The Singer's Anatomy: investigating singers' experiences of performance through reflection on underlying processes Author Cotterell, Leah F Published 2021-02-08 Thesis Type Thesis (Professional Doctorate) School Queensland Conservatorium DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/4086 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/402268 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au THE SINGER’S ANATOMY: INVESTIGATING SINGERS’ EXPERIENCES OF PERFORMANCE THROUGH REFLECTION ON UNDERLYING PROCESSES Leah Cotterell M.Mus.Res, B.Mus (Hons) Queensland Conservatorium Arts, Education and Law Griffith University Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts October 2020 The Singer’s Anatomy ABSTRACT Considering the ubiquitous nature of singing performance, and how celebrated the singer’s role is in our culture, it is surprising that singers’ experiences seem to be so poorly represented in academic research. This doctoral study investigates the view that singing performers may share common experiences that transcend matters of style or context, and that an understanding of such common ground may offer valuable information about the performer’s experience of performance states, thereby assisting a developed sense of well- being. In this study three distinct approaches were employed to gather information on the experiences of singers as performers. This data was triangulated through the application of a novel framework that explicated seven processes of performance to enable the systematic analysis of the singers’ experiences. In addition to an autoethnographic account, a survey was used to gather the reflections of 33 singers who perform across diverse music styles, and a third method collected interviews with three experienced singing teachers (specialising in jazz, classical, and musical theatre). Together these methods generated rich, detailed descriptions of the underlying processes of singers’ lived experiences of performance. At multiple levels the results generated useful insights for both the study participants and the researcher, and point to the need for further investigation of the complexities of singers’ experiences of performance. Keywords: Singing performance, underlying processes of performance, self-reflection, insight, well-being, performance autoethnography. 2 The Singer’s Anatomy TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .................................................................................................................................. 2 Table of Contents ................................................................................................................... 3 List of Tables ......................................................................................................................... 5 List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ 5 Certification ........................................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 7 Note on Engaging with the Doctoral Submission .................................................................. 8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................9 Positioning my performance history ...................................................................................... 9 Setting the research context: The nature of performance .................................................... 13 Outlining the research approach .......................................................................................... 14 Research design and methods .......................................................................................... 14 Research questions ........................................................................................................... 16 Ethical considerations .......................................................................................................... 17 Structure of the exegesis ...................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .....................................................................................................20 Singing performance and biology ........................................................................................ 21 Performance states ............................................................................................................... 22 Performance and emotion .................................................................................................... 29 Performance and empathy.................................................................................................... 34 Performance and identity ..................................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FRAMEWORK ...............................................................................................43 Cognitive processes ............................................................................................................. 45 Bodily processes .................................................................................................................. 46 Emotional processes............................................................................................................. 47 Mental processes .................................................................................................................. 48 Sense of self ......................................................................................................................... 49 Social processes ................................................................................................................... 50 Cultural processes ................................................................................................................ 51 Applying the framework .................................................................................................. 52 CHAPTER 4: RECITAL—CREATIVE PROCESSES AND FINDINGS ........................................................53 The recital recording: ‘The Singer’s Anatomy’ ................................................................... 53 Credits: ............................................................................................................................. 53 Creative processes ............................................................................................................ 55 Findings............................................................................................................................ 60 Summary: Recital findings .............................................................................................. 68 CHAPTER 5: THE SURVEY METHOD AND RESULTS .............................................................................70 Participants ........................................................................................................................... 72 Coding .................................................................................................................................. 73 Inter-rating ....................................................................................................................... 75 3 The Singer’s Anatomy Overview of findings ........................................................................................................... 75 Findings with regard to the CoUP ................................................................................... 75 Key findings from data analysis ...................................................................................... 77 Summary of trends by the CoUP ..................................................................................... 80 Findings with regard to the three areas of self-awareness ............................................... 81 Combined ......................................................................................................................... 84 Summary of numerical trends .......................................................................................... 85 Evaluation ........................................................................................................................ 87 Summary of the evaluation .............................................................................................. 90 CHAPTER 6: THE INTERVIEW METHOD AND RESULTS .......................................................................92 Background .......................................................................................................................... 92 The interviewees .................................................................................................................. 93 The interview results ............................................................................................................ 94 Cognitive processes ......................................................................................................... 94 Bodily processes .............................................................................................................