Guro von Germeten: The Omnivorous Voice

Field of study: Music Education

Summary

Musical theatre is a rapidly changing art form integrating and absorbing a wide range of musical genres and styles to its repertoire of musical works. As a result, the art form’s vocal-musical styles are in constant flux, and the criteria for aesthetic valuation or vocal behaviours are nebulous and ever-changing. In recent decades, research into the voice’s physical side has increased our understanding of how the voice works. However, the relationship between voice and the environment, culture, and society in which voice and vocal music exist remains less well explored. Therefore, this thesis aims to expand the knowledge base of what is termed the human voice’s social side, by exploring the pluralities of vocal behaviours, vocal aesthetics, and vocal tastes within musical theatre. To work toward such an aim, a theoretical framework of cultural omnivorousness—as coined by American sociologist Richard Peterson—is implemented. However, the framework is shifted from its core within cultural consumption to areas of cultural production and artistic processes. Moreover, to explore such omnivorous artistic and embodied practices, the framework is expanded with writings on tastes by French sociologist Antoine Hennion.

The thesis is written from the stance of being a teacher of musical theatre voice within higher education and is situated within the larger umbrella of practitioner research. It consists of four published articles and an extended summary.

The overall research process is divided into three explorative stances: 1) a theoretical and conceptual level, linked to theories of omnivorousness and tastes; 2) a practice level, initiating shared explorations through an action research-inspired study with musical theatre bachelor students; and 3) a more discursive level, interviewing leading voice teachers in the Broadway community.

The thesis contributes to the scholarly fields of music education, cultural sociology, musicology, and voice studies in various ways. First, it brings an unexplored research field—musical theatre voice—to its forefront. Second, it contributes by highlighting how tastes make up a part of cultural production and artistic processes, and not only of cultural consumption. Third, it contributes to the performative or practice turn within the arts and social sciences by focusing on performance practices in writing musical theatre history. Furthermore, the thesis offers the concept of the omnivorous voice, a concept manifesting the volume, intensity, and intricacy of the vocal behaviours and vocal aesthetics that are involved, for example, when performing contemporary musical theatre voice.

The dissertation

The dissertation is titled The omnivorous voice. Exploring the pluralities of vocal behaviors, vocal aesthetics, and vocal tastes in contemporary (American) musical theatre.

The dissertation comprises four published articles and a precis. The dissertation language is English.

The dissertation i available in NMH's digital archive.