The Oneonta Convivium Proceedings Volume XVII 2006–2010
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The Oneonta Convivium Proceedings Volume XVII 2006–2010 1 2 . The Oneonta Convivium Proceedings Volume XVII 2006–2010 3 4 . Contents Preface page 7 What You’re Really Saying: How Voice Production Communicates by Andrew Kahl page 9 A Tasty Approach to Green Chemistry by Jacqueline Bennett page 19 Old Lessons For A New Millennium: Nature Writing And Environmentalism In The 21St Century by Daniel G. Payne page 31 The Nonverbal Persuasion Of Ritual Rhythms by Joshua Frye page 37 Biodiversity Loss: A Global Challenge by Gregory Fulkerson, Laura McKinney, and Edward L. Kick page 45 Electronic Music Performance: A Historical Perspective by Orlando Legname page 57 5 6 PrefaCe This edition of the Convivium proceedings contains papers that were presented in the years 2006 to 2010. I have tried to contact all those who gave presentations since the last volume of this publication. Thanks to the authors who were able to make their presentations available in written form to be published here. I would also like to thank Lorin Levins of the College Publications Department for the work she did getting this ready for publication and assisting with editing. I also thank Colby Thomas and the members of the Convivium Committee for their help in making this publication possible. Jim Coan, Editor 7 . 8 What You’re reallY saYing: hoW VoiCe ProduCtion CommuniCates Andrew Kahl Theatre Let me start with a few disclaimers. I am not a linguist, though I will talk about language, paralinguistics, and speech. I am not a medical professional though I will talk about anatomy, physiology, and vocal health. I am not a singer though I’ll talk about voice placement, resonance, intonation, and diaphragmatic breathing. I am not a physicist though I will discuss harmonics, frequencies, vibrations, and energy. I am not a shaman though I will talk about healing, spiritualism, and holistic health. I am not a psychologist, though I will speak of the relationship between physical and mental health. What I is a performing artist, a trained professional voice user, a frequent consultantam on problems with vocal usage in performance and an advocate that effective, healthy, and dynamic vocal usage is not the singular domain of any of the professionals I have just named. I am also a teacher—which has afforded me the arrogance as well as the practical experience and opportunities for observation and exploration—to believe that I know enough about any of these subjects to wade in and throw ideas around. This discussion is based on a few presumptions about the voice. There is much about vocal communication that we take for granted. Here are a few suppositions that help me to frame my work with actors, voice students, and other people with whom I work and consult: The voice does not lie – it communicates the self; all of the insecurities and areas of confidence. It expresses personality and most of us are keenly attuned to inferred messages and relational cues that come from the SOUND of voices we hear. As listeners, we recognize that the voice is more trustworthy than words. If sound is the cake, words are the icing. This assertion may be counter-intuitive to some academics who rely on the logical assertion of words and maintain an innate belief in the superiority of verbal expression. But in interpersonal communication, verbal messages are typically eclipsed by the influence of sound. The voice expresses a social need to communicate, relate and bond with others. Sound is far more influential in the development of social relationships—attraction, tolerance, repulsion—than what we have to say. 9 The voice is energetic – not a substance, but a flow of dynamic energy— only discernible in relation to what can be heard, said, expressed or released. As a result we can roar, whisper, interject, berate, croon, rant, murmur, moan, guffaw, wail, sob, plead, console, and praise with SOUND. The energetic qualities of the voice carry the primary thrust of what we communicate. As a result, the voice has effective and communicative power. We use it to influence people and assert our identity. The sound of the voice communicates with a different part of the brain than language. Tone, pitch, quality, rate, and inflection—the essential components of human voice perception—are processed in the right temporal lobe while language is processed in the left hemisphere of the brain. Along with these these two suppositions, I would also like to point out two common misperceptions about the voice that may impede our capacity to develop fully expressive use of the voice: Effort is required to “strengthen the voice” – Americans in particular are trained to work harder to get the results they want. What is required is not “strengthening” in a muscular sense, but and . You don’t want to “strength train” your voice becauseflexibility this becomesresilience an