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Singing While Female: a Narrative Study on Gender

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Singing While Female: a Narrative Study on Gender SINGING WHILE FEMALE: A NARRATIVE STUDY ON GENDER, IDENTITY & EXPERIENCE OF FEMALE VOICE IN CIS, TRANSMASCULINE & NON-BINARY SINGERS by Felix Andrew Graham Dissertation Committee: Professor Hal Abeles, Sponsor Professor Jeanne Goffi-Fynn Approved by the Committee on the Degree of Doctor of Education Date 13 February 2019 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education in Teachers College, Columbia University 2019 ABSTRACT SINGING WHILE FEMALE: A NARRATIVE STUDY ON GENDER, IDENTITY & EXPERIENCE OF FEMALE VOICE IN CIS, TRANSMASCULINE & NON-BINARY SINGERS Felix Andrew Graham This study explored the personal narratives of six AFAB (“assigned female at birth”) singers – three cis and three trans/non-binary performers of varying ages, ethnicities and locales – to understand how their experiences informed their musical, vocal and gender identities and shaped their musical and vocal lives. Using semi-structured interview process, the singers recounted their memories and understanding of significant events in their development, and together, each singer and I explored those recollections through a process of collaborative self- exploration. Emerging themes from those narratives underscored the need for further investigation into the intersection of AFAB voice, singing and gender, as both existing literature and the results of this study suggest a deeper understanding of the issues around gender socialization, normative expectations and voice is ii necessary to appropriately and effectively prepare singers at all levels of their musical and vocal education. Study results found that there are many sources of socially-mediated influences which shape AFAB singers’ development of self, their individual and social identities, and their perceptions of their voice – particularly in the context of normative expectations that define gender and gender identities. While all study participants clearly experienced pleasure in musical performance, the narratives revealed a complex web of expectations and influences that contributed significant amounts of anxiety, with both physiological and psychological repercussions, to the performers’ lives. The ways in which the singers both fell victim to and addressed these sources of stress suggest many topics for further exploration and discussion within the professional voice and music education community, including the role of expert influence, the development of personal agency and perceived self-efficacy, as well as the need for individualized, holistic approaches to vocal pedagogy. © Copyright Felix Andrew Graham 2019 All Rights Reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS No man is an island, and neither was this study: without the assistance and support of a whole community of people, it would never have happened, and I would like to acknowledge their contributions here. To my participants: Thank you for the incredible gift of your stories. I was and remained immensely moved by your generosity with your time, insight and your willingness to share your stories with me. Without your contributions, there would be no story to tell. To my committee: Thank you for your insight and support! Three cheers for: Dr. Abeles, my sponsor, whose clarity and responsiveness have made my life so much easier – I’m grateful beyond words for your advocacy on my behalf; Dr. Goffi- Fynn, who has been an exceptional mentor and is easily the most influential and supportive educator I’ve ever had in my entire educational history – thank you for cheerfully putting up with my nonsense for the past decade; Drs. Bashaw and Hubard – your thoughtful commentary and advice has given a clearer vision for my post-dissertation future. To my dissertation group therapy circle – Andie, Benjamin, Hannah, Jef, Josh, Laurel and Michael: your willingness to listen to me moan and groan about… everything, actually… cannot be undervalued or over-appreciated. You are my chosen family and I genuinely don’t think I’d have made it here without you. Special thanks are especially due to Dr. Michael Berger and Benjamin Wachs for their procedural knowledge and editing, respectively. As for the Carl Rogers debacle… iii iv you’re all grudgingly forgiven, but I reserve the right to feign outrage about it at my own discretion in perpetuity! Finally, to my wonderful partner, Spencer Portée, whose love, support and encouragement are the backbone on which my work rests: thank you so much – all of my love is still too little compared to how much you’ve given me. Here’s to another eighteen years together and more, besides. F.A.G. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SILENCE ....................................... 1 Background ........................................................................................................................................ 2 Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 2 A Curious Silence ...................................................................................................................... 3 Representation: A Single Piece of a Whole Puzzle ....................................................... 5 Listening to Silence .................................................................................................................. 6 Problem Statement ......................................................................................................................... 7 Research Methodology Overview.............................................................................................. 8 Narrative Inquiry: Research as Collaborative Storytelling ...................................... 8 Framework ................................................................................................................................11 Conceptual. ........................................................................................................................11 Theoretical. ........................................................................................................................12 Purpose.......................................................................................................................................16 Research Questions ...............................................................................................................17 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................17 Defining Terms ...............................................................................................................................18 CHAPTER II – LITERATURE REVIEW: DRAWING THE “NEGATIVE SPACE” .................20 Introduction .....................................................................................................................................20 Related Literature .........................................................................................................................20 Context and the Material Self: Formation of Self and Identity .............................20 Constructing the Self. .....................................................................................................21 Constructing identity. ....................................................................................................22 Gender identity. ...............................................................................................................25 Musical identity. ...............................................................................................................31 Vocal identity. ...................................................................................................................32 Performance and the Social Self .......................................................................................35 Social identity theory. ....................................................................................................35 Normativity and the Spiritual Self ...................................................................................39 Music as a gendered experience. ...............................................................................39 Gender and aesthetics in music. ................................................................................41 Music education. ..............................................................................................................45 Representation and curated media experiences. ................................................50 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................54 Identity is multifactorial. ..............................................................................................54 Music is (still) gendered ...............................................................................................55 Breaking gender boundaries ......................................................................................55 vi CHAPTER III – METHODOLOGY: RESONANT THREADS .......................................................57 Introduction .....................................................................................................................................57 Approach and Method Selection ..............................................................................................58 Role of the Researcher
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