Flloyd Kennedy | Freelancer - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Videos by Flloyd Kennedy

Performing one of my poems, from the collection "Sunsets & Kites". I've been writing poetry all ... more Performing one of my poems, from the collection "Sunsets & Kites". I've been writing poetry all my life, and performing it at Open Mics in and around Liverpool for the past three years. I've now published two collections, both available on Amazon. Not precisely autobiographical, but I do draw upon my life experience, dodgy memory and philosophical understandings to question, comment upon and occasionally rant about topics that intrigue or disturb me.

Flloyd Kennedy talks about a common misconception regarding public speaking - that you need to wo... more Flloyd Kennedy talks about a common misconception regarding public speaking - that you need to work on your 'projection'. This video is part of a series introducing voice skills training, useful for all professional voice users, including university academics.

Flloyd teaches voice and public presentation skills via her private studio "Being in Voice. Find out more here https://beinginvoice.com.

4 views

Papers by Flloyd Kennedy

Actors, like all humans, seek to determine parameters, categorise and 'know' precisely what they ... more Actors, like all humans, seek to determine parameters, categorise and 'know' precisely what they are doing. However, parameters change, categories blur and even disappear occasionally; what we think we know has a habit of shifting subtly or drastically. This paper aims to explore the practical application in the actor training and rehearsal process of working with archetypes as a means of releasing the actor from the 'tyranny of the text', from the tendency to speak words 'as if' they were his/her own, rather than actually owning them. Archetypes, the primal patterns or forms of characters, recognisable throughout all humanity from folk lore, myth and dreams, provide a structure for understanding the shifting process.

Voice and Speech Review, 2023

Early in 2023, Flloyd began an occasional series of podcast interviews under the heading “Are You... more Early in 2023, Flloyd began an occasional series of podcast interviews under the heading
“Are You Old Yet?” in which she engages in conversation with friends and colleagues, all
of whom are over 70 and still as creatively active as they ever were. The discussions center
around their creative lives and attitudes to aging and the word “old”. The following is a
revised and extended version of the interview with Frankie Armstrong, originally broadcast
on July 7 2023.

The performance of Shakespeare in Australia has changed greatly in style and interpretation as cu... more The performance of Shakespeare in Australia has changed greatly in style and interpretation as cultural and social attitudes have shifted over the 250 years since European settlement. This is evident in the way the actors use their voices, which reflects the changing nature of training practices and performance styles over time, but more importantly reveals Shakespeare’s performed language as the expression of those specific actors in their own specific time. Examining two productions from the latter part of the twentieth century, a period that witnessed a burgeoning of Australian cultural identity, and subjecting them to the aural equivalent of a close reading, I demonstrate how it is not the accent, but the vocal quality of the actor that is crucial.

Capter L'essence Du Spectacle: Un Enjeu De Taille Pour Le Patrimoine Immatériel: Capturing the Essence of Performance: The Challenges of Intangible Heritage., 2010

The human voice in the performance of text is ephemeral and yet not intangible. It has substance,... more The human voice in the performance of text is ephemeral and yet not intangible. It has substance, meaning and effect over and above the language it speaks. In historiographical analyses, the vocal performance text is often ignored in favour of visual elements, and textual interpretation. Mechanical, or ‘technological’ recordings may render a vocal performance in a repeatable medium, however the use of such recordings for analysis is subject to the changing state of the listener over time, apart from any degradation in the quality of the sound recording over time. Phonetic transcription transforms the living, breathed and mobile sound into a static representation, and while phonology provides the settings within which linguistic and para-linguistic components exist, these are still generally defined in terms which promote the language, rather than the uniquely spoken event. This paper proposes that the vocal performance text has material substance, it cannot be predicted, and argues that it has rarely – if ever – been captured adequately because certain elements are always ignored, specifically those elements which constitute an original vocal performance text.

