Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 1 of 1
-
ItemThe voice in the darkness: one singer's journey to individuation( 2011)Forces at play in the human psyche often make vocal change difficult for the singer. This challenge is felt not only by the student beginning her vocal journey, but also by the professional singer in the process of technical change. This thesis explores vocal change as a challenge to the archetypal voice, as influenced by the civilisation process, in which, according to Jung, the psyche is divided into ego and shadow. This dualistic quality, as experienced by the human psyche, is common to human endeavour and is manifest in the images of the feminine with which society surrounds itself—from the Disney good/bad girl to manifestations of genital phobias. The polarisation of vocal pedagogy is seen as an extension of this human duality. Warring pedagogical factions engender a culture of one-sidedness and fusion in both the industry and in the individual singer. Lydia Goehr’s methodological tool of doubling is recalled, and used as a model not for resolving pedagogical debate, but rather for finding the creative possibility of equalised antagonistic interplay. Manuel Garcia II’s two-register system, in which the ‘unused voice’ is strengthened in order to equalise the antagonistic forces of registration, is recognised as an exemplary model of doubling. This dialogue is set upon the backdrop of one singer’s journey of vocal change, as inspired by registration dysfunction present in the aria “Dove sono.” Whilst concerned mainly with the feminine (soprano) perspective, the study can be seen not only as microcosm of singers’ universal struggle to achieve vocal security, and therefore artistic freedom, but also as the search for the archetypal voice.