Gestural Song Form in Experimental Vocal Music

Abstract

This article explores an unconventional form of song that is not defined by pitch, rhythm, melody, or lyrics. Instead gestural songs are defined by sonic gestures like glissandi or portamento, timbre, physical movements or choreography, and/or an engagement with particular objects, technologies or architectural features. The article investigates gestural song form using examples from American experimental vocal music and performance art, first tracing the emergence of new methods of songwriting in the mid-twentieth century, particularly in the work of Joan La Barbara, Meredith Monk, and Charlemagne Palestine, with additional examples in the work of Marina Abramović, Robert Ashley, Alvin Lucier, and Yoko Ono. Then the article briefly focuses on more recent examples from composer-performers Gelsey Bell and Odeya Nini. The use of extended vocal techniques and alternate forms of notation, such as graphic or prose scores, are recurrent themes. Recent interviews with La Barbara, Monk, and Nini supplement the investigation.

Notes

1 Glissandi and portamento refer to a musical technique where one slides from one note to another. Glissandi refers to the method’s use with instruments like piano or harp where each discrete pitch is still heard. Portamento refers to use with instruments like the voice, violin or trombone, where continuously moving sound can be made without resting on any discrete pitches.

2 Timbre refers to the quality of a sound. For instance, a note played on a clarinet and a guitar can have the same pitch and volume but still sound different because of their timbral quality. The voice is remarkably flexible in its ability to perform a wide range of timbres.

3 Explored by many scholars such as Small (1987), Goehr (1992) and Haynes (2007).

4 For more on my conception of extended vocal technique, see Bell (2016).

5 ‘Ingressive’ indicates vocalizing on the inhale, while ‘egressive’ indicates the more common vocalizing on the exhale.

6 See http://bit.ly/2CFOxjr