Gestures in vocal performance and the experience of the listener: a case study of extra-semantic meaning-making in the singing of Olavi Virta

Popular Music ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARKO AHO
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Semantic Meaning ◽  
Cultural Icon ◽  
The 1950S

AbstractAt the level of micro-intonation, singing provides an object for intimate corporeal identification for the listener. In fact, the listener can, by way of vocal identification, achieve a direct corporeal relationship with the vocal performance. Similarly, the researcher can use his/her own purposeful identification and imitation as a means of observation. ‘Once in a century’ is a description often attached to the legendary singer Olavi Virta (1915–1972), who had a significant impact on Finnish popular music during the 1950s and is considered a cultural icon by many Finns. In this article, the vocal performance on the novelty recording ‘Luonasi jos oisin (‘If I were there with you’)/Isn’t it Romantic?’ is studied in order to map out its gestural content. Olavi Virta was in possession of a rich arsenal of vocal gestures. The gestures shared a relationship with the semantic content of the lyrics – not always mimetic but often contrapuntal, polarising, or estranging.

scholarly journals The Power of Voice: Using Audio Podcasts to Teach Vocal Performance and Digital Communication

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 38-50
Author(s):  
Amanda Hill
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Specific Aspect ◽  
Nonverbal Cues ◽  
Communication Studies ◽  
Vocal Performance ◽  
Nonverbal Behaviors ◽  
Group Project

Today’s students often speak through mediated technologies. Thus, understanding how nonverbal cues impact meaning-making is key to understanding effective communication across mediums. This case study explores a group project where students created audio podcasts to teach others about a specific aspect of communication studies while considering the way sound and vocal performance affect the transference of the message. This article examines the use of audio podcasts as a vehicle for teaching university students about the power of paralinguistic and chronemic nonverbal behaviors.

Jaco Pastorius, the Electric Bass, and the Struggle for Jazz Credibility

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 121-138
Author(s):  
Brian F. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Musical Style ◽  
Electric Bass ◽  
Public Persona

This article explores Jaco Pastorius’s efforts to legitimize himself as a jazz electric bassist. Even though the instrument had existed at the margins of jazz for decades, by the 1970s it was overwhelmingly associated with rock and funk music and therefore carried with it the stigmatized connotations of outsider status. Building on the work of Bill Milkowski, Kevin Fellezs, Lawrence Wayte, and Peter Dowdall, I situate Pastorius’s career within the broader context of 1970s jazz fusion. I then analyze how he deliberately used his public persona, his virtuosic technical abilities, the atypical timbre of his fretless electric bass, and his work as a composer and bandleader to vie for acceptance within the jazz tradition. As I argue, Pastorius specifically attempted to establish his jazz credibility through his first two solo albums, initially by disassociating himself from his own instrument, and then by eventually abandoning the musical style that had made him famous. Ultimately, Pastorius’s story serves as a useful case study of the tangible ramifications of authenticity disputes and the complicated ways in which musicians have attempted to navigate contested musical spaces within popular music.

Feelings of Quarantine: Allegories for the Lockdown

2021 ◽  
pp. 1354067X2110040
Author(s):  
Linus Paul Frederic Guenther
Keyword(s):  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Psychological Perspective ◽  
Study Analysis ◽  
Subjective Meaning ◽  
Case Study Analysis ◽  
Creative Self ◽  
Life Script ◽  
The Voice

This case study shows how allegories are a means to express the inexpressible and how Allegory Analysis can be a method to reveal it and bring out the subjective meaning making, life script ideology, and capability to deal with the ambivalent in critical life situations. From a cultural psychological perspective, the research is based on feelings during the quasi-quarantine period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study tries to understand the coping strategies with which people deal with a psychological crisis in general concerning for the COVID-19 lockdown. It discusses further ways to deal with the ambivalences and subjective meaning making arousing through such a crisis. The case study analysis of Miss K. not only showed her meaning making processes and attitude of life but also showed how to deal with the uncertainty during the critical lockdown period. Through her allegories, she utters her current life script ideology that living nowadays means to function like a machine while being creative, self-reflective at the same time. Her meaning making process counterbalanced between the voice of being delivered to withdrawal or depression versus the voice of being able to learn, connect, and relax. Her coping strategy was bearing the ambivalence in a psychological crisis with faith.