Being in ShakeSPSPeare'S MoMent flloyd kennedy UniverSity of QUeenSland The analyst's task is to ... more Being in ShakeSPSPeare'S MoMent flloyd kennedy UniverSity of QUeenSland The analyst's task is to account for [the] "lived" quality. .. to show how actors deal with this alliance between the rational and the pulsional. .. for it always says more than the intentional signs of the character (Pavis 2003, 136). Performers of text, even those working with short pieces of script at a time (as is the way with filmed performance) repeat memorised words many times, often with the objective to sound each time as if the words just happened to come to them in that instant, in response to the need to express a specific thought. I propose that when this is successfully achieved, particularly in the erformance of Shakespearean text without losing the heightened, poetic nature of the text, the illusion of 'natural' speech which is described as 'being in the moment' owes its existence to a particular meta-performative quality adhering in the voice.

Voice and Speech Review, 2009

skip nav. ...

Modern Drama, Mar 24, 2015

Voice is a challenge, however we think about it, probably because we don&amp;#x27;t think... more Voice is a challenge, however we think about it, probably because we don&amp;#x27;t think about it very much at all. We use and abuse our voices, joyfully and fretfully, all through our lives without giving them any attention unless there is a problem. We hear voices and obey or reject what we ...

Voice and Speech Review, 2009

Voice and Speech Review, 2007

Australian Studies, Dec 2014

The performance of Shakespeare in Australia has changed greatly in style and interpretation as cu... more The performance of Shakespeare in Australia has changed greatly in style and interpretation as cultural and social attitudes have shifted over the 250 years since European settlement. These changes are evident in the way the actors use their voices, which reflects the changing nature of training practices and performance styles over time, but more importantly also reveals Shakespeare’s language as the expression of those specific actors in their own specific time. Examining two productions from the latter part of the twentieth century, a period that witnessed a burgeoning independence of Australian cultural identity, and subjecting them to the aural equivalent of a close reading demonstrates how it is not the accent, but the vocal quality of the actor that is crucial.

If you like your philosophy in bite-sized doses, then Philosophical Chronicles is the snack for y... more If you like your philosophy in bite-sized doses, then Philosophical Chronicles is the snack for you. But don't expect anything light-weight; this is serious medicine dispensed with sharp humour and sophisticated packaging. Jean-Luc Nancy offers short, bare-shaven, sometimes cryptic, but always highly astute observations on some of the hidden, and not so hidden terrors of twenty-first century life. From the 'war on terror' to violent debates on what constitutes and defines 'contemporary art', Nancy takes an uncompromising, refreshingly personal stance, blasting his way through current and ancient pomposities and comfortable mythologies.

Capturing the Essence of Live Performance: The Challenge of Intangible Heritage. , 2008

The Vocal Performance Text as Historiography* attempting to capture and comment upon the nature o... more The Vocal Performance Text as Historiography* attempting to capture and comment upon the nature of the live vocal performance of text. published "The Voice as Historiography" Capturing the Essence of Live Performance: The Challenge of Intangible Heritage. SIBMAS Conference proceedings 2008. Voice, in the act of performing a scripted text, is ephemeral, intangible (arguably) and a vital component in determining how the performance text is received. For many years, theatre historiography has recorded and discussed live performance in terms of the scripted, or 'dramatic' texts, the costumes, scenic design, lighting plots and theatre architecture. In more recent years, studies have acknowledged the contribution of kinetic, kinesic and proxemic arrangements, relationships of bodies in space, and, to a certain extent, audience perception and reaction. What has been sadly neglected, for a variety of reasons, is the vocal performance, the actual sounding of the dramatic text as it is heard by the audience in the moment of performance and then lost, unless recorded by some technological means. It may survive as what Pavis refers to as "a trace inscribed into the flesh of the listener who cannot escape it". The voice is much more than a conduit for meaning: it is "also", he says, " a signifier (a corporeal materiality) that is open and irreducible to a univocal signification".

