the study is illustrated with an analysis of one vocal performance, the song Undo by the Icelandic singer Björk from her album Vespertine (2001). In experiential listening the most important experienced aspects are the “sense of space” and the “feel of opening”. In empathetic listening the movement qualities that may have created these sensations are examined more minutely. The main movement qualities of the singer’s expression in this performance are tightness, laboriousness, striving and relaxing, resistance to change, fulfilment, opening and dissolving. These are generated in turn by the micro level vitality affects such as pushing out, tension, voiding, relaxing, jerking, brokenness, fullness, softness, flexibility, porosity, impending etc.
Traces of the movement qualities can be also found in the singer’s voice. For example, the quality of fulfilment is created with the attenuated syllable, increasing the intensity of the voice and increasing the space of the oral cavity. Laboriousness, for example, is created with creaky voice and constricted and laboured articulation.
The self of the song is internally contradictory: the verbal self (semantic level of the lyrics) wants to “surrender” and “undo”, the vocal self (the singer’s voice) continues pushing, trying and resisting instead. At times the vocal self is also duplicated and dispersed. This is achieved by a studio technical manipulation of the singer’s voice. By the end of the song the vocal self has found a way from tightness and laboriousness by filling itself, opening and finally by dissolving into a bigger acoustic space. In this way the self transcends its bodily obstacles and boundaries.
The main results of this study are the following: (1) The content of the singer’s expression consists of the vitality affective movement qualities. Pressing, curling up, expansion and gliding are examples of such qualities. (2) The singer’s expression is essentially fluent and dynamic. The sense of movement and change is typical of the vitality affects. The flow of expression however may also be stopped or stagnant in nature. It is possible to sense affective micro stories (cf. Stern) in the singer’s expression. “A quick tug inside that stops suddenly, a short pause and finally carefree letting go” is an example of this kind of dynamic micro story.
(3) The content of a singer’s expression is mediated by his voice. The listener can sense what kind of movements the singer has used while singing. For example: has the singer tensed his body while singing thereby tightening the quality to his expression (cf. Theo van Leeuwen)? To sing is to move. Without movement there would be no sound. References to a certain kind of expression and movement qualities can be found in the singer’s voice (the voice may, for example, be tight). But expression cannot be explained by the parameters of the singer’s voice alone. Expression is always understood in the experience, and this process of understanding is likely to vary from one listener to another. But even though we are all unique bodily beings, we can still find some common understanding in our bodily and vocal expressions.
Papers by Anne Tarvainen
The Journal of Somaesthetics, 2023
In this article, I address the field of somaesthetics from the perspective of a researcher and pe... more In this article, I address the field of somaesthetics from the perspective of a researcher and pedagogue. I propose ways to apply the analytic, pragmatic, and practical dimensions of somaesthetics in the academic context. I also consider what defines a somaesthetic inquiry, how we could construct our research designs and evaluate our methods, and why it is essential to articulate somaesthetic knowledge in an accessible and credible way. I reflect on these questions with reference to the texts by philosopher Richard Shusterman and soma design researcher Kristina Höök. The article aims to illuminate the main characteristics of somaesthetics and outline some possible methodological directions, especially for researchers, pedagogues, developers, artists, and students who wish to conduct their somaesthetic inquiries in academia.
Etnomusikologian vuosikirja, 2023
Tarkastelen tässä artikkelissa ihmisääntä ja taustamusiikkia toimijoina palvelualojen työntekijöi... more Tarkastelen tässä artikkelissa ihmisääntä ja taustamusiikkia toimijoina palvelualojen työntekijöiden kuvailemissa työpaikkojensa ääniympäristöissä. Tarkastelu kytkeytyy teoreettisesti äänen- ja äänimaisematutkimuksen, musiikkisosiologian ja pragmatismin kenttiin sivuten myös uusmaterialistista ajattelua. Hyödynnän toimintaan ja toimijuuteen liittyviä teoretisointeja näiltä aloilta ja kehitän äänten toimijuuksien tarkasteluun soveltuvaa analyysimenetelmää John Deweyn ja Arthur F. Bentleyn (1949) transaktion käsitteen pohjalta.
Musiikki, 2021
Millä tavoin laulajat aistivat kehonsa materiaalisuuden laulaessaan? Miten kehon materiaalisuus i... more Millä tavoin laulajat aistivat kehonsa materiaalisuuden laulaessaan? Miten kehon materiaalisuus ilmenee refluksia sairastavien laulajien laulamiskokemuksissa? Artikkelissa tarkastellaan kehon ja äänen materiaalisia yhteismuotoutumisia sekä analysoidaan laulajien ja laulun harrastajien vapaasanaisia vastauksia internet-kyselyyn. Teoreettisena kehyksenä on pragmatistiseen soomaestetiikkaan pohjautuva vokaalinen soomaestetiikka, pragmatistinen estetiikka sekä lauluntutkimus.