invitation to develop habits of physical tension that impair the natural mechanisms of breath, phonation, resonance and articulation. Kristen Linklater, one of the most influential voice teachers working in contemporary theatre, wrote—and recently revised—an outstanding book on voice training for actors that has become a fundamental text in American theatre. The book is called , and since its publication it has profoundly shifted attitudesFreeing the and Natural approaches Voice to voice training in acting conservatories and training programs. Her central tenet is the title of the book. The voice is fully available when the voice user removes the habituated blocks and impediments that restrict power, freedom and fluency.1 Conditioning is a matter of removing mental, physical and emotional roadblocks so that the physical mechanisms can work efficiently. In Linklater’s model, tension is the enemy. Her work is not an anomoly, but an indicator of a wider movement toward natural expression in contemporary performance training. You are “stuck” with the voice you have—anatomy is cruel… – In short, no. There are physical parameters. Your vocal tract is of a particular size. Your articulators are of a particular shape. The vocal folds—while resilient and swift to heal—can sustain permanent damage from trauma or 10 chronic misuse. Specific maladies and conditions like spasmodic disphonia or vocal fold paralysis can disrupt the voice. Age, smoking, alchohol and hard living can eventually reduce power, range and flexibility, but in almost every case where a person is struggling with voice issues, there are effective interventions available to improve sound quality, resonance, breath support and articulation. Most voice issues that do not have a specific medical cause can be improved by addressing the mechanics of voice production, the underlying tensions and anxieties and the imagery for using the voice being employed by the speaker. Energy and sound Breath begets vibration, begets amplification,…Breath begets isarticulation, active, pulse begets is communication, active, blood flowbegets is active,response, cells begets are inspiration, dancing begetsall over breath the place. Neurons are firing, electricity is pulsing around like a million firecrackers in your nervous system. The miracle is that there aren’t more parts of us that can make noise and vibrate on cue. Our voices are an extension of the life energy that defines us. But the process for making sound is a unique physical phenomenon. We inhale, we exhale, vibration occurs in the vocal folds and sound is generated. The experience is obvious and familiar, but utterly mysterious when we begin to examine what makes the voice physically possible. The engine of the voice is breath. Efficient use of the diaphragm—the muscular membrane that divides the lungs from the lower organs—coupled with free and responsive movement in the ribs and abdomen maximizes the volume of the inhale. Smooth and controlled engagement of one muscle group at the point of exhale—the transverse muscles buried deep in the abdomen—provides the most efficient foundation for supporting the outward flow of breath needed to —that is, to make noise. Phonation is not a direct muscular activity any morephonate than twanging a rubber band requires the of the rubber band. The cartilaginous attachments for the vocal foldsexertions respond to a nerve impulse to vocalize sent from the brain. The folds draw together across the opening of the glottis. The flow of air across the folds “flaps” the folds together creating rapid interruptions in air flow that are audible as vibrations. Pitch is controlled, to some extent, by the length and tautness of the vocal fold tissue. The effect is like playing just the mouthpiece of a saxophone—audible, but lacking power, harmonic reinforcement, or shape. 11 This vibration, then, is amplified by rebounding off of any hard surface adjacent to the source of vibration. The most direct resonance travels straight up the tube of the pharynx and since the passageway is roughly the shape of a closed cylinder about 17–18 centimeters in length it creates a series of harmonic pitches—typically at three different frequencies—called .2 The interplay of these formants creates the essential sound of the humanformants voice, which is quickly rearranged and manipulated by the shape of the upper pharynx and subtle movements of articulators in the mouth. These articulators are the lips, teeth, hard and soft palates and tongue. The resonance of the voice is further reinforced by indirect vibrations that operate off of any hard or bony surface they can find in the body. Relaxed muscle is able to vibrate in concert with this resonance while contracted muscle tends to deaden the vibration. This characteristic, in part, allows a speaker to shift the qualities of the voice. Singers are familiar with distinctions between chest voice and head voice—or high, middle and low ranges.