HOW BODY IMAGE INFLUENCES VOCAL PERFORMANCE in COLLEGIATE WOMEN SINGERS by Kirsten Shippert Brown Disser
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MY BODY, MY INSTRUMENT: HOW BODY IMAGE INFLUENCES VOCAL PERFORMANCE IN COLLEGIATE WOMEN SINGERS by Kirsten Shippert Brown Dissertation Committee: Professor Randall Everett Allsup, Sponsor Professor Jeanne Goffi-Fynn Approved by the Committee on the Degree of Doctor of Education Date: May 19, 2021 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Teachers College, Columbia University 2021 ABSTRACT This dissertation is about the influence of body image on classical vocal performance in collegiate women singers. Those trained in classical singing are familiar with the phrase, “your body is your instrument.” A focus on the physical body is apparent in the vocal pedagogical literature, as is attention to singers’ mental and emotional states. But the intersection of emotions and the body—how one thinks and feels about their body, or body image—is largely absent from the vocal pedagogical literature. As voice teachers continue to necessarily address their students’ instruments (bodies), the field has not adequately considered how each singer’s relationship with their instrument (their body) might affect them, as singers and as people. This initial foray sought answers to just two of the myriad unanswered questions surrounding this topic: Does a singer’s body image influence her singing? If so, when and how? It employed a feminist methodological framework that would provide for consciousness-raising as both a method and aim of the study. Four collegiate women singers served as co-researchers, and data collection took place in three parts: a focus group, audio diaries, and interviews. The focus group was specifically geared towards consciousness-raising in order to provide co-researchers with the awareness necessary for examining their body image. Co-researchers then recorded semi-structured audio diaries for one month after practice sessions, voice lessons, and performances. One-on-one interviews concluded data collection and provided a situation of co-analysis wherein the researcher and co-researcher could deeply examine data from the focus group and diaries. The major discovery of this research is a pervasive sense of separation between a woman singer’s “everyday body” and her singer’s body. Self-objectification served as a barrier to a conscious recognition of embodied experience and effectively split the singer in two. The various states of the relationship between these two seemingly separate entities resulted in specific outcomes for singing, including restriction, unawareness, inconsistency, and focus. The discussion concludes with a consideration of how a positive body image may encourage effective and artistic vocal performance and how voice teachers might help foster a positive experience of one’s body. © Kirsten Shippert Brown 2021 All Rights Reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS To my sponsor, Dr. Randall Allsup: Thank you for pushing me—as a writer, researcher, and teacher—in ways I never anticipated. I am so grateful for the communities you created and the opportunities you gave me to engage in this process of becoming. To my second reader, Dr. Jeanne Goffi-Fynn: You inspired me to test the limitations I gave myself. Working with you gave me a broader lens and made me more capable as a singer and teacher, thank you. To my voice teacher and mentor, Dr. Christopher Arneson: Your support, guidance, and friendship mean the world to me. I would surely be a lesser singer, teacher, and human if not for your incredible investment in me as a student, and your kindness and care for me as a person. To Robert, Lindsey, and Elliott: Your wisdom as voice teachers, talent as musicians, insight as researchers, and kind words as friends have been indispensable in writing this work and in my time at TC. And Lindsey, thank you for telling me to go see Ellen West! To my friends and family (you know who you are): Your support and encouragement have made this work possible. Thank you for listening to my ramblings and for distracting me from them. You kept me sane. To my husband, Dan: Thank you for your joy, steadfastness, wit, ingenuity, generosity, strength, and love. I could write a whole other dissertation about how awesome you are, but for now, I’ll just say, I love you. K. S. B. iii Table of Contents Chapter I INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 Personal Narrative ....................................................................................................... 4 Background .................................................................................................................. 7 Problem Statement ....................................................................................................... 9 A Note about Gender ................................................................................................... 9 Research Questions ................................................................................................... 12 Theoretical Framework: Feminisms .......................................................................... 13 Feminisms and Body Image .................................................................................. 13 Feminisms and Singing ......................................................................................... 16 Participants Co-Researchers ...................................................................................... 17 Research Methodology Overview ............................................................................. 18 Chapter II LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................. 20 Body Image ............................................................................................................... 20 Concept Definitions ............................................................................................... 21 Feminism(s) ........................................................................................................... 23 Risks ...................................................................................................................... 30 Body Image, Identities, and Intersectionality ........................................................ 32 Singers, Singing, and Bodies ..................................................................................... 36 Identity and Industry .............................................................................................. 36 Intersections: Singing and Body Image ................................................................. 40 1. Perceptual .................................................................................................. 40 2. Cognitive ................................................................................................... 41 3. Affective .................................................................................................... 42 4. Behavioral .................................................................................................. 43 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 45 Chapter III METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................... 47 Feminist Methodology ............................................................................................... 48 Pilot Study ................................................................................................................. 50 Research Design ........................................................................................................ 51 Recruitment ........................................................................................................... 51 Procedures ............................................................................................................. 55 Part 1: Focus group ............................................................................................ 55 Part 2: Diary study ............................................................................................. 57 iv Part 3: Interviews ............................................................................................... 59 Sites ....................................................................................................................... 60 Materials ................................................................................................................ 62 Data Analysis ......................................................................................................... 63 Reflexivity and Ethics ............................................................................................... 64 Chapter IV WOMANHOOD ............................................................................................. 70 Dana ........................................................................................................................... 71 Karina ........................................................................................................................ 79 Aksha ......................................................................................................................... 85 Marissa ...................................................................................................................... 91 Why am I a girl? .......................................................................................................