Tone Åse: The voice and the machine - and the voice in the machine (- now you see me, now you don’t)
Research Fellow at NTNU, Department of Music
In this project I will explore new possibilities and roles as an improvising vocalist. I will do this working with both electronic processing of voice sound and acoustic voice sound in improvised interplay. Further, I will explore artistic possibilities for the vocalist in the continuum ranging from narrative speech to ”pure” processed sound, within the same performance/form. These two exploring approaches will partly overlap and partly be focused on in two different types of artistic products.
The electronic manipulation of sound presents a possibility for expanding, or even redefining the voice as an instrument - and therefore also a vocalist’s role in the musical interaction. This redefining is not only present in electronic sound manipulation; many vocalists and composers has challenged the traditional roles of the vocalist through the use of voice experimenting and new musical approaches . As I see it, the use of electronic processing can create different forms of distance, or abstraction, from the natural voice sound . This opens up even more, and in another way, the possibilities of interacting with other instruments and taking on new roles in the musical interplay. From my experience, this is particularly interesting in improvised music.
The first part of my research will concentrate on the artistic use of equipment/tools for electronic manipulation of sound; exploring and developing new technical skills and methods, and developing further the musical ideas generated by this . This will be related to my work with spesific musical settings, wich represents different frameworks for improvisation with a mix of acoustic and electronic sounds. The ensembles and the musicians taking part in them, can all be recognized as part of an open, contemporary European jazz/impro tradition.
In the second part of my research I will bring in the spoken, narrative text , and myself as a storyteller, as counterpart to the abstracted, processed sound of the voice. This is already partly done in some of my musical settings, but here I will go further into the role of the storyteller and try to combine this with my role as a musician. I want to create a musical ”monologue” which explores and combines different vocal expressions. What happens with the relation between audience and performer, when the voice moves back and forth in the continuum between referential meaning and ”pure sound” ? When the voice can be both speaking, storytelling , singing and soundscaping? When the sound of the voice can be processed or acoustic , appearing solo or in several layers? Can I use the directness of the spoken, narrative text , to create an identifying process between performer and audience- and can this process open up for the musical experience as a whole ?
The artistic result of my work will be presented in live concerts and recordings. My critical reflection on process and results will be presented in the form of a web-document , combining written text, audio/video- material and link to other sources.