Performing Popular Music - Research Paper Example

A Major Project Report Performing Popular Music Vocal Expression – Emotion and Physiology MA In Popular Music Introduction: This is a Progress Report on “Performing Popular Music” (singing). This summary enumerates both Emotion and Physiology, laying down the activity that has been done in the project as well as the remaining steps needed to research. In this Report, I intend to make a review of the nature of the project, the subject and scope for further development. This Report details, the progress I have made, the work I am currently engaged in and the work I plan to complete at the end of the project. Finally, I will give details on the overall assessment of how the project is going, including the outline of the Final Project Paper. Background Popular Music Performance is a combination of both musical as well as physical factors. This study acts as a bridge between music and performance and includes body language, gestures, facial expressions, overall presentation of the artist such as costume and make up, together with musical expression through voice. Every artist or performer should understand the importance of all these components and use them to the best of their ability in order to make a success of their musical performance. In L’Analysedes Spectacles, Patrice Pavis writes ‘Under the influence of musical and gestural rhythm, these elements have fused, mixing and melding together what seem to be opposing elements: speech and music, time and space, the voice and the body, movement and stasis”. For my project, I chose the topic related to emotion, voice and body language to be used in my musical performance. Project Description: The Major Project, ‘Performing Popular Music (Singing): Vocal Expression of Emotion and Physiology’ includes the study of emotion and physiology in relation to expression using voice and body language during a musical performance. The Objectives of this Major Project are as follows: Auslander, P. (2004) ‘Performance Analysis and Popular Music: A Manifesto’. Contemporary Theater Review (London: Routledge), Vol. 14, p. 3 Pavis P. (1996), L’Analyse des spectacles. Paris: Edition Nathan, p. 121 To produce and perform a 45 minutes recital, on June 18th 2007, at Coombeburst Studio, Kingston University, and the final research paper that contains the analysis of the important relationship between emotion and physiology while performing popular music. The aims of this recital and research paper are… To develop an understanding of musical expression in performing popular music: tonal, emotional and vocal expression. To understand how elements involving voice type and physical movements are used to evoke emotional communication in the performance of particular popular music repertoire. To practice and develop the using of voice, singing techniques, dynamics of pitch, vibrato, breathing techniques and rhythm. To develop creative and aesthetic sensitivity in relation to performance skills, on- stage abilities and ensemble skills. To develop self confidence and capacity of a professional singer/performer in popular music performance. Work Completed: As of this time, I have completed most of the practice for my singing through rehearsals and choreography for the recital and am putting together the sections of the final paper. The following is what I have already done on the recital preparation and the final paper. After choosing the topic, I collected a lot of information dealing with emotion and physiology through books, videos, magazines and journals. All these materials helped me to develop my skills in vocal expression using emotions of voice such as tone, vibrato, whispering and quivering etc. These materials were also very useful in helping me to develop how to present myself aesthetically using good body language and gestures. These are some of the references of my Major Project that I have read, quoted and analyzed… 1. ‘Emotion and Meaning in Music’, by Leonard B. Meyer 2. ‘Music and gesture’, by Anthony Gritten Elaine King 3. ‘Singing and Actor’, by Gillyanne Kayes 4. ‘Cognitive Poetics in the analysing of Popular Music : A new approach to song lyrics’, by Yngvar B. Steinholt (Bergen University) 5. ‘Performance Analysis and Popular Music: A Manifesto, Contemporary Theater Review’, by Philip Auslander 6. ‘Acting for singers’, by David F ????? 