Journal of Somaesthetics, 2019
During the last ten years, somaesthetics has been increasingly applied in studies of music, sound... more During the last ten years, somaesthetics has been increasingly applied in studies of music, sound, and the voice. In this overview, I will map out the most interesting articles and books in this field after briefly introducing somaesthetics and considering how its various dimensions could be utilized in issues related to sound and music. In addition, I will discuss the role of the body in previous academic approaches to music. In the first main section of the article, I will introduce some texts by Richard Shusterman, the developer of somaesthetics, in which he deals with music, sound, and the voice. After that, I will present the writings of other scholars who apply somaesthetics in their music-, sound-, and voice-related approaches. This article is intended to give an overview, not to comprehensively deal with the content of these texts, and to offer some entry points for readers interested in applying somaesthetics to research and/or artistic practices involving music, sound, and the voice.
Journal of Somaesthetics, 2019
The intertwining of sound and the body is fascinating and multifarious. Until fairly recently, so... more The intertwining of sound and the body is fascinating and multifarious. Until fairly recently, sound has mainly been studied in terms of listening, sound reproduction technologies, and acoustical measurements. In turn, the body, especially that of someone producing sound with their voice or with an instrument, has commonly been approached as a physiological entity. Lately, however, the embodied and experiential aspect of sound has increasingly gained ground in research and pedagogy as well as in the arts. In a short period of time, studying the experience of listening or producing sound has generated a number of fruitful approaches and methods for sound studies.
One of our basic needs as human beings is to be connected with each other. We want to be heard an... more One of our basic needs as human beings is to be connected with each other. We want to be heard and understood. Our bodies are capable of producing a great variety of different vocal sounds for our communication. However, we have countless unspoken norms in our culture about who can use their voices, in what kind of situations, and in what ways. These norms are usually based on the skills and abilities of a " normal body ". They are maintained by the conventions of listening that focus on the vocal sounds and skills. This is especially the case what comes to singing. The nonnormative voices and bodies are easily left outside the realm of aesthetic expression. In this article, I discuss these issues from the somaesthetic and pragmatist point of view using a deaf popular music singer as my example.
Aesthetic Experience and Somaesthetics, 2018
This article explores somaesthetic vocal experience and suggests some starting points for the stu... more This article explores somaesthetic vocal experience and suggests some starting points for the study of vocal somaesthetics. This area of study will approach the bodily and experiential aspects of vocalizing and listening to vocal sounds. In the previous research of human vocality the focus has usually been on the voice as heard or measured as an acoustic fact. Vocal somaesthetics, instead, will be interested in the bodily sensations of vocalizing and listening. It will be argued that the proprioceptive, inner-body senses are essential in the aesthetic vocal experiences. There have been, however, some reservations whether proprioception could be understood as an aesthetic sense or not. In the proprioceptive experience, the difference between the subject and the object of experience is often compromised. It has also been said that proprioception is only a secondary sense, supplementing the primary senses like sight or hearing. Proprioceptive sensations are also said to be private by their nature, lacking the intersubjective extent. In this article, these arguments will be called into question and examined in the context of singing and listening.
Keho ja sen aistimukset ovat olennainen osa äänentuoton ja kuuntelemisen kokemusta. Keho toimii k... more Keho ja sen aistimukset ovat olennainen osa äänentuoton ja kuuntelemisen kokemusta. Keho toimii kokemuksen pohjana tai taustana, josta emme ole yleensä edes tietoisia. Kehomme impulssit, affektit, liikkeet, asennot ja asenteet kuuluvat äänessämme. Kuulemme toisen ihmisen äänessä hänen kehonsa ja ymmärrämme kuulemamme oman kehomme kokemusta vasten. Pohdin tässä artikkelissa vokaalista soomaesteettistä kokemusta. Tuon myös esille joitakin mahdollisia lähtökohtia uudenlaiselle tutkimuksen kentälle, jota kutsun vokaaliseksi soomaestetiikaksi. Vokaalinen viittaa tässä yhteydessä laajasti ihmisääneen sekä sen tuottamiseen ja kokemiseen liittyviin ilmiöihin. Se pitää sisällään niin puhumiseen kuin laulamisenkin sekä näiden lisäksi kaikki muut äänentuoton ja ääntelyn muodot, joihin ihminen on kykenevä. Vokaalisella kokemuksella viittaan tässä artikkelissa niin ihmisen oman äänen tuottamisen kuin toisen ihmisen äänen kuuntelemisenkin kokemuksiin. Vokaalinen soomaestetiikka voi liittyä lauluntutkimuksen ja laulupedagogioiden lisäksi myös esimerkiksi puheen- ja teatterintutkimukseen, elokuvaäänen tutkimukseen ja vokologiaan. Tuon tässä artikkelissa esille tarpeen vokaalisuuden tutkimukselle, jossa ihmisääntä ei lähestytä valmiista puheen ja laulun luokitteluista käsin. Tarkastelen ääntä tässä artikkelissa kuitenkin painottaen lauluntutkimuksen näkökulmaa.