Decolonising a landscape architecture studio: Spatial modelling of student narratives

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-47
Author(s):  
Christine Price
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Model ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Spatial Modelling ◽  
First Year ◽  
Spatial Form ◽  
Public Park ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
Global North

This paper problematises the dominance of global north perspectives in landscape architectural education, in South Africa where there are urgent calls to decolonise education and make visible indigenous and vernacular meaning-making practices. In grappling with these concerns, this research finds resonance with a multimodal social semiotic approach that acknowledges the interest, agency and resourcefulness of students as meaning-makers in both accessing and challenging dominant educational discourses. This research involves a case study of a design project in a first-year landscape architectural studio. The project requires students to choose a narrative and to represent it as a spatial model: a scaled, 3D maquette of a spatial experience that could be installed in a public park. This practitioner reflection closely analyses the spatial model of one student, Malibongwe, focusing on his interest in meaning-making; the innovative meaning-making practices and diverse resources he draws on; and his expression of spatial signifiers of the Black experiences portrayed in his narrative. This reflection shows how Malibongwe’s narrative is not only reproduced in the spatial model, it is remade: the transformation of resources into three-dimensional spatial form results in new understandings and the production of new meanings.

Between sexual assault and compassion: The experience of living with a spouse’s dementia-related hypersexuality—A narrative case-study

Dementia ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 147130122110320
Author(s):  
Dovrat Harel ◽  
Tova Band-Winterstein ◽  
Hadass Goldblatt
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Psychological Symptoms ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Intimate Relationship ◽  
Older Woman ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Narrative Case Study ◽  
As If

Background Hypersexuality is one of the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. This symptom can lead to poor quality of life for the person who lives with dementia, as well as for his or her caregiver, who might be exposed to sexual assault. Aim This study aimed to highlight the experience of an older woman living and coping with a spouse who exhibits dementia-related hypersexuality. Method A narrative case-study of a single case was designed, composed of four semi-structured interviews conducted over a 10-month period. The data were analyzed through thematic, structural, and performance analysis. Findings Four phases were revealed, depicting the experience of being a partner and caregiver of a spouse with dementia-related hypersexuality: a) “I need help”: A distress call; b) “It depends how long I agree to go on with it”: Living with the ambiguous reality of dementia-related hypersexual behavior within an ongoing intimate relationship; c) “It’s as if I’m hugging someone who’s no longer alive”: The transition from the previous couplehood identity to a new couplehood identity; and d) “I am just taking care of him as if he is a child”: A compassionate couplehood identity construction. Conclusions Living with a partner with dementia-related hypersexuality is a distressing experience for the caregiver-spouse. Yet, positive memories from a long intimate relationship can lead to the creation of a compassionate identity, which supports the caregiving process, and creates a sense of acceptance and meaning making. This, in turn, enables a positive aging experience. These finding have some practical implications for supporting and intervening in such cases.

Functional and sociocultural attitudes of code-switching and its relation to the meaning-making process: The case of dubbing Kim Possible into Arabic

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110194
Author(s):  
Rashid Yahiaoui ◽  
Marwa J Aldous ◽  
Ashraf Fattah
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Sociocultural Attitudes ◽  
Switching Patterns ◽  
Switching Functions ◽  
Switching Type ◽  
Lebanese Arabic ◽  
Research Questions

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The aim of this study is to investigate the sociolinguistic functions of code-switching and its relation to the meaning-making process by using the animated series Kim Possible as a case study. Design/methodology/approach: This study employs Muysken’s taxonomy to draw on code-switching patterns in lexico-grammar in relation to human behavior. The study also uses the functional approaches of Muysken and Appel and Gumperz as binary investigatory frameworks to locate interlingual and intralingual code-switching particularities and to elaborate on code-switching functions. Data and analysis: The analysis encompasses 48 episodes. Firstly, we extracted and transcribed code-switching occurrences in light of Muysken’s typology episode-by-episode and categorized them according to their code-switching type (interlingual or intralingual). Secondly, we quantified the occurrences according to their syntactic form to make more systematic claims about code-switching patterns. Next, we triangulated the patterns by examining the context of utterances and extralinguistic factors in the original series vis-à-vis the dubbed version to draw upon information beyond the structure or grammar. Findings/conclusions: The Arabic dubbed version was able to communicate the characters’ cosmopolitan diversity, which correlates with the series’ sense of linguistic modernity and humor. At the same time, the Arabic version was able to portray the extralinguistic reality of Lebanon and its multi-linguistic tapestry. Originality: This research is original because it focuses on Lebanese-Arabic, a dialect seldom discussed in the context of translation. The research also examines language variations in the context of dubbed discourse, where code-switching is integrally pertinent to visual-signs and the cultural background of characters. Significance/implications: The study recognizes the intricacy of code-switching as a reflective phenomenon of social reality and power dynamics; therefore, it contributes in the fields of translation and sociolinguistics.