7. ‘Studying Emotional Expression in Music Education’, by Gabrielsson, Alf 8. ‘Measurement on the Expression of Emotion in Music’, by C.E. Seashore 9. ‘Music Perception : What is it that we perceive when we perceive Music’, by Phillip Dorrell (http://www.1729.com/blog/MusicPerception.html) 10. ‘Singing Concepts’, by Nikki Berry (http://sing.co.nz/singingconcepts.html) 11. ‘Voice Quality and the Singing Voice’, by Janice Chapman Aua (http://isca-speech.org/archive/voqual03/voq3_053.html) 12. ‘Rhetoric, Structure,Gesture : Interpreting Musical Meaning’, by Patrick Mc Creless 13. ‘Music,Image,Gesture’, by Bryan Gilliam 14. ‘Performing Rites : Evaluating Popular Music’, by Simon Frith 15. ‘Analysing of Popular Music’, by Allan F. Moore 16. ‘Effect of Music and Rhythm on Physical Performance’, by Anshel, Mark H.; Marisi, Dan Q. 17. ‘Tone and Emotion’, Brett T. 18. ‘Discover Your Voice’, Brett T. 19. ‘Singing In Style’, Elliot M. 20. ‘Emotive Transforms’, Johan Sundberg/ KTH Voice Research Centre, Department of Speech Music Hearing, KTH (Royal Institute of Technology), Stockholm, Sweden and etc,.. From the analysis, the communication between the musicians and the audiences (listeners) has the various channels and methods. In music, the lyrics and melodies convey the emotion like languages; they can both express and induce emotion (Juslin, P.N. and Slobado, J.A., 2001).1 Any good singer/ performer would strive hard to develop this channel of communication between the audience and themselves because this is one of the ultimate factors for a successful performance and audience appreciation. As musicians, the singers can transmit the emotion in song through the tonal and vocal expression including their gestures and body movements, which express the musical intention. The visual information provides a channel of communication to the audiences of its own, separately from the auditory signal (Dahl, S. and Friberg, A., 2004).2 Both vocal and visual expressions are a combination that makes a performer appealing and acceptable by their audience. In order to achieve this, a singer should not only exude great talent but also high self confidence. I have already completed “‘The Analysis of Expression in Music Performance’ that is contained in Chapter 1 of the final paper. In chapter 2, I explore the dual aspects of emotion both in music and otherwise. Before the study of vocal expression of emotion in songs and to understand what exactly emotion is, I studied an evolutionary perspective to look at what functions they serve (Buss, 1995).3 I found it is not very easy to define the concept of emotion because it is dependent on many other factors. As Fehr and Russell state in their journal “Everyone knows what an emotion is, until asked to give a definition. Then, it seems, no one knows” 1984).4 Most researchers have proved that emotions consist of several components. The two theories which have most strongly influenced research on vocal expression are 1) ‘Discrete Emotion Theories’ of Ekman (1992)5 and 2) ‘Dimensional Theories’ of Russell (1980).6 ‘Discrete Emotion Theories’ is thought that each discrete emotion has its own unique pattern of physiological activity, cognitive appraisal, expression and action tendency (Darwin, 1998; Ekman, 1992; Izard, 1992) It also represents a unique person environment interaction with its own adaptational significance for the individual”. This is very true of a performer because he or she has the capacity to create their own environment while interacting with the audience. These emotions are found in our day- to- day life and include love, joy, happiness, fear, anger, danger, sorrow, hate, disgust and serenity. These basic emotions are used in music composition and lyric writing and are transmitted from composer to musician and musician to audience/listener. As the middleman position, the musician should have good potential to receive the emotions (mass) and convey them to the audience effectively. ‘Dimensional Theories’ or ‘Circumplex’ (Schlosberg, 1941)7concentrates on the subjective feeling state and focuses on identifying emotions based on their underlying dimensions. Wundt suggests there are three different dimensions of emotional states, ‘pleasure – displeasure’, ‘strain – relaxation’, ‘excitement and calmness.8 Based on this theory, a singer/performer can identify the theme, mood and general rhythm of the song. In doing so, they can adapt their voice to song