Charissa Noble | University of San Diego (original) (raw)
Papers by Charissa Noble
Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, 2022
In the decades following World War II, novel sound technologies and the proliferation of ethnomus... more In the decades following World War II, novel sound technologies and the proliferation of ethnomusicological field recordings ignited curiosity and experimentation among many musicians; these cultural phenomena also sparked a re-examination of conventional Euro-American musical sound sources. Classically trained instrumentalists and singers-particularly those associated with the 'experimental tradition'cultivated intentionally idiosyncratic musical practices and widened their range of sonic possibility; this cultural zeitgeist included a heightened interest in so-called extended vocal techniques. In this article, I examine the research and creative output of the Extended Vocal Techniques Ensemble (EVTE) of the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). Drawing from published literature, interviews and archival sources to write this account of the EVTE's multifaceted work, I contextualize the group's activities within UCSD's interdisciplinary emphasis as well as in the broader social-historical discourses of 'extended vocal techniques'. Furthermore, I address the implications of their story within the broader politics of vocal aesthetics and pedagogy in Euro-American classical music contexts. By unearthing the EVTE's interdisciplinary vision for vocal study, I hope to not only spark interest in this ensemble's contributions, but also to revive (and build upon) their vision of a radically-reimagined vocal artistry and study in academic music and beyond.
This study traces the usage and development of the concept of “extended vocal techniques,” [EVT] ... more This study traces the usage and development of the concept of “extended vocal techniques,” [EVT] from its early appearances in musical discourse in the 1970s to the present. Though many authors suggest a long lineage for EVT, the actual term is relatively new. In fact, this term is virtually absent from scholarly or journalistic literature before the 1970s. Vocal pedagogues and music scholars have contributed substantially to the discussion concerning which vocal practices, artists, and performance literature might be considered part of the EVT tradition. Musicological work more specifically focused on EVT has profiled individual performer-composers working experimentally with their voices, and many have woven critical theory into their analyses of these artists’ vocal practices. Curiously, few of these musicological studies have attended to their own acceptance of the EVT label, commonly applied to artists such as Meredith Monk, Joan La Barbara, and Pamela Z, among others. The oversight of the historical and critical issues underpinning the term itself has allowed EVT's definition to be tacitly shaped by each author’s cultural assumptions. These unacknowledged assumptions drive various definitions and responses to EVT, forming a hidden transcript that this project seeks to unearth. By locating the appearances of the term EVT in musical discourse from earliest to latest, this work specifies the time period, social context, institutional affiliations, and musical background for each contributor to the EVT record and profiles representative artists from different social-historical contexts who have been frequently associated with EVT. Through an investigation of EVT’s various historical definitions, cultural implications, and power dynamics, I formulate a rhizomatic account of the development of EVT as a concept. Moreover, I examine how its differences and similarities over the years indicate our shifting perspectives on voices, bodies, music, and identity. Recasting EVT as a culturally-situated mode of listening holds the potential to move conservatory singing toward a more flexible, inclusive understanding of vocal practice that celebrates different bodies, abilities, and backgrounds
Avant-garde vocalist, composer, and music critic, Joan La Barbara occupied a central role in late... more Avant-garde vocalist, composer, and music critic, Joan La Barbara occupied a central role in late twentieth-century American experimentalism. Her early musique concrète piece Cathing (1977) features both her voice and that of Cathy Berberian, purported originator of extended vocal techniques. In a striking commentary, Cathing presents an excerpt of Berberian declaring in an interview that those who use extended vocal techniques are: “. . . freaks, they’re phenomena, what they used to call me. But it wasn’t really true in my case because I can really sing. . .”
Considering that scholarship on extended vocal techniques typically positions Berberian as founder, La Barbara’s illumination of this provocative interview reveals a significant historical oversight surrounding Berberian’s renunciation of extended vocality and La Barbara’s musical response. This paper investigates the social-historical context of Cathing and its attendant gender issues. Drawing from the work of Judith Butler and Suzanne Cusick, I posit that Berberian’s identification as a “singer” circumscribed her legibility as a musician due to cultural conflations of vocal and gender norms.
