Voice and Singing in
Popular Music in the U.S.A. (1900–1960)

How do vocal expressions relate to cultural processes of identity construction? Can cultural stereotypes and star images be detected in singing styles? How does vocal expression play into the complex correlations of meaning between lyrics and musical composition and a singer’s clothing, gesture and performance? And – bearing all of this in mind – how does one appropriately describe and interpret pop voices and singing styles?

The research workshop Stimme, Kultur, Identität. Vokaler Ausdruck in der populären Musik der USA (1900–1960) (Voice, Culture, Identity. Vocal Expression in Popular Music of the USA (1900–1960)) engages with these and further questions via case studies of selected singers and music genres. Thus the workshop aims at giving impetus for future scientific inquiries into voice and singing in American popular culture of the 20th and 21st century. In the panel discussion Pop-Gesang: Herausforderung für die Vokalpädagogik? (Pop-Singing: Challenge for Vocal Pedagogy?) vocal coaches and musicologists will jointly debate approaches and perspectives for an informed training in popular singing.

Since December 2011, the DFG-funded research project “Voice and Singing in Popular Music in the US (1900–1960)” analyzes vocal expression in US-American Popular Music, e.g, in Blues, Gospel and Rhythm’n’Blues, in musicals and American Popular Song, in Jazz, Country and Folk Music as well as in Rock’n’Roll and Pop around 1960. Different means of vocal expression are interpreted in terms of their interaction with historically changing cultural patterns – such as stereotypical vocal features of social and ethnic groups, regions in the USA, images of gender and youth, but also political, moral, and religious convictions. The research workshop will serve as an opportunity to share and discuss the project’s findings with internationally renowned specialists, and to thus embed them in interdisciplinary research contexts.

Program incl. abstracts as PDF,
folder (German only) with short infos as PDF

Program

Images and Representation

13.45	Martin Butler, Oldenburg Of ‘Commen Men‘ and ‘Working Class Heroes‘: The Glorification of the Ordinary in Times of Crisis
14.30	Susan Smith, Sunderland (UK) ‘When You Wish Upon a Star‘. An Analysis of the Singing Voice in Disney’s Films of the Classical Era
15.15	Jascha Nemtsov, Weimar / Potsdam From Molly Picon to Barbra Streisand. The Jewish Voice in American Popular Music

Coffee Break

16.30	Elaine Richardson, Ohio State (USA) Arizona Dranes Unbridled
17.15	Katrin Horn, Weimar Who Made Honky Tonk Angels? Negotiations of Gender in 1950s Country Music
18.00	Rebecca Grotjahn, Detmold Divendämmerung. Zur Geschichte des Gesangsstars in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts

Saturday

Genres und Inszenierungen

09.00	Nils Grosch,Salzburg (A) The Musical Singer’s Body. Zur Neuerfindung des Verhältnisses zwischen Star und Show durch Original Broadway Cast Recording und integriertes Musical
09.45	Knut Holtsträter, Bayreuth Singen in US-amerikanischen Fernsehshows der 1950er und 1960er Jahre

Coffee Break

10.45	Christian Bielefeldt, Weimar Prediger, Popstar, Sex Symbol. Vokalstil und Images von Sam Cooke
11.30	Martin Pfleiderer, Weimar Doo-Wop, Sh-Boom und Dooby-Doo. Gruppengesang im Rhythm’n’Blues und Rock’n’Roll

Lunch Break

Vokale Gestaltung: Musikanalytische Perspektiven

13.30	Tilo Hähnel, Weimar Pitch-Gliding as a Stylistic Feature in Blues and American Popular Songs
14.15	Olivier Senn, Luzern (CH) Music, Language, and Embodiment. The Acoustics of a Phrase by Sarah Vaughan
15.00	Martin Schneider, Berlin Mikrophone und Audiotechnik der Frühzeit

Coffee Break

Vokale Gestaltung: Gesangspraktische Perspektiven

16.00	Sascha Wienhausen, Osnabrück Coach oder Gesangspädagoge? Stimmbildung im Pop zwischen Esoterik und Wissenschaft
16.45	Alexander Gelhausen, Mainz Vibrato im populären Gesang am Beispiel des Soul
19.30	Pop-Gesang – Herausforderung für die Vokalpädagogik? Panel discussion at Kasseturm (Goetheplatz 10) with Christian Bielefeldt, Alexander Gelhausen, Rebecca Grotjahn, Clemens Tiburtius (Weimar) and Sascha Wienhausen

All presentations, with the exception of the panel discussion, take place in Seminarraum 1,
hochschulzentrum am horn.

Admission is free, please RSVP via popvoices@hfm-weimar.de.

Organizer: Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar, Institut für Musikwissenschaft Weimar-Jena,
funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.