Abstract
The human voice has historically been synonymous with identity and provides a platform where genderqueer, androgynous and trans identities can be explored. This thesis investigates the social and cultural implications of a ‘voice that does not fit’. There is an exploration into how voices ‘do not fit’ either, social expectations or how an artist feels their voice does not fit them; or rather the voice fits their bio-sex, but their bio-sex does not fit their gender identity. The project looks into the social expectations of voice and the personal accounts of how artist have had to deal with these expectations. The study is navigated by looking specifically at the reception of different queer voices in both modern and historic society. There is also an emphasis on vocal training and its implications to resultant pitch, timbre, identity and reception.The different case studies in this project are all ‘voices that do not fit’ in one way or another. They are all defined as being voices that are by society’s expectations ‘nonnormative’. The case studies are categorised in several ways: the voice of a castrato (Alessandro Moreschi); a ‘cis’ identifying person with a voice that does not fit societal expectations (Javier Medina); a transgender voice without any hormonal treatment (Wilmer Broadnax); and a transgender voice that has undergone hormone treatment (Alexandros Constansis, and an anonymised participant who has followed Constansis’s suggested vocal training). These four case studies are grouped into two correlating pairs with both pairs providing a modern and historic case study along with one that has undergone medical treatment and one that has not. The first pair of case studies is Alessandro Moreschi and Javier Medina and the second pair is Wilmer Broadnax and Alexandros Constansis.
| Date of Award | 22 Apr 2020 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Supervisor | Catherine Haworth (Main Supervisor) |