‘Listen to My Voice’: The Evocative Power of Vocal Staging in Recorded Rock Music and Other Forms of Vocal Expression SERGE LACASSE Ph.D. 2000 ‘Listen to My Voice’: The Evocative Power of Voice in Recorded Rock Music and other Forms of Vocal Expression Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy by Serge Lacasse, 2000. ABSTRACT This thesis presents the results of a research centred on voice manipulation, or, as suggested by the title, the staging of voice in recorded rock music and in other forms of vocal expression. The main hypothesis behind this study is that voice manipulation can give rise to a range of connotations and effects whose ‘emergence’ in the listener’s mind is not arbitrary, but rather coherent. Arguments used to support such a thesis are taken from direct analysis of songs in the rock repertoire, from the empirical data of a reception test and from information provided by secondary sources. The dissertation is divided into five chapters, excluding the General Introduction and the General Conclusion. Each chapter deals with a particular aspect of vocal staging. Chapter 1 presents a historical overview of acoustic vocal staging practices, i.e. those which do not rely on electricity. It is shown that vocal staging, far from being a recent practice, probably finds its origins as far back as in prehistoric times. A similar historical approach is adopted in chapter 2 which describes vocal staging practices developed following the advent of electricity. Because of the large amount of information, and because particular emphasis has been placed on the study of rock music in chapters 3 and 5, chapter 2 discusses examples of vocal expression found in other repertoires than recorded rock music. The examples in chapter 2 are drawn from the world of cinema, theatre, radio, sound poetry, etc. Pioneering use of electric vocal staging found in early rock music, such as (1950s) slap echo and early flanging effects are described in chapter 3. Chapter 4 then presents and discusses results from the reception test. By proceeding in this way, the subsequent analyses in chapter 5 are underpinned, not only empirically by the test results but also by the observations presented in earlier chapters. Chapter 5 presents two kinds of analysis: (i) of individual vocal staging effects as exemplified in numerous recordings scattered throughout the rock repertoire; (ii) of a wide range of vocal staging phenomena occurring within one and the same piece of recorded rock music (Alanis Morissette’s ‘Front Row’). Foreword I thought I was about to die. The manoeuvre was so painful that I was screaming in the ears of my torturer, whose thin and sharp instrument was digging in the blood-soaked flesh, desperately seeking for some harder matter. He finally abandoned the task and decided that I was to go to the hospital: my tooth, now in pieces, would not come out as easily as my dentist originally thought. I had to be fully anaesthetised. I was in my early teens and still considered the syringe needle, along with the dentist’s drills and pliers, as an instrument of torture. I therefore chose the mask. The anaesthetist announced that it would take some ten seconds before I go to sleep. Then I started to breathe the malodorous gas. It is at that moment that I experienced an audio phenomenon that was to intrigue me for quite a long time. Indeed, the anaesthetist’s voice started to bounce in my head at a frenetic rate. As I was listening to the effect—rather than to the actual words—I realised that it was possible to exactly reproduce the sound using an electronic delay. Then I woke up with one tooth missing, but it was worth it. I started listening to all kinds of sound effects happening in nature, ultimately ending up in recording studios, blissfully ignorant that I would some day turn the topic into a doctoral dissertation. This research and the resulting dissertation would of course not have been possible without the help of many people. First, I would like to thank my supervisor, Philip Tagg, who accepted with great enthusiasm to guide me in this strange and often difficult path. His meticulousness and rigour, as well as his unswerving support and sense of humour have made this academic marathon both intellectually challenging and agreeable. I also wish to thank David Horn, Natasha Gay, and everyone else at the Institute of Popular Music for their constant support during these past five years. It is very difficult to write a doctoral dissertation in a foreign language, even more so in academic English which seems to be characterised by an implicit sense of style and presentation that is virtually impossible to acquire in the space of a few years. It is for this reason that I would like to thank Philip Tagg and Karen Collins for helping me reformulate some of my ideas into an acceptable version of written English. Thanks also to Paule-Andrée and Lou-Adriane who have endured my sudden changes of mood and virtual absences, both of which apparently form one body with any work of this type. Also, thanks to Chantal, Denis, Guy, Michèle, and everybody else at the CRELIQ (Université Laval) for their precious support during the last (crazy) months of writing. A final big thank-you to my parents, Nicole and Paul, who have always supported me during the whole of my studies. This research would not have been possible without the financial support from the SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) and the Fonds FCAR (Fonds pour la Formation de Chercheurs et l’Aide à la Recherche). I hope this dissertation will encourage other people to carry on the idea, to expand it or adapt it to other realities. The world of sound is too often neglected in favour of the visual. v Table of Content Abstract .............................................................................................................. iii Foreword .............................................................................................................. iv Table of Content....................................................................................................... vi Tables and Figures.................................................................................................... ix General Introduction 0.1. Presentation......................................................................................................1 0.1.1. Make-‘Believe’............................................................................................................ 1 0.1.2. Definitions ................................................................................................................... 4 0.1.3. Scope ........................................................................................................................... 7 0.2. Background ....................................................................................................11 0.3. Theoretical Issues and Problems....................................................................15 0.3.1. Vocal Staging Effects as Technological Musical Parameters.................................... 15 0.3.2. Intramusical Relations and Extramusical Significations ........................................... 18 0.3.3. Text-Music Relationships.......................................................................................... 20 0.4. Methodology ..................................................................................................20 0.4.1. Empirical v. Hermeneutical Approaches ................................................................... 20 0.4.2. Preliminary Epistemological Considerations ............................................................ 21 0.4.3. Listening Conditions.................................................................................................. 22 0.4.4. Notation ..................................................................................................................... 27 0.5. Content ...........................................................................................................28 Chapter 1: Historical Survey of Acoustic Vocal Staging 1.0. Introduction....................................................................................................30 1.1. Practices in Western Cultures ........................................................................32 1.1.1. Prehistory................................................................................................................... 32 1.1.2. Antiquity.................................................................................................................... 41 1.1.3. Western Acoustic Music............................................................................................ 51 1.2. Practices in Non-Western Cultures................................................................60 1.2.0. Introduction................................................................................................................ 60 1.2.1. Mirlitons .................................................................................................................... 61 1.2.2. Resonators ................................................................................................................. 64 1.2.3. Self-Distortion of the Voice ...................................................................................... 67 1.3. Summary.........................................................................................................70