scholarly journals Experiential meaning as meaning making choice in article writing: A case study of female and male writers

Heliyon ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. e06909
Author(s):  
Rosi Anjarwati ◽  
Slamet Setiawan ◽  
Kisyani Laksono
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Experiential Meaning

scholarly journals Making dialogue with an existential voice in transition from military to civilian life

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 832-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Grimell
Keyword(s):  
Military Personnel ◽  
Military Service ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Identity Work ◽  
Civilian Life ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Dialogical Self ◽  
Dialogical Self Theory

Dialogical Self Theory has contributed to the endeavors to map and grid self-identity work in transition from military to civilian life throughout an empirical and longitudinal research project which focuses on existential dimensions. This article is based on a case study from this project and centers upon Sergeant Jonas, who, upon his return from deployment in Afghanistan, struggled with his transition as a new existential position was vocalized throughout the following annual interviews. This voice narrated feelings of meaninglessness, emptiness, and of having been deceived. In turn, this existential voice required an answer to a question which apparently had no answer. The meaning-making eventually evolved into an acceptance which enabled Jonas to proceed with his life. Dialogical processes between positions are important in order to go on with life amid existential concerns in the aftermath of military service since dialogicality of the self opens up a complex of dynamics of meaning-making processes, negotiations, and transformations. Based on the findings, it is suggested that the Personal Position Repertoire could potentially be strengthened by the addition of an internal existential position to its standard repertoire, at least when working with military personnel and/or veterans.

Exploring Intercultural Interaction: The Use of Semiotic Resources in Meaning-Making Processes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Nabilah Abdullah ◽  
◽  
Rafidah Sahar ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Eye Gaze ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Nonverbal Cues ◽  
Context Word ◽  
Intercultural Interaction ◽  
Semiotic Resources ◽  
Word Search ◽  
Cultural Origins

Intercultural communication refers to interaction between speakers of different backgrounds, such as different linguistic and cultural origins (Kim 2001). Interaction in face-to face situations has demonstrated that spoken language involves both verbal and semiotic resources for social action. Semiotic resources that include use of talk, gestures, eye gaze and other nonverbal cues can convey semantic content and can become a crucial point in conversation (Hazel et al. 2014). Drawing on a Aonversation Analysis (CA) approach, we explore how participants employed semiotic resources in word searches activities in an intercultural context. Word searches are moments in interaction when a speaker’s turn is temporarily ceased as the speaker displays difficulty in searching for appropriate linguistic items so as to formulate the talk (Schegloff et al. 1977; Kurhila 2006). In this study, naturally occurring interactions in a multilingual setting were video recorded. The participants were Asian university students with different language backgrounds. The findings suggest that multilingual participants mutually collaborate by utilizing verbal affordances, gaze, gesture and other nonverbal cues as useful semiotic resources in the meaning-making process, and thus resolving word search impediments to facilitate intercultural interaction.

scholarly journals Vera Lynn on Screen: Popular Music and the ‘People's War’

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATE GUTHRIE
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Art Music ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
A Site ◽  
Second World

AbstractBy the outbreak of the Second World War in Britain, critics had spent several decades negotiating the supposed distinctions between highbrow and lowbrow culture, as recent scholarship has shown. What has received comparatively little attention is how the demands of wartime living changed the stakes of the debate. This article addresses this lacuna, exploring how war invited a reassessment of the relative merits of art and popular music. Perhaps the most iconic British singer of the period, Vera Lynn provides a case study. Focusing on her first film vehicle,We'll Meet Again(1942), I explore how Lynn's character mediated the highbrow/lowbrow conflict – for example, by presenting popular music as a site of community, while disparaging art music for its minority appeal. In so doing, I argue, the film not only promoted Lynn's star persona, but also intervened in a broader debate about the value of entertainment for a nation at war.

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