By contrast, the electronic treatment of musical texture and vocal timbre in Cathing substantiates La Barbara’s claim of voice as “instrumental.” By continually blurring the line between “human” and “technological” sound, Cathing challenges assumptions about the embodied nature of the voice through the rhetoric of instrumentalism and technology. This constantly shifting electronic treatment of both voices presents a sonic environment that subverts gender and vocal norms, and invites transformational possibility.
The late twentieth-century experimental music scene embraced many self-conscious pieces addressi... more The late twentieth-century experimental music scene embraced many self-conscious pieces addressing critical cultural issues. Exemplifying this trend was composer Robert Ashley, whose opera for television Perfect Lives is an enactment of his theory of the “migration of consciousness in America,” a process he defines in three phases: linear, fragmented, and more fragmented but with new meanings. Ashley associates each stage with different patterns of speech and with Westward migration.
Ashley linked the first phase, European settlement on the East Coast, to a perception of life as a series of linear, causal events, and the self as a production of heritage and cultural identity. This phase is exemplified by the telling of commonly known anecdotes. The second phase, the present (metaphorically linked to the Midwest), is marked by clichés and aphorisms, which Ashley regarded as remnants of these now-forgotten anecdotes. Lacking connection to their original stories they eschew linearity and the teleological narrative, favoring instead personal experience. The third phase is in the near future, when Americans will assign new meanings to their fragments of worldview and similarly, fragments of speech will assume individualized meanings.
By focusing on one of the frequently used devices in the opera, the disembodied voice, this paper explicates ways in which the surface features of Ashley’s opera demonstrate his theory of “the migration of consciousness” on formal, experiential, and hermeneutical levels. The concept of the disembodied voice also marks many popular music videos, where it creates a sense of unity in the absence of linear narrative or causal events. Building on the work of Carol Vernallis, I will show how this aspect of Perfect Lives captures Ashley’s theory. Juxtaposing two seemingly disparate genres (opera and music video) also suggests a reconsideration of conventional genre categories and encourages an analogous negotiability of the lines between academic disciplines.
Drafts by Charissa Noble
Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies, 2022
In the decades following World War II, novel sound technologies and the proliferation of ethnomus... more In the decades following World War II, novel sound technologies and the proliferation of ethnomusicological field recordings ignited curiosity and experimentation among many musicians; these cultural phenomena also sparked a re-examination of conventional Euro-American musical sound sources. Classically trained instrumentalists and singers-particularly those associated with the 'experimental tradition'cultivated intentionally idiosyncratic musical practices and widened their range of sonic possibility; this cultural zeitgeist included a heightened interest in so-called extended vocal techniques. In this article, I examine the research and creative output of the Extended Vocal Techniques Ensemble (EVTE) of the University of California at San Diego (UCSD). Drawing from published literature, interviews and archival sources to write this account of the EVTE's multifaceted work, I contextualize the group's activities within UCSD's interdisciplinary emphasis as well as in the broader social-historical discourses of 'extended vocal techniques'. Furthermore, I address the implications of their story within the broader politics of vocal aesthetics and pedagogy in Euro-American classical music contexts. By unearthing the EVTE's interdisciplinary vision for vocal study, I hope to not only spark interest in this ensemble's contributions, but also to revive (and build upon) their vision of a radically-reimagined vocal artistry and study in academic music and beyond.
