Exploring the Affective and Spatial Politics of Choral Music Performance through Focus Groups with Singers

Abstract

This paper builds on focus groups with singers from a chamber choir that rehearses and performs in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. It explores the spatial politics of performance and singers’ understandings of the impact of choral music, in particular in music with social justice themes. Discussion centers on two compositions about forced migration. Singers reflected on their experiences rehearsing and performing these and other works, exploring the function of choral music, the politics of performance, and race and whiteness in choral singing. We argue that focusing on singers’ experiences allows musical geographies to further explore an affective politics of performance. Participants described singing as a form of political engagement—though one different from electoral or activist politics—but one that they navigate ambivalently, through affects that include hopefulness and (sometimes productive) forms of anxiety and discomfort. We contribute to discussions in cultural geographies and geohumanities around race and musical geographies, the affective (geo)politics of performance, and art-geography collaboration.

本文的焦点小组成员, 来自于在加拿大安大略省滑铁卢市基奇纳进行排练和表演的室内合唱团歌手。探讨了表演的空间政治, 以及歌手如何理解合唱音乐(特别是社会正义主题的音乐)的影响。主要讨论了两首关于被迫移民的乐曲。歌手们反思了他们排练和表演这两首乐曲和其它乐曲的经历, 探索了合唱音乐的功能、表演的政治学以及合唱中的种族和白人性。我们认为, 通过关注歌手的经历, 音乐地理可以进一步探索表演的情感政治。参与者将歌唱描述为一种政治参与形式(尽管不同于选举政治或活动家政治)。采用期望、(有时是有效的)焦虑和不适等情感, 他们矛盾地驾驭着这种政治参与。我们探讨了文化地理、种族和音乐地理的地理人文学科、表演的情感(地缘)政治、艺术地理合作。

Este escrito se basa en grupos focales de discusión con los cantantes de un coro de cámara que ensaya y actúa en Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. Se exploran las políticas espaciales de la actuación y la comprensión del impacto de la música coral de los cantantes, en particular en la música que interpreta temas de justicia social. La discusión se centra en dos composiciones relacionadas con la migración forzada. Los cantantes reflexionaron sobre sus experiencias al ensayar e interpretar esta y otras obras, explorando la función de la música coral, las políticas de la actuación, y la raza y la blancura en el canto coral. Argüimos que centrarse en las experiencias de los cantantes permite que las geografías musicales dediquen una mayor exploración a una política afectiva de la interpretación. Los participantes describieron el canto como una forma de compromiso político –si bien es uno que difiere de la política electoral o activista– pero uno que ellos navegan de manera ambivalente, con afectos que incluyen la esperanza y formas (a veces productivas) de ansiedad y molestia. Contribuimos a las discusiones de las geografías culturales y las geohumanidades alrededor de la raza y geografías musicales, las (geo)políticas afectivas de la interpretación y la colaboración en arte-geografía.

Key Words:

• affect
• choral music
• performance
• race
• singing.

 :

• 情感
• 合唱音乐
• 表演
• 种族
• 歌唱

 :

• afecto
• canto
• interpretación escénica
• música coral
• raza

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to thank George Elliott Clarke for giving us his permission to use his poetry in this paper. We thank everyone who participated in this research, as well as editors Tim Cresswell and Josh Inwood and five anonymous reviewers for their comments and support at various stages of this paper.

Notes

1 SATB refers to voice types soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, and describes the most common scoring for choral repertoire.

2 Classical music is a term that we do not have time to dissect fully in this paper. “Classical” is sometimes used in a technical sense to refer to music of the Classical Period (roughly 1750 to 1820) or in a more colloquial sense to refer to Western music that is not popular or folk music. For an analysis of the term “classical music” and its associations with colonialism, whiteness, and bourgeois social values see Bull (2019).

3 We define “semi-professional” as someone who regularly makes money through singing (e.g., through church choirs, professional choirs, and solo performances), but who does not make their living primarily through paid rehearsal, performance, or teaching.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel Cockayne

DANIEL COCKAYNE is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada. E-mail: [email protected]. His research explores the economic and cultural geographies of entrepreneurship, high-status work, and working from home with a focus on queer and feminist approaches.

Sara Martin

SARA MARTIN is the managing director of the DaCapo Chamber Choir and a high school librarian. As an arts administrator and a professional librarian (MLIS), her areas of interest focus on creating meaningful connections between people (students and audience members) and ideas.