Tarkastelen tässä artikkelissa kehotietoisuutta ja laulajan ilmaisua. Ajatukseni on, että kehotie... more Tarkastelen tässä artikkelissa kehotietoisuutta ja laulajan ilmaisua. Ajatukseni on, että kehotietoisuutta hyödyntämällä voidaan tulla tietoiseksi laulamiseen liittyvistä hienovaraisista nyansseista, jotka ovat olennainen osa ilmaisua. Huomion vieminen kehon kokemukseen voi tällä tavoin hyödyttää niin laulajaa, laulun opettajaa kuin laulun tutkijaakin.
Musiikki , 2008
Musiikin kuunteleminen voi parhaimmillaan tuntua siltä, että musiikki ottaa kokonaisvaltaisesti k... more Musiikin kuunteleminen voi parhaimmillaan tuntua siltä, että musiikki ottaa kokonaisvaltaisesti kannateltavakseen. Se asettaa kuuntelijan universumiin, jossa on järjestys, jossa kaikki asiat asettuvat oikeille paikoilleen. Ei ole mitään, mitä pitäisi kieltää, tuomita, vältellä tai työntää pois. Musiikki asettaa kuuntelijan täydellisyyden tilaan. Se laukaisee sisäiset ristiriidat ja vapauttaa niistä hetkeksi. Musiikin kuuntelemisen huippukokemuksissa aistipiirit yhdistyvät synesteettisesti ja luovat myös kokemuksen kaiken olevan yhteisyydestä.1 Tämä kokonaisvaltaisuus on kuitenkin ongelma siirryttäessä tieteen ja tutkimuksen kentälle. Herkkyys, kauneus, ravisuttavuus, julmuus – kaikki se, mikä musiikissa on elävää – on vaarassa latistua ja kuihtua pois, kun musiikkia aletaan eritellä ja analysoida. Musiikki itsessään, sen tarjoamat mahdollisuudet, eivät kuitenkaan ole muuttuneet – kuuntelijan ote musiikkiin sen sijaan on. Täytyykö asian olla välttämättä näin? Voisiko musiikkia tieteen keinoin lähestyvä tutkija säilyttää herkkyyden myös musiikin elävyydelle?
Music, Senses, Body: Proceedings from the 9th International Congress on Musical Signification, Rome 19-23/09/2006, 2008
In this article I will introduce a concept of empathetic listening and highlight some methodologi... more In this article I will introduce a concept of empathetic listening and highlight some methodological considerations of the concept. The aim of my article is to bring the empathetic point of view alongside the analytical way of listening in order to study popular music singing. Almost all music listeners are able “to put their souls” into what they are listening to, but the awareness of this emotional or affective level of listening varies. The important questions here are: how to bring the affective and bodily aspects of listening into words so that this subjective level of music perception could be shared and discussed in more details; and how the bodily based nuances of a singing voice act as a part of meaning formation in an listening event? The starting point of my approach is phenomenological. I also use methods from phonetics and vocology to bring the physiological body alongside the experiential body in this observation.
Ääniä äänien takaa: Tulkintoja rock-lyriikasta (Tampere University Press), 2006
”Will I complete the mystery of my flesh”, kysyy Björk vuonna 2001 ilmestyneellä Vespertine - lev... more ”Will I complete the mystery of my flesh”, kysyy Björk vuonna 2001 ilmestyneellä Vespertine - levyllään. Fraasi on peräisin e. e. cummingsin runosta “I Will Wade Out” (1922). cummingsin runoon perustuvan laulun ”Sun in My Mouth” sanat toimivat Björkin levyllä tekstinä, jossa kohtaavat lähes kaikki sanoitusten keskeisimmistä teemoista: luonto, mystisyys, uni ja ruumis. Lisäksi runossa esiintyy huomattavan paljon samoja ilmaisuja kuin levyn muissa kappaleissa. Vaikka runo onkin ainut teksti, joka ei ole Björkin itsensä alun perin kirjoittama, se nousee sanojensa puolesta hyvin tärkeään asemaan levyn kokonaisuudessa. Björk ei tyydy tulkitsemaan cummingsin runoa yksiulotteisesti, vaan luo siihen uusia tasoja ja ottaa näin runon omakseen. Hän tekee sen sanojen muokkaamisen, äänensä, muiden musiikillisten elementtien ja akustisten tilavaikutelmien avulla. Björk tulkitsee runon tuoden siihen äänellään ja musiikillaan merkityksiä, jotka täydentävät runon sanojen ilmimerkityksiä. Mitä seikkoja Björkin äänellinen tulkinta tuo runosta esiin? Millaisia merkityksiä muodostuu, kun Björkin lauluääni ja runon sanat kohtaavat? Mielenkiintoista on, millä tavoin alun perin paperilta luetuksi tarkoitettu runo herää uudestaan henkiin Björkin soivana tulkintana. Runossa esiintyvät sanat ovat tarkasteluni keskiössä. Niissä itsessään olevat merkitykset täydentyvät muiden ilmaisullisten tasojen, esimerkiksi lauluäänen tai melodian avulla. Mielenkiintoni kohdistuu siihen, millä tapaa runon sanojen ilmimerkitykset ja sanojen soivat muodot kohtaavat, ja miten nuo kohtaamiset toimivat merkitysten muodostumisessa.