in a much better way and have the satisfaction of projecting themselves extremely well and giving a cutting edge performance. Ekka, P. (1992) ‘An Argument for Basic Emotion’. Cognition and Emotion, 6, p.169 - 199 Russell, J. A. (1980) A Circumplex Model of Affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, p.1161 -1178 Power, M.,& Dalgleish, T. (1997) Cognition and Emotion: From Order to Disorder. Hove: Psychology Press. Schlosberg (1941) proposed the underlying structure of emotional experience can be characterized as an ordering of emotional states on the circumference of a circle. Wundt, W. (1924) An Introduction to Psychology. London: Allen and Unwin Larsen, R, J. and Diener, E. (1992) ‘Promises and Problems with the Circumplex Model of Emotion’. Review of Personality and Social Psychology, ed. M. S. Clark ( California: Newbury Park, Sage. Usually, popular tunes include vocals and catchy lyrics and are rarely entirely instrumental. Lyrics are another important medium to transmit emotions besides the melody. A singer uses both vocal and tonal expression of the lyrics to convey emotion. This creates a sort of communication between the artist and her audience. Laukka proposed the fundamental issues that we should consider, (a) the content (what is communicated), (b) the accuracy (how accurately is it communicated?), and (c) the code (how is it communicated?).9 The singers should understand the concept of the production (performance), theme and atmosphere in a song, the meaning of lyrics, semantic context, emotional and tonal expression and singing techniques to convey the emotion in a song, to the audience effectively. From the paper research to popular music performance, I also adapted the knowledge of emotion and physiology in my singing performance including many aspects of musical expressions in my recital that I have to perform on June 18th 2007. I analyzed 7 songs from the aspects of semantic analysis, meaning, inspiration, genre, character, emotion, melody, atmosphere, etc. I also interpreted and practiced them as Frith’s three different strata10 consisting of 3 layers: 1) real person (the performer as human being), 2) the performance persona (star personality or image), and 3) character (song personality). All three dimensions will take place simultaneously in my recital because my performance comprises of performer (real person), music and lyrics (character), and theme/ concept; Pop-Rock Princess (persona). These are linked to the emotional and physical expression in the performance to make it more appealing. All knowledge from this research, including the performing and singing practice, will help to enhance my self- confidence on the stage and make me understand ‘Who I am, What I am doing, Who are the receivers/ audiences, and How to approach them’. Laukka, P. (2004) Vocal Expression of Emotion. Uppsala : Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, p. 13 Frith, S (1996) Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music. Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, p. 158 -225 Current Work: Currently, I am working on Physiology analysis and from this study I learned that physical appearance is another important component that supports both emotional and visual expression. It is not enough if one has musical skills because entertaining skills are also necessary to reach your audience. If a singer/performer does not exhibit different expressions and good body language, then the audience would get bored and tired and would be highly dissatisfied with the performance. Body movement is an important non-verbal means of communication between humans, Dahl (2004) states, “It can help observers extract information about the course of action, or the intent of person.” It is very helpful to identify different features within the song. Music and movement share an intimate relationship and compliment each other during a performance. As Dahl and Friberg (2004) states, “Some characteristics of this motion will inevitably be reflected in the resulting tones”. David and Correia (2002)11 suggest four aspects that influence the body language in musical performance 1) Communication with co-performer, 2) individual interpretations of the narrative or expressive/ emotional elements of the music, 3)The performer’s own experiences and behaviors, and 4) the aim to interact with and entertain an audience. In my recital, the movement