This study traces the usage and development of the concept of “extended vocal techniques,” [EVT] ... more This study traces the usage and development of the concept of “extended vocal techniques,” [EVT] from its early appearances in musical discourse in the 1970s to the present. Though many authors suggest a long lineage for EVT, the actual term is relatively new. In fact, this term is virtually absent from scholarly or journalistic literature before the 1970s. Vocal pedagogues and music scholars have contributed substantially to the discussion concerning which vocal practices, artists, and performance literature might be considered part of the EVT tradition. Musicological work more specifically focused on EVT has profiled individual performer-composers working experimentally with their voices, and many have woven critical theory into their analyses of these artists’ vocal practices. Curiously, few of these musicological studies have attended to their own acceptance of the EVT label, commonly applied to artists such as Meredith Monk, Joan La Barbara, and Pamela Z, among others. The oversight of the historical and critical issues underpinning the term itself has allowed EVT's definition to be tacitly shaped by each author’s cultural assumptions. These unacknowledged assumptions drive various definitions and responses to EVT, forming a hidden transcript that this project seeks to unearth. By locating the appearances of the term EVT in musical discourse from earliest to latest, this work specifies the time period, social context, institutional affiliations, and musical background for each contributor to the EVT record and profiles representative artists from different social-historical contexts who have been frequently associated with EVT. Through an investigation of EVT’s various historical definitions, cultural implications, and power dynamics, I formulate a rhizomatic account of the development of EVT as a concept. Moreover, I examine how its differences and similarities over the years indicate our shifting perspectives on voices, bodies, music, and identity. Recasting EVT as a culturally-situated mode of listening holds the potential to move conservatory singing toward a more flexible, inclusive understanding of vocal practice that celebrates different bodies, abilities, and backgrounds
Avant-garde vocalist, composer, and music critic, Joan La Barbara occupied a central role in late... more Avant-garde vocalist, composer, and music critic, Joan La Barbara occupied a central role in late twentieth-century American experimentalism. Her early musique concrète piece Cathing (1977) features both her voice and that of Cathy Berberian, purported originator of extended vocal techniques. In a striking commentary, Cathing presents an excerpt of Berberian declaring in an interview that those who use extended vocal techniques are: “. . . freaks, they’re phenomena, what they used to call me. But it wasn’t really true in my case because I can really sing. . .”
Considering that scholarship on extended vocal techniques typically positions Berberian as founder, La Barbara’s illumination of this provocative interview reveals a significant historical oversight surrounding Berberian’s renunciation of extended vocality and La Barbara’s musical response. This paper investigates the social-historical context of Cathing and its attendant gender issues. Drawing from the work of Judith Butler and Suzanne Cusick, I posit that Berberian’s identification as a “singer” circumscribed her legibility as a musician due to cultural conflations of vocal and gender norms.
By contrast, the electronic treatment of musical texture and vocal timbre in Cathing substantiates La Barbara’s claim of voice as “instrumental.” By continually blurring the line between “human” and “technological” sound, Cathing challenges assumptions about the embodied nature of the voice through the rhetoric of instrumentalism and technology. This constantly shifting electronic treatment of both voices presents a sonic environment that subverts gender and vocal norms, and invites transformational possibility.
The late twentieth-century experimental music scene embraced many self-conscious pieces addressi... more The late twentieth-century experimental music scene embraced many self-conscious pieces addressing critical cultural issues. Exemplifying this trend was composer Robert Ashley, whose opera for television Perfect Lives is an enactment of his theory of the “migration of consciousness in America,” a process he defines in three phases: linear, fragmented, and more fragmented but with new meanings. Ashley associates each stage with different patterns of speech and with Westward migration.
Ashley linked the first phase, European settlement on the East Coast, to a perception of life as a series of linear, causal events, and the self as a production of heritage and cultural identity. This phase is exemplified by the telling of commonly known anecdotes. The second phase, the present (metaphorically linked to the Midwest), is marked by clichés and aphorisms, which Ashley regarded as remnants of these now-forgotten anecdotes. Lacking connection to their original stories they eschew linearity and the teleological narrative, favoring instead personal experience. The third phase is in the near future, when Americans will assign new meanings to their fragments of worldview and similarly, fragments of speech will assume individualized meanings.
By focusing on one of the frequently used devices in the opera, the disembodied voice, this paper explicates ways in which the surface features of Ashley’s opera demonstrate his theory of “the migration of consciousness” on formal, experiential, and hermeneutical levels. The concept of the disembodied voice also marks many popular music videos, where it creates a sense of unity in the absence of linear narrative or causal events. Building on the work of Carol Vernallis, I will show how this aspect of Perfect Lives captures Ashley’s theory. Juxtaposing two seemingly disparate genres (opera and music video) also suggests a reconsideration of conventional genre categories and encourages an analogous negotiability of the lines between academic disciplines.