The Yearbook of Ethnomusicology 18. (The Finnish Society for Ethnomusicology), 2006
Tarkastelen tässä artikkelissa käheyttä lauluäänen piirteenä, joka näyttäytyy erilaisena eri yhte... more Tarkastelen tässä artikkelissa käheyttä lauluäänen piirteenä, joka näyttäytyy erilaisena eri yhteyksissä: sairauden oireena, likaisuutena, hälynä, tietynlaisena materiaalisena määreenä sekä osana laulajan tulkintaa ja tyyliä. Samalla puran käheyden käsitettä sen erilaisissa yhteyksissään. Tarkoituksena on luoda teoreettista pohjaa lauluäänen esteettisten piirteiden tutkimukselle, jossa otetaan huomioon lauluäänen laadut osana laulajan taiteellista ilmaisua. Samalla, kun lähestyn käheyden käsitettä, tuon myös esille erilaisia näkökulmia laulajaan ja kuulijaan ruumiillisina olentoina. Tarkastelemani käheyden määritelmät kytkeytyvät erilaisiin tapoihin määritellä ruumis. Kutsun näitä erilaisia ruumiskonstruktioita fysiologiseksi, kokemukselliseksi ja kulttuurisesti määräytyväksi ruumiiksi. Pohdin myös, miten nämä eri näkökulmat toimivat yhdessä tutkimuksen teoreettisena lähtökohtana ja millaista tietoa ne yhdessä tuottavat. Tutkijana liikun näkökulmasta toiseen tarkastellen lauluääntä toisinaan fysiologisesta näkökulmasta ja toisinaan suhteessa ympäröivään laulukulttuuriin tai tutkijan omaan kuuntelukokemukseen. Artikkelissa yhdistyy näin sekä luonnon- että ihmistieteisiin pohjautuvia käsityksiä siitä, miten ihmistä voidaan lähestyä ruumiillisena olentona.
Musiikki 3, pp 66–91, 2005
Vuonna 2001 ilmestyneellä Vespertine-levyllä Björk laulaa: ”You’re trying too hard. Surrender. Gi... more Vuonna 2001 ilmestyneellä Vespertine-levyllä Björk laulaa: ”You’re trying too hard. Surrender. Give yourself in.” Undo-kappaleessa, josta kyseinen sitaatti on peräisin, tiivistyy yksi levyn keskeisistä teemoista – antautuminen. Björkillä on mielenkiintoinen tapa tulkita äänellään kappaleen sanat. Hän kiinnittyy ruumiillaan sanoihin luoden äänensä ja sanojen välille kohtaamisen. Näin syntyy merkityksiä ja kappaleen tulkinta. Miten lähestyä tuota äänen ja sanojen kohtaamista? Ja millaisia merkityksiä laulun sanoihin aukeaa, kun kiinnitämme huomiota Björkin ääneen ja sen pieniin vivahteisiin? Entä miten laulun ”minä” muodostuu tässä merkitysten leikissä? Lähestyn artikkelissani Björkin tulkintaa Julia Kristevan (1993) semioottinen/symbolinen-erottelun sekä Daniel Sternin (1985) vitaaliaffekti-käsitteen avulla. Menetelminäni ovat lisäksi empaattinen ja analyyttinen kuunteleminen. Ensimmäinen pohjautuu tutkijan omalle ruumiilliselle kokemukselle ja toinen lauluäänen yksityiskohtien erottelemiselle puheentutkimuksen termejä apuna käyttäen.
Musiikin suunta 3, pp 5-15, 2004
Hahmottelen tässä artikkelissa joitakin kineettisiä, liikelähtöisiä näkökulmia laulamisen tutkimi... more Hahmottelen tässä artikkelissa joitakin kineettisiä, liikelähtöisiä näkökulmia laulamisen tutkimiseen. Näiden näkökulmien tarkoituksena on viedä lauluäänen tarkastelun ydin äänen juurille ruumiiseen – niihin ruumiin liikkeisiin, jotka ovat laulamista. Laulamista on tarkasteltu tähän asti usein pelkkänä äänenä; Millainen on lauluääni, millainen on sen sointi, millainen on laulajan tapa käyttää ääntä musiikillisesti. Ääntä tuottaviin liikkeisiin sekä niiden ilmentämiin asenteisiin ja tunteisiin on kiinnitetty vähemmän huomiota. Vaikka tutkimme lauluääntä, se ei tarkoita sitä, että on ajateltava laulamisen olevan pohjimmiltaan pelkästään ääntä. Taustalla tässä on ajatus, että yhtä tärkeää kuin itse ääni ovat ruumiin liikkeet, jotka aikaansaavat äänen. Tähän liittyy näkemys laulajan kokonaisvaltaisesta ja ruumiillisesta tavasta olla läsnä laulamisessaan. Laulajan tietoiset ja tiedostamattomat tunteet sekä asenteet ilmenevät ruumiinliikkeissä ja niiden aikaansaamissa äänissä.
