Electrifying Opera, Amplifying Agency. Artistic results. reflection and public presentations (PhD)

Kristin Norderval

Exposition of PhD research for PhD fellow at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Academy of Opera, Kristin Norderval. This artistic research project examines the artistic, technical, and pedagogical challenges of developing a performer-controlled interactive technology for real-time vocal processing of the operatic voice. As a classically trained singer-composer, I have explored ways to merge the compositional aspects of transforming electronic sound with the performative aspects of embodied singing. I set out to design, develop, and test a prototype for an interactive vocal processing system using sampling and audio processing methods. The aim was to foreground and accommodate an unamplified operatic voice interacting with the room's acoustics and the extended disembodied voices of the same performer. The iterative prototyping explored the performer's relationship to the acoustic space, the relationship between the embodied acoustic voice and disembodied processed voice(s), and the relationship to memory and time. One of the core challenges was to design a system that would accommodate mobility and allow interaction based on auditory and haptic cues rather than visual. In other words, a system allowing the singer to control their sonic output without standing behind a laptop. I wished to highlight and amplify the performer's agency with a system that would enable nuanced and variable vocal processing, be robust, teachable, and suitable for use in various settings: solo performances, various types and sizes of ensembles, and opera. This entailed mediating different needs, training, and working methods of both electronic music and opera practitioners. One key finding was that even simple audio processing could achieve complex musical results. The audio processes used were primarily combinations of feedback and delay lines. However, performers could get complex musical results quickly through continuous gestural control and the ability to route signals to four channels. This complexity sometimes led to surprising results, eliciting improvisatory responses also from singers without musical improvisation experience. The project has resulted in numerous vocal solo, chamber, and operatic performances in Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United States. The research contributes to developing emerging technologies for live electronic vocal processing in opera, developing the improvisational performance skills needed to engage with those technologies, and exploring alternatives for sound diffusion conducive to working with unamplified operatic voices.

KRISTIN NORDERVAL

Electrifying Opera, Amplifying Agency:

Designing a performer-controlled interactive audio system for opera singers

HOME / REFLECTIONS | MAPPING & PROTOTYPING | SPACE & SPEAKERS | PRESENTATIONS | ARTISTIC RESULTS

My PhD research traces the development of real-time audio-processing environments that accommodate the operatic voice on its own terms. My ultimate goals were twofold: to identify a sound design that affords a balance between an unamplified, embodied operatic voice and its sampled, processed and disembodied voice(s), and to design an interactive audio processing system that facilitates mobility and allows performers to manipulate their own voice in real-time, independent of a visual interface. I wanted to create a performer-controlled interface that would enable nuanced and variable vocal processing, be robust, teachable, and suitable for use in a variety of settings: solo performances, chamber music and opera. I have named the processing system that resulted from this research the "Expanded Vocal Improvising Instrument" (EVII). A tribute to and acknowledgement of the influence of Pauline Oliveros and her Expanded Instrument System (EIS).

This page serves as an entry point, from which the other parts of the site can be reached. The HOME link in the menu goes back here, and is present on all sub-pages.
My critical reflections are available here as a downloadable PDF ==>
The sub-pages Mapping & Prototyping, Space & Speakers, and Artistic Results contain video documentation of the work discussed in the critical reflection
An aural presentation about my research is found in the Presentations section of this exposition.

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Kristin Norderval - Electrifying Opera, Amplifying Agency. Artistic results. reflection and public presentations (PhD) - 2023