Voice is the unique sound of the human self, made audible. The sound of the voice is contingent u... more Voice is the unique sound of the human self, made audible. The sound of the voice is contingent upon the complex structure of each individual human body for the nature and quality of the sound emanating from it, as well as being subject to the state of health of the individual, both mental and physical, which contributes to the constantly, if subtly varying physicality of the individual. It is indeed a truism that the voice is unique, inasmuch as no two humans are identical, and therefore no two voices are identical. I propose a phenomenological discussion of the performing voice, in order to reveal the voice in its material and substantial thingliness as the sound of the unique individual who is the actor, containing within its fluctuations and its nuances the character who emerges from the actor’s engagement with the text.
There are at least three inter-connected challenges disrupting perception of the uniqueness of the voice and defying attempts at its representation. The first challenge arises out of the constraints of a culture that has traditionally valued the written word as the means of interpretation and analysis of performance. This privileging of the written word both informs, and is informed by the second challenge, which is the commonly held notion of the voice as a mere carrier of text, whereby the voice itself is assumed to be “synonymous with speech” (Titze xviii). Such a misconception regarding the difference between voice and speech is bound up with the third challenge, which is the nature of perception itself and how it is generally discussed.

Voice is a trinomy , and the trinomy in question is the self. In the live theatre, the actor exp... more Voice is a trinomy , and the trinomy in question is the self. In the live theatre, the actor expresses his or her self, creating a community of selves (the world of the play) which is then shared with the community of selves which constitutes the audience. This article is about the role of the voice in creating that shared community.

Flloyd teaches voice and public presentation skills via her private studio "Being in Voice. Find out more here https://beinginvoice.com.

4 views

Voice and Speech Review, 2023

Capter L'essence Du Spectacle: Un Enjeu De Taille Pour Le Patrimoine Immatériel: Capturing the Essence of Performance: The Challenges of Intangible Heritage., 2010

Voice and Speech Review, 2009

skip nav. ...

Modern Drama, Mar 24, 2015

Voice and Speech Review, 2009

Voice and Speech Review, 2007

Australian Studies, Dec 2014

The performance of Shakespeare in Australia has changed greatly in style and interpretation as cu... more The performance of Shakespeare in Australia has changed greatly in style and interpretation as cultural and social attitudes have shifted over the 250 years since European settlement. These changes are evident in the way the actors use their voices, which reflects the changing nature of training practices and performance styles over time, but more importantly also reveals Shakespeare’s language as the expression of those specific actors in their own specific time. Examining two productions from the latter part of the twentieth century, a period that witnessed a burgeoning independence of Australian cultural identity, and subjecting them to the aural equivalent of a close reading demonstrates how it is not the accent, but the vocal quality of the actor that is crucial.

Capturing the Essence of Live Performance: The Challenge of Intangible Heritage. , 2008

In the dramatic performance of text, linguistic performativity is inherent within the utterances ... more In the dramatic performance of text, linguistic performativity is inherent within the utterances provided by the playwright for the character, to be used as if they were in normal use in the world of the play. The actor, however, is required to speak memorised lines many times as if the spoken language just happened to occur in that instant, in response to the need to express a specific thought. When performing Shakespearean drama, codes of linguistic performativity must be balanced with those of the verse and the heightened language as well as the needs of public performance – or the demands of the film set. Often, a second level of ‘para’-performativity overlays the text as it is spoken by the actor, and the utterance resounds with the acts of remembering and/or quoting (the memorised lines). I propose that when the illusion of ‘honesty’ is achieved without reducing the language to a contemporised ‘naturalness’, it owes its existence to a second order, or ‘meta’-performative quality adhering in the voice.

The human voice in the performance of text is ephemeral and yet not intangible. It has substance... more The human voice in the performance of text is ephemeral and yet not intangible. It has substance, meaning and effect over and above the language it speaks. In historiographical analyses, the vocal performance text is often ignored in favour of visual elements, and textual interpretation. Mechanical, or ‘technological’ recordings may render a vocal performance in a repeatable medium, however the use of such recordings for analysis is subject to the changing state of the listener over time, apart from any degradation in the quality of the sound recording over time. Phonetic transcription transforms the living, breathed and mobile sound into a static representation, and while phonology provides the settings within which linguistic and para-linguistic components exist, these are still generally defined in terms which promote the language, rather than the uniquely spoken event. This paper proposes that the vocal performance text has material substance, it cannot be predicted, and argues that it has rarely – if ever – been captured adequately because certain elements are always ignored, specifically those elements which constitute an original vocal performance text.