Drafts by Anne Tarvainen
Journal of Somaesthetics, 2019
DEADLINE June 30, 2019.
In this issue of the Journal of Somaesthetics, we invite contributions ... more DEADLINE June 30, 2019.
In this issue of the Journal of Somaesthetics, we invite contributions from various fields exploring sound as manifesting itself in the body, as originating from the body, or as a meaningful, embodied experience. The focus is on the body-aesthetic, or somaesthetic dimensions of sound. Aesthetic experience here is not limited to the arts alone.
Conference Presentations by Anne Tarvainen
Musiikintutkijoiden virtuaalifoorumi / Musiikin Suunta 42, 2/2020, 2020
VIDEO: http://musiikinsuunta.fi/2020/02/karheus-kipu-varahtely-ja-vapaus-kehon-materiaalisuuksia-... more VIDEO: http://musiikinsuunta.fi/2020/02/karheus-kipu-varahtely-ja-vapaus-kehon-materiaalisuuksia-refluksia-sairastavien-laulajien-soomaesteettisissa-kokemuksissa/ --------------- Millä tavoin laulajat aistivat kehonsa materiaalisuuden laulaessaan? Miten kehon materiaalisuus ilmenee refluksia sairastavien laulajien laulamiskokemuksissa? Tarkastelen kehon materiaalisuutta niin refluksin aiheuttamien ääniongelmien kokemuksissa kuin myös esteettisissä laulamisen huippukokemuksissa. Analysoin laulajien ja laulun harrastajien vapaasanaisia vastauksia internet-kyselyyn, joka on osa tutkimusprojektiani “Laulamisen tuntu: esteettinen kehotietoisuus kuurojen, laulutaidottomien ja ääniongelmaisten vokaalisissa kokemuksissa” (2018-2020). Teoreettisena kehyksenä tarkastelussa on muun muassa pragmatistiseen soomaestetiikkaan (Shusterman 2008, 2012) pohjautuva vokaalinen soomaestetiikka (Tarvainen 2016, 2018) sekä poikkitieteellinen ihmisäänen tutkimus (esim. Eidsheim 2015; Thomaidis & Macpherson 2015).
Laulajien kokemusten materiaalisuudet liikkuvat karheudesta, painavuudesta ja kehon vastustuksesta aina värähtelyn, virtaavuuden, vapauden ja jopa kehottomuuden aistimuksiin. Kaiken kaikkiaan erot ääniongelmien ja parhaiden laulamiskokemusten välillä ovat suuria. Niissä oma keho, ympäristö ja jopa koko maailma aistitaan eri tavoin. Aineistossa tuleekin ilmi, että laulamisessa on kyse olemiseen, minuuteen ja ihmisyyteen liittyvistä kokemuksista, jotka luovat ihmisen paikkaa maailmassa ja ihmisyhteisössä. Ääniongelmien kokemuksissa kehon fysiologiset muutokset ovat läsnä mutta laulajan näkökulmasta vieläkin olennaisempia ovat muutokset itse kokemuksissa — siinä, miten kokonaisuuden, eheyden, virtaavuuden ja elävyyden kokemukset muuttuvat aistimuksiksi kehon hajanaisuudesta, raskaudesta, vastustuksesta ja kivusta. Kaikkivoipaisuus, vapaus ja ilo muuttuvat karvaaksi pettymykseksi, kykenemättömyydeksi ja epätoivoksi.
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Books by Anne Tarvainen
What is singer’s expression and how can it be approached? How does a listener understand a singer’s expression through his or her own body? And what is the relationship between the singer’s expression and the singer’s voice? These are the primary questions of this research, which is a phenomenological study of the subject. The researcher examines the phenomenon in her own bodily experience using different methods of listening. The main aim of this research is to develop a new kind of body-based method for listening and analysing a singer’s performance. The other important aim is to analyse the singer’s expression and voice without losing the connection to the bodily experience and to the aspects that make the singer’s performance “moving” and “touching”. Another aim is to find ways to describe the singer’s expression in greater detail.
The basic theoretical field of this study is phenomenological ethnomusicology. The focus is on the vocal expression of a human being – and how another human being can understand this expression. The phenomenology of body and movement is also an important field of study here (Timo Klemola, Jaana Parviainen, Maxine Sheets-Johnstone). The phenomenology of music is also included (Thomas Clifton, Juha Torvinen). Some concepts and methods outside the above theoretical frames are also used. These derive from the field of psychoanalytic research (Daniel N. Stern, Julia Kristeva) and also from phonetics and vocology (Anne-Maria Laukkanen and Timo Leino, John Laver).
