Re Cervo. Intervista a Antonella Astolfi

On Saturday 17 May 2014, a special initiative by the SPASS (Sinergie fra Pratiche Artistiche e Spostamenti Sostenibili / Synergies between Artistic Practices and Sustainable Mobility) research group of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI) was presented between Intragna and Locarno, involving the public in an itinerant staging of Carlo Gozzi’s Re cervo (King Deer), as part of the hypothesis of a link between art, culture and sustainability issues. In the interview, the Accademia Teatro Dimitri’s voice teacher Antonella Astolfi reflects on the experience.

Stylistic pluralism and the experiences of classically trained teachers of singing in the Republic of Ireland

Throughout much of the 20th century, the Western classical vocal aesthetic dominated tertiary singing training in the Republic of Ireland. At the turn of the 21st century, and reflecting similar movements internationally, Irish institutions, examining boards and private teaching studios diversified to include musical theatre and popular styles of singing in degree programmes and syllabi. The purpose of this study was to further understand voice teacher perceptions of these shifts in pedagogical culture. This research questioned how classically trained teachers of singing negotiate teaching across styles in popular music genres, and also questioned if implicit, embodied cultural ideas about classical singing defined their educative approaches to popular music vocals. Data were collected through in-depth qualitative interviews with classically trained teachers of singing in the Republic of Ireland. Analysis of interview data revealed a number of themes which are discussed within a theoretical framework drawn from the work of Bourdieu, revealing that the participant teachers are involved in processes of negotiation and re-negotiation of personal and institutional habitus.

The Black Broadway voice: calls and responses

Black musical theatre artists in New York City share and theorize their experiences with industry expectations around racialized vocal performance. Musical director John Bronson, actor/singer Jamal James, composer/music director Dionne McClain-Freeney, composer/writer Khiyon Hursey, actor/singer Rheaume Crenshaw, actor/singer/voice teacher Elijah Caldwell, and actor/singer Zonya Love Johnson comprise the group. The artists grapple with the conundrum of sounding ‘Black enough’, how the demand for uniform Black vocalization confounds historical accuracy in period shows, and the fantasy of the generic, idealized ‘Black Broadway voice’. The group details unspoken, misguided industry assumptions that Black singers do not produce multiple kinds of belt sounds, do not use the vocal mix sound, and sing only in a heavy (power) sound virtuosically ornamented with riffs that evokes for (white) listeners a misleadingly monolithic idea of ‘the Black church’. As these artists point out, ‘We do not all go to the same church’; in fact, the ability to fluidly move between more classical (legit) and gospel vocal sounds may actually arise from a singer’s training in the church choir. Collectively these artists have worked on multiple Broadway and off-Broadway shows from The Color Purple to Hamilton and A Strange Loop, major tours and regional productions of shows such as Hair, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and Waitress, and hold songwriting credits from the prestigious BMI musical theatre writing workshop to Netflix. This conversation took place in October 2019.

Gender Affirming Voicework: A Queer Autoethnographic Account

I’ve previously offered an initial introduction to gender affirming voicework (Maevon Gumble, 2019b) as informed by personal experiences, my queer autoethnographic research (Maevon Gumble, 2019a), and literature from the fields of speech-language pathology, vocal pedagogy, and music therapy. Gender affirming voicework is a new holistic method aimed at assisting individuals with accessing and embodying affirming gender expressions, particularly vocal expressions. I encourage you to read the aforementioned introductory text (2019b) prior to moving forth. In this current article, I will expand upon those understandings by offering a queer autoethnographic account of engaging within intensive personal work as a nonbinary trans person. This article will more deeply consider my personal experiences and journey of engaging with literature as well as participating in the following: voice lessons with a former voice teacher; several Alexander Technique lessons; both full and adapted Guided Imagery and Music (GIM) sessions; and solo voicework sessions, where I more directly explored the possibilities of gender affirming voicework. This queer story – or rather set of stories – that I tell here is a version of what is presented within my thesis research (2019a); however, in queer autoethnographic fashion, revisiting my stories to put together this current story has led to further ‘becomings’ of something new. It is my hope that this creative text provides one personal example of what gender affirming voicework might be within the field of music therapy.

Extraordinary voices: Helen Keller, music and the limits of oralism

This article examines iconic American deafblind writer Helen Keller's entræ#169;e into musical culture, culminating in her studies with voice teacher Charles A. White. In 1909, Keller began weekly lessons with White, who deepened her understanding of breathing and vocal production. Keller routinely made the acquaintance of opera singers in the 1910s and the 1920s, including sopranos Georgette Leblanc and Minnie Saltzman-Stevens, and tenor Enrico Caruso. Guided by the cultural logic of oralism, Keller nurtured a lively interest in music throughout her life. Although a voice-centred world-view enhanced Keller's cultural standing among hearing Americans, it did little to promote the growth of a shared identity rooted in deaf or deafblind experience. The subsequent growth of Deaf culture challenges us to reconsider the limits of Keller's musical practices and to question anew her belief in the extraordinary power of the human voice.

CRITICAL PEDAGOGY - MOVEMENT FOR STUDENTS VOICE, TEACHER′S AUTHORITY AND EQUALITY IN EDUCATION

Critical pedagogy has significant place among the papers of numerous researchers and theoretician of education especially in the USA. The central focus of this paper is directed to historical development of critical pedagogy, the most significant postulates and on ideas of their bearer. The starting points for considering presents the ideas of critical pedagogues as Paulo Freire and Henry Giroux, ideas of Jean Jacques Rousseau and John Dewey that are considered as forerunners of this movement, until the contemporary representatives of critical pedagogy who continued to support and develop this approach. The aim of this paper is to consider the influence of critical pedagogy and its representatives on school practice and education. It can be concluded that promoted idea, which was created and developed in critical pedagogy that education is never „sterile clean“, is impregnated with reflections of numerous political, economic and social circumstances, and it stayed as future vision to be considered by theoretician of education, pedagogues and pedagogy of future. At the end, some of the implications for modern pedagogical practice, formed by analyzing the critical pedagogy and needed to nurture in school practice are separated, those implications are developing teachers’ critical spirit and its autonomy, nurturing the quality in relations with students that induce their development and improve outcomes, the strength of the dialogue culture which respects the right to be different and which straightens the ethical responsibility of teachers that represents the basics of teachers’ identity development and building of their profession.