cue is applied for choreography of 3 songs12. And according to the tempo the speed is increased or decreased. Similar to the essential role of tempo in music performance, the important factors for identifying the intention is the connection between the duration of movement and velocity (Dahl and Friberg, 2004). Before choreographing a song I analyze the meaning of the lyrics, interpret them and understand the intention, meaning, emotion, atmosphere, and overview of the song and only then go to the next step. Especially beat and tempo is the main role in movement controls. From the experiment of Paterson’s theory (2001)13, Rated movement cues could be used to characterize the different emotional intentions: Anger is primarily associated with jerky movements; Happy with large and somewhat fast and jerky movement; Sadness with slow and smooth movements; and Fear with small and somewhat irregular movements. The study of physiology in performing popular music is of utmost importance and needs to be studied well by singers and performers so that they could be a hit with the masses. This study includes some interesting experiments in emotional theories such as for example, ‘point-biserial correlation’ (r) Juslin, (2000)14, and the emotion recognition score (E) by Resnicov, Salovey and Repp (2004)15 in calculation for combinations of intention vector for Anger, Happiness, Fear, Sadness and different rating vector. There are approximately 5 chapters in final paper. In preparation for my performance, I read such books as ‘Find Your Voice’ by Jo Thompson,‘Singing for Dummies’ by Pamelia S. Phillips and ‘Do Re Mi’ by Maneenuch Samerasutra. 1. A Public Affair, 2. Button, 3. I believe Paterson, H.M., Pollick, F.E., and Sanford, A. J. (2001) ‘The Role of Velocity in Affect Discrimination’. Proceeding of the Twenty-Third Annual Conference of the Cognition Science Society, eds. J. D. Moore and K. Stenning ( Edinburgh: Laurence Erlbaum Associates), p. 756 - 761 Juslin, P. N. (2000) ‘Cue Utilization in Communication of Emotion in Music Performance to Perception’. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perormance 26/6, p. 1797 -1913 Shove, P., and Repp, B. (1995) ‘Music Motion and Performance: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectivs’. The Practice of Performance Studies in Musical Interpretation, Ed. J. Rink (Cambridge: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 55 – 83 Thompson writes giving a lot of advice and tips to pop – Rock singers like me and thus “Your Voice” helps me to improve my singing. Within a week of practicing hints given in the book, I was able to increase my vocal range and breathing. I feel more comfortable now even when singing in the high range. I also took additional lessons with my vocal tutor Patricia for two months at Kingston University. I also took private lessons from my vocal trainer, Sean Jeffrey of Billy Elliot’s Actors. During the Easter holidays I will be visiting my family and music teacher Maneenuch Samerasutra, the author of ‘Do Re Mi’ in Thailand and ask for her suggestions. For my Rehearsals, I’ve divided it into two parts – The first part is solo, for which I warm my voice doing breathing exercises and projecting my voice. After that I practice two of the songs intensively, which I record to see which tone suits the song the best and which expressions lend more beauty to the song. I also check to see which technique is best suited for which song. I also practice open throat but at the same time I am careful not to strain my voice. The second part is group rehearsal; 4 songs with the band and 3 songs with dancers. I choreograph all movements by myself. I spend 6 - 8 hours per week to teach and rehearse with my dancers and 6 - 9 hours per week to rehearse all songs with the band. Time Management seems to be a major problem that we face where rehearsals are concerned. All the members are working and find it rather hard to come in time for rehearsals. The people who help me are my friends who love music and play different instruments. Professional musicians are too expensive, not reliable and are neither punctual nor friendly. The lesson I learned here was that “Nothing comes cheap and good in this world”. Therefore I will make the best use of the musicians and dancers I have. Future Work: As per my schedule in Major Project Plan, I have already rehearsed 3 songs; ‘I Ain’t Got You’, ‘I Believe’ and ‘A Public Affair’. I am currently practicing ‘Torn’ and recording the piano in ‘Ka-Jai’, which are 5 songs for March. There are two songs and one interlude (Dance only) left that I have planned to interpret, choreograph and rehearse in April and run-through them by the end of May. I have to study ‘History of Film Music’ from March until the end of May. I am going to completely dedicate my time to research, rehearse and prepare for the recital during Easter break and up to the end of May. A month before the recital, I have planned to run-through all songs in the list at Coombehurst Studio, Kingston University. It can help me get used to the stage in preparation for the real day. The studio is often fully booked in May and June but they allow MA students to rehearse after midnight. I have booked room 578 to rehearse with my band during the week and if the need arises, I will run through my rehearsal at the studio after midnight. I have borrowed wireless microphone from Abby to rehearse the songs that I have to sing and dance at the same time. During this period, I try to keep myself healthy and also avoiding voice problems. Although I finished the singing lessons with Patricia in March, I still have the private lessons with Sean Jeffrey, the vocal coach of Billy Elliot’s actors. For the final paper, I have planned to finish Chapter 4, ‘The Analysis of Physiology in Popular Music Performance’ in April and Chapter 5, ‘The Relationship between Emotion and Physiology in Popular Music Performance in June after the recital. Chapter 5 is about my recital, the performance and the feedback which I will make a note of after the recital. After that, I have planned to ask Jane Master, an academic supporter for PG Students at Kingston University, to proofread the finished report so that the information in the final paper is explained accurately and understandably. The following is the outline of the Final Report… The Outline of Performing Popular Music: Emotion and Physiology I. Introduction II. The Expression in Popular Music Performance A. The Elements of Musical Expression B. Expression for Performing Songs 1. Vocal Expression 1.1 Theories of Vocal Expression 1.2 Singing Voice and Vocal Qualities 1.3 Emotion and Tone 2. Physical Expression 2.1 Physiology in Music performance 2.2 Physical Expression for Singer III. Emotional Expression in Performing Popular Music A. Theories of Emotion 1. Discrete emotion theories 2. Dimensional emotion theories 3. Functions of emotion expressions B. Emotion in Music 1. Lyrics and Melodies 2. Semantic Analysis in Songs C. Vocal Expression of Emotion 1. Verbal Expression and Non – Verbal Expression 2. Method of Collecting Vocal Expression 3. Decoding and Encoding of Vocal Expression 4. Acoustic Characteristics of Vocal Expression IV. Physiology in Performing Popular Music A. Theories of Physiology 1. Body Movements as Non-Verbal communication 2. Motion in Music B. Physical Expression in Popular Music 1. The Elements of Physical Expression. 2. Body Languages: The Meaning of Movements 3. Physical Expression in Singing Performance 4. The Experiments C. The Analysis of Physiology in Popular Music Performance V. The Relationship of Emotion and Physiology in Performing Popular Music (Emotion and Motion) VI. The Recital Assessment Conclusion References Overall Summary With the exception of the study time overlap, Major Project is coming along well. For the recital, most of preparation is going on quite well, especially solo rehearsals. I also found my voice and my movements much improved. Although there are some obstacles about the band rehearsal, I tried to solve the problems by re-arranging the schedule for better compatibility. For the research paper, everything went on smoothly. This project has the full support of my supervisor, Frank Millward, e.g. recommending some interesting books, refining my topic and answering my queries. The remaining chapters will be completed soon. After the research on the emotional and physical expression in singing performance, I feel more relaxed and comfortable when I sing or perform. I apply some of these theories to my on-stage performance automatically. I realize that it is very useful and worthwhile studying. In the beginning, it was not easy for me to understand the topic clearly and hence I started to prepare and process this Major Project early, I have a lot of time to revise and understand