The difference between the experiential body and the physiological body is established (cf. lived body and object body). The first is the location of the listener’s experience and the second is the source of a singer’s voice as an acoustic fact (singer’s physiological body). Another essential pair of concepts is the ego-awareness and the body-awareness (Klemola). The former refers to thinking, remembering and other ego-based activity, while the latter refers to focusing on the bodily experience at hand. A listener may, for example, listen to music through the knowledge he or she has about the music (e.g. musical genres) (ego-awareness), or focus instead on the nuances of the experience itself (body-awareness). In so doing the listener has thus moved away from the symbolic and is now closer to the semiotic aspects in the process of meaning formation (Kristeva).
A listener may even move away from verbalizing and categorising the emotions he is feeling and focus instead on what is actually felt in his/her body. What kind of sensations are at the core of the feeling itself ? This means that the listener is now experiencing the vitality affects (e.g. “bursting sensation”) as opposed to the categorical affects (e.g. sorrow, joy) (Stern). Now the listener is sensing the aspects of the singer’s expression, here called the movement qualities. At this level the nuances of the singer’s expression can be discussed in greater detail. Underlying all movement qualities are the basic qualities: tensional, linear, amplitudinal and projectional (Sheets-Johnstone).
This study is based on the two following ontological starting points: (1) A listener can sense the singer’s expression with his own body and understand another bodily being through the proprioseptive inner sensitivity of his own body. The listener need not always be aware of this bodily process of understanding, although he may become more aware of it. (2) The singer’s expression can “move” or “touch” the listener. This “being moved” can actually be felt as a sensation of movement or change in the proprioseption of the body.
Experiential listening is a starting point in the process of listening in this study. It means surrendering to the music as a whole, listening without trying to achieve anything. The experience can take shape freely without words, categorisations or knowledge beyond the experience itself. Experiences are approached through different types of verbalizations, for example fictive writing. Experiential listening is a listening position in this study but not a method in its own right.
The first methodological listening position is empathetic listening that refers to listening with the whole body. The focus is on the listener’s own proprioseption, “the inner sense of the body”. In empathetic listening the main aim is to sense the vitality affective movement qualities in the singer’s performance. This is a kind of affect attunement, where present moments may arise (Stern). Through empathetic listening it is possible to identify the key phrases of a singer’s performance. These are phrases that are affectively strong in the performance experienced. The methods of imitation (singing), drawing (graphic presentation of empathetic listening) and verbalization (metaphors) are used here.
The next phase of the listening process is analytic listening, a method where musicological (rhythm, melody), phonetic (articulation) and vocological (voice quality) aspects are considered. The singer’s voice is listened to on the micro level as small fragments. The last phase of the whole listening process is to connect the understanding achieved through experiential and empathetic listening to the knowledge achieved with analytic listening.
The subject of the study is illustrated with an analysis of one vocal performance, the song Undo by the Icelandic singer Björk from her album Vespertine (2001). In experiential listening the most important experienced aspects are the “sense of space” and the “feel of opening”. In empathetic listening the movement qualities that may have created these sensations are examined more minutely. The main movement qualities of the singer’s expression in this performance are tightness, laboriousness, striving and relaxing, resistance to change, fulfilment, opening and dissolving. These are generated in turn by the micro level vitality affects such as pushing out, tension, voiding, relaxing, jerking, brokenness, fullness, softness, flexibility, porosity, impending etc.
Traces of the movement qualities can be also found in the singer’s voice. For example, the quality of fulfilment is created with the attenuated syllable, increasing the intensity of the voice and increasing the space of the oral cavity. Laboriousness, for example, is created with creaky voice and constricted and laboured articulation.
The self of the song is internally contradictory: the verbal self (semantic level of the lyrics) wants to “surrender” and “undo”, the vocal self (the singer’s voice) continues pushing, trying and resisting instead. At times the vocal self is also duplicated and dispersed. This is achieved by a studio technical manipulation of the singer’s voice. By the end of the song the vocal self has found a way from tightness and laboriousness by filling itself, opening and finally by dissolving into a bigger acoustic space. In this way the self transcends its bodily obstacles and boundaries.
The main results of this study are the following: (1) The content of the singer’s expression consists of the vitality affective movement qualities. Pressing, curling up, expansion and gliding are examples of such qualities. (2) The singer’s expression is essentially fluent and dynamic. The sense of movement and change is typical of the vitality affects. The flow of expression however may also be stopped or stagnant in nature. It is possible to sense affective micro stories (cf. Stern) in the singer’s expression. “A quick tug inside that stops suddenly, a short pause and finally carefree letting go” is an example of this kind of dynamic micro story.
