The voice athlete: the classical singer and the body

Author(s)

André Azevedo Marques Estevez

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades (EACH)
• Defense date: 2017-05-15

Examining board members

Marilia Velardi; José Rafael Madureira; Wladimir Farto Contesini de Mattos; Reinaldo Tadeu Boscolo Pacheco

• Advisor: Marilia Velardi

Abstract

It is common to find among singers the idea that the body is the instrument of their art. Although we live in a time where to understand life and our experiences from a systemic perspective should be something widespread, an understanding of singing as something compartmentalized and disconnected from the singers life is perpetuated. Trying to understand this issue, in this research of qualitative nature we ask if classical singers identify their bodies as their instrument, or as locus of performance. And, in this regard, what is the role of motor practices (bodily practices and physical activity) in their development and their art. Knowing that these issues are important aspects of Somatic Education practices, we intended to make an interlocution between this type of bodily practice and the experience with classical singers. This inquiry was organized in three stages: 1) Somatic Education practices associated with individual singing lessons, through a whole year; 2) Somatic Education practices associated with group singing lessons, in two meetings; 3) Semi-structures interviews with 5 singers who are experienced in Somatic Education. Along the practice meetings, impressions, perceptions and reports were written down as fieldnotes. The data, constituted of conversations and practical experiences, was analyzed through a somaesthetic perspective, a philosophical discipline proposed by Richard Shusterman. It becomes evident that to the participants of this inquiry, the practice of Somatic Education allows them to feel and know themselves in an expanded way and it becomes clear how body and voice become inseparable. There is, also, the understanding that the acting body, the singing body and the teaching body are all the same. Although there is the comprehension of a subjectified body when they report their experience, the idea of body as an instrument is accepted by the participants of this inquiry (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/20054-0 - The voice athlete: the lyric singer and the relationship with his body
• Grantee: André Azevedo Marques Estevez
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master