it finally. Overall progress is going well and the rest of this Major Project will be implemented according to plan. ________ ________________________ Bibliography Auslander, P. (2004) ‘Performance Analysis and Popular Music: A Manifesto’. Contemporary Theater Review (London: Routledge), Vol. 14, p. 3 Brett, T. (2000 Tone and Emotion. London: Schott & Co Ltd, p. 32. Brett, T. (1996) Discover Your Voice. London: Schott & Co Ltd, p. 26 Brett, T.: ‘Vocal Point’, Tona de Brett Homapage (accessed 2 December 2006), http://www.tonadebrett.co.uk/vocal/vocal.htm Buss, D. M. (1995) ‘Evolutionary Psychology: A New Paradigm for Psychological Science’ Psychological Inquiry 6, p.1 - 30 Dahl, S. and Friberg, A. (2004) ‘Body Movement: introduction. ‘Visual Perception of Expressiveness in a Musicians’ Body Movements’. Sweden: KTH School of Computer Science and Communication, p.1 Davidson, J. W. and Correia, J. S. (2002) ‘Body Movement’. The Science and Psychology of Music Performance, Creative Strategies for Teaching and Learning, ed. R. Parncutt and G. E. McPherson (Oxford: Oxford University), p. 237 – 250 Dorrell, P.: ‘Music Perception: What is it that we perceive when we perceive Music, Music Blog (accessed on 21 April 2007), http://www.1729.com/blog/MusicPerception.html Ekka, P. (1992) ‘An Argument for Basic Emotion’. Cognition and Emotion, 6, p.169 – 199 Elliott, M. (2006) Singing In Style. London: Yale University Press, p.218 Fehr, B., and Russell, J. A. (1984) ‘Concept of Emotion Viewed from A Prototype Perspective’. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 113, p. 464 - 486 Frith, S (1996) Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, p. 158 -225 Grant C. and Grant D. (2006) Total Singing Tutor: The Complete Guide to Singing, Recording and Performing. London: Carlton Books Ltd Juslin, P. N. (2000) ‘Cue Utilization in Communication of Emotion in Music Performance to Perception’. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perormance 26/6, p. 1797 -1913 Juslin, P.N. and Slobado, J.A. (2001) ‘Music and Emotion: Introduction’. Music and Emotion; Theory and Research, ed. J.A. Sloboda (Oxford: Oxford University Press), p. 3 - 19. Larsen, R, J. and Diener, E. (1992) ‘Promises and Problems with the Circumplex Model of Emotion’. Review of Personality and Social Psychology, ed. M. S. Clark California: Newbury Park, Sage) Laukka, P. (2004) Vocal Expression of Emotion. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, p. 13 Oatley, K. and Jenkins, J. M. (1996) Understanding emotions. Oxford: Blackwell, p. 44 – 51 Ostwald, D. (2005) Acting for Singers: Creating Believable Singing Characters. New York: Oxford University Press Inc, p. 104 Paterson, H.M., Pollick, F.E., and Sanford, A. J. (2001) ‘The Role of Velocity in Affect Discrimination’. Proceeding of the Twenty-Third Annual Conference of the Cognition Science Society, eds. J. D. Moore and K. Stenning ( Edinburgh: Laurence Erlbaum Associates), p. 756 - 761 Pavis P. (1996), L’Analyse des spectacles. Paris: Edition Nathan, p. 121 Phillips, P. (2003) Singing for Dummies. West Sussex: Wiley Publishing Pollick, F. E., Paterson, H. M., Bruderlin, A.,and Sanford, A. J.(2001). ‘Perceiving Affect from Arm and Movement’. Cognition 82/2, B51 –B61 Power, M.,& Dalgleish, T. (1997) Cognition and Emotion: From Order to Disorder. Hove: Psychology Press Russell, J. A. (1980) A Circumplex Model of Affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, p.1161 -1178 Samerasutra, M.(2001) Do Re Me. Bangkok: Nation Book , p. 82 Shove, P., and Repp, B. (1995) ‘Music Motion and Performance: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectivs’. The Practice of Performance Studies in Musical Interpretation, Ed. J. Rink (Cambridge: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 55 – 83 Steinholt, B. Y. (2006) ‘Cognitive Poetics in the Analysing of Popular Music’. A New Approach to Song Lyrics’ (Bergen: Bergen University), vol.10, p.1 - 2 Takuskin, R. (1996) Text and Act: Essays on Music and Performance. Oxford: Oxford University Press Thompson, J. (2004) Find Your Voice: A Self-help Manual for Singers. Artemis Editions, p. 12- 53 Walk, R. D. and Homan, C. P. (1984). ‘Emotion and dance in dynamic light displays’. Bullet of Psychonomic Society, vol.22, p.437 – 440 Wundt, W. (1924) An Introduction to Psychology. London: Allen and Unwin ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Read More