(3) The content of a singer’s expression is mediated by his voice. The listener can sense what kind of movements the singer has used while singing. For example: has the singer tensed his body while singing thereby tightening the quality to his expression (cf. Theo van Leeuwen)? To sing is to move. Without movement there would be no sound. References to a certain kind of expression and movement qualities can be found in the singer’s voice (the voice may, for example, be tight). But expression cannot be explained by the parameters of the singer’s voice alone. Expression is always understood in the experience, and this process of understanding is likely to vary from one listener to another. But even though we are all unique bodily beings, we can still find some common understanding in our bodily and vocal expressions.
Papers by Anne Tarvainen
Drafts by Anne Tarvainen
In this issue of the Journal of Somaesthetics, we invite contributions from various fields exploring sound as manifesting itself in the body, as originating from the body, or as a meaningful, embodied experience. The focus is on the body-aesthetic, or somaesthetic dimensions of sound. Aesthetic experience here is not limited to the arts alone.
Conference Presentations by Anne Tarvainen
Laulajien kokemusten materiaalisuudet liikkuvat karheudesta, painavuudesta ja kehon vastustuksesta aina värähtelyn, virtaavuuden, vapauden ja jopa kehottomuuden aistimuksiin. Kaiken kaikkiaan erot ääniongelmien ja parhaiden laulamiskokemusten välillä ovat suuria. Niissä oma keho, ympäristö ja jopa koko maailma aistitaan eri tavoin. Aineistossa tuleekin ilmi, että laulamisessa on kyse olemiseen, minuuteen ja ihmisyyteen liittyvistä kokemuksista, jotka luovat ihmisen paikkaa maailmassa ja ihmisyhteisössä. Ääniongelmien kokemuksissa kehon fysiologiset muutokset ovat läsnä mutta laulajan näkökulmasta vieläkin olennaisempia ovat muutokset itse kokemuksissa — siinä, miten kokonaisuuden, eheyden, virtaavuuden ja elävyyden kokemukset muuttuvat aistimuksiksi kehon hajanaisuudesta, raskaudesta, vastustuksesta ja kivusta. Kaikkivoipaisuus, vapaus ja ilo muuttuvat karvaaksi pettymykseksi, kykenemättömyydeksi ja epätoivoksi.
What is singer’s expression and how can it be approached? How does a listener understand a singer’s expression through his or her own body? And what is the relationship between the singer’s expression and the singer’s voice? These are the primary questions of this research, which is a phenomenological study of the subject. The researcher examines the phenomenon in her own bodily experience using different methods of listening. The main aim of this research is to develop a new kind of body-based method for listening and analysing a singer’s performance. The other important aim is to analyse the singer’s expression and voice without losing the connection to the bodily experience and to the aspects that make the singer’s performance “moving” and “touching”. Another aim is to find ways to describe the singer’s expression in greater detail.
The basic theoretical field of this study is phenomenological ethnomusicology. The focus is on the vocal expression of a human being – and how another human being can understand this expression. The phenomenology of body and movement is also an important field of study here (Timo Klemola, Jaana Parviainen, Maxine Sheets-Johnstone). The phenomenology of music is also included (Thomas Clifton, Juha Torvinen). Some concepts and methods outside the above theoretical frames are also used. These derive from the field of psychoanalytic research (Daniel N. Stern, Julia Kristeva) and also from phonetics and vocology (Anne-Maria Laukkanen and Timo Leino, John Laver).
The difference between the experiential body and the physiological body is established (cf. lived body and object body). The first is the location of the listener’s experience and the second is the source of a singer’s voice as an acoustic fact (singer’s physiological body). Another essential pair of concepts is the ego-awareness and the body-awareness (Klemola). The former refers to thinking, remembering and other ego-based activity, while the latter refers to focusing on the bodily experience at hand. A listener may, for example, listen to music through the knowledge he or she has about the music (e.g. musical genres) (ego-awareness), or focus instead on the nuances of the experience itself (body-awareness). In so doing the listener has thus moved away from the symbolic and is now closer to the semiotic aspects in the process of meaning formation (Kristeva).
A listener may even move away from verbalizing and categorising the emotions he is feeling and focus instead on what is actually felt in his/her body. What kind of sensations are at the core of the feeling itself ? This means that the listener is now experiencing the vitality affects (e.g. “bursting sensation”) as opposed to the categorical affects (e.g. sorrow, joy) (Stern). Now the listener is sensing the aspects of the singer’s expression, here called the movement qualities. At this level the nuances of the singer’s expression can be discussed in greater detail. Underlying all movement qualities are the basic qualities: tensional, linear, amplitudinal and projectional (Sheets-Johnstone).
This study is based on the two following ontological starting points: (1) A listener can sense the singer’s expression with his own body and understand another bodily being through the proprioseptive inner sensitivity of his own body. The listener need not always be aware of this bodily process of understanding, although he may become more aware of it. (2) The singer’s expression can “move” or “touch” the listener. This “being moved” can actually be felt as a sensation of movement or change in the proprioseption of the body.
Experiential listening is a starting point in the process of listening in this study. It means surrendering to the music as a whole, listening without trying to achieve anything. The experience can take shape freely without words, categorisations or knowledge beyond the experience itself. Experiences are approached through different types of verbalizations, for example fictive writing. Experiential listening is a listening position in this study but not a method in its own right.
