Hi everyone, I hope you are well. We are in the midst of a snowstorm here in Finland, so I´m working today inside while my son is sleeping inside in the warm.
In my last post I told you that I finished my degree in music pedagogy last spring, and today I´d like to write about my examination concert which I did about a year ago. It was called Vild (Wild) and premiered in Schauman hall in Jakobstad 5.11.2016.
As a singer I obviously think that the voice is the ultimate instrument, versatile and wonderful. In an early stage I decided that my examination concert needed to bring that forth, and I also wanted to challenge my voice and how I write vocal pieces. I started to work on a performance where vocalists and dancers interact and together create a piece about the strength in women. I was inspired by the book “Women who run with the wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés. In the book where stories and myths about the wild woman and these stories and their explanations inspired me greatly in my composing. I wanted to compose strong vocal pieces for women with wide range and ability to use vocal effects. I wanted the voice to express emotions raw and hard, not just sweet and pleasant. I wanted to show how varied a woman can use her voice to express emotions and I wanted feelings to show, not just be heard. The dancers had the same task but in a visual context. Together we created a performance with 6 main pieces that can be named: Ritual-Awakening-Rage-Siren song-Envy-Force
I also wrote my thesis about the use of effects in vocal music and this performance was the base to that work. I’d like here below to attach the abstract for that work:
The aim of my exam concert was to study different vocal techniques and effects of the voice, and how these can be applied in non-conventional vocal music.
The overall purpose of this analytical part of my thesis is to examines and explains the artistic choices made for the concert ”Vild”. The leading questions in my work have been: In which different ways is it possible to work with the voice in vocal music, what effects and techniques can be used and how can feelings get across in singing and performance.
The conclusion is that feelings and interpretation always have an essential role in vocal technique and singing. To interpret different feelings, you need knowledge and the ability to master the instrument concerning different sounds, different conditions and different expressions, but most of all you need honesty and courage to dare to step outside your comfort zone and let yourself be touched by the present and your own depths.
I think I-ll stop here and link to a youtube video where you can see the piece Rage from the performance. Take a look and tell me what you think, won’t you.
My Rage is subtle, steadily growing. It grows and diminishes just to awaken again in an explosion. It takes pauses to think where to go next. It challenges. It lives and breaths.
/Jessica