The first methodological listening position is empathetic listening that refers to listening with the whole body. The focus is on the listener’s own proprioseption, “the inner sense of the body”. In empathetic listening the main aim is to sense the vitality affective movement qualities in the singer’s performance. This is a kind of affect attunement, where present moments may arise (Stern). Through empathetic listening it is possible to identify the key phrases of a singer’s performance. These are phrases that are affectively strong in the performance experienced. The methods of imitation (singing), drawing (graphic presentation of empathetic listening) and verbalization (metaphors) are used here.
The next phase of the listening process is analytic listening, a method where musicological (rhythm, melody), phonetic (articulation) and vocological (voice quality) aspects are considered. The singer’s voice is listened to on the micro level as small fragments. The last phase of the whole listening process is to connect the understanding achieved through experiential and empathetic listening to the knowledge achieved with analytic listening.
The subject of the study is illustrated with an analysis of one vocal performance, the song Undo by the Icelandic singer Björk from her album Vespertine (2001). In experiential listening the most important experienced aspects are the “sense of space” and the “feel of opening”. In empathetic listening the movement qualities that may have created these sensations are examined more minutely. The main movement qualities of the singer’s expression in this performance are tightness, laboriousness, striving and relaxing, resistance to change, fulfilment, opening and dissolving. These are generated in turn by the micro level vitality affects such as pushing out, tension, voiding, relaxing, jerking, brokenness, fullness, softness, flexibility, porosity, impending etc.
Traces of the movement qualities can be also found in the singer’s voice. For example, the quality of fulfilment is created with the attenuated syllable, increasing the intensity of the voice and increasing the space of the oral cavity. Laboriousness, for example, is created with creaky voice and constricted and laboured articulation.
The self of the song is internally contradictory: the verbal self (semantic level of the lyrics) wants to “surrender” and “undo”, the vocal self (the singer’s voice) continues pushing, trying and resisting instead. At times the vocal self is also duplicated and dispersed. This is achieved by a studio technical manipulation of the singer’s voice. By the end of the song the vocal self has found a way from tightness and laboriousness by filling itself, opening and finally by dissolving into a bigger acoustic space. In this way the self transcends its bodily obstacles and boundaries.
The main results of this study are the following: (1) The content of the singer’s expression consists of the vitality affective movement qualities. Pressing, curling up, expansion and gliding are examples of such qualities. (2) The singer’s expression is essentially fluent and dynamic. The sense of movement and change is typical of the vitality affects. The flow of expression however may also be stopped or stagnant in nature. It is possible to sense affective micro stories (cf. Stern) in the singer’s expression. “A quick tug inside that stops suddenly, a short pause and finally carefree letting go” is an example of this kind of dynamic micro story.
(3) The content of a singer’s expression is mediated by his voice. The listener can sense what kind of movements the singer has used while singing. For example: has the singer tensed his body while singing thereby tightening the quality to his expression (cf. Theo van Leeuwen)? To sing is to move. Without movement there would be no sound. References to a certain kind of expression and movement qualities can be found in the singer’s voice (the voice may, for example, be tight). But expression cannot be explained by the parameters of the singer’s voice alone. Expression is always understood in the experience, and this process of understanding is likely to vary from one listener to another. But even though we are all unique bodily beings, we can still find some common understanding in our bodily and vocal expressions.
In this issue of the Journal of Somaesthetics, we invite contributions from various fields exploring sound as manifesting itself in the body, as originating from the body, or as a meaningful, embodied experience. The focus is on the body-aesthetic, or somaesthetic dimensions of sound. Aesthetic experience here is not limited to the arts alone.
Laulajien kokemusten materiaalisuudet liikkuvat karheudesta, painavuudesta ja kehon vastustuksesta aina värähtelyn, virtaavuuden, vapauden ja jopa kehottomuuden aistimuksiin. Kaiken kaikkiaan erot ääniongelmien ja parhaiden laulamiskokemusten välillä ovat suuria. Niissä oma keho, ympäristö ja jopa koko maailma aistitaan eri tavoin. Aineistossa tuleekin ilmi, että laulamisessa on kyse olemiseen, minuuteen ja ihmisyyteen liittyvistä kokemuksista, jotka luovat ihmisen paikkaa maailmassa ja ihmisyhteisössä. Ääniongelmien kokemuksissa kehon fysiologiset muutokset ovat läsnä mutta laulajan näkökulmasta vieläkin olennaisempia ovat muutokset itse kokemuksissa — siinä, miten kokonaisuuden, eheyden, virtaavuuden ja elävyyden kokemukset muuttuvat aistimuksiksi kehon hajanaisuudesta, raskaudesta, vastustuksesta ja kivusta. Kaikkivoipaisuus, vapaus ja ilo muuttuvat karvaaksi pettymykseksi, kykenemättömyydeksi ja epätoivoksi.