Gestures and their role in restoring a singer’s performance-focus

Aimée Hautvast

Research question: How can the embodiment of gestures help me to increase my performance focus with the aim of eradicating meaningless gestures during singing, and is it possible to create a step-by-step study plan that incorporates my findings? Abstract: The goal of this research was to find a solution to my problem that my gestures don’t always contribute to the lyric’s meaning when I’m singing. I was looking for a way to eradicate meaningless gestures. I carried out my research by examining the history of singing, scientific papers and articles regarding the connection between speech and gesture, and writings by experts in the field of acting, singing and body movement like Fajo Jansen, a body-movement teacher who helped help me analyse some of my old video recordings. I also used a questionnaire and created a study plan incorporating these findings, and recorded myself multiple times under the guidance of Fajo in order to test their efficacy. I discovered that a disruption in my performance-focus during singing was causing my gesticulation problems. By creating a deeper physical connection with a text’s meaning, I sought to re-establish and strengthen this focus, which I tested with my study plan for the embodiment of gestures. My work with Fajo showed that, next to this approach, another layer should be added: namely, the body should feel grounded and experience a feeling of flow in order to create free gestures which contribute to a text’s meaning. With Fajo, I concluded that by not only working on the embodiment of gestures but on the whole body as well, my gesticulation problem can be remedied more effectively.

7. Conclusion

My aim with this research was to find an answer to my research question: ‘How can the embodiment of gestures help me to increase my performance focus with the aim of eradicating meaningless gestures during singing, and is it possible to create a step-by-step study plan that incorporates my findings?’

In order to answer this question, I investigated what meaningless gestures are, what causes them and when they appear in my singing. I found out that meaningless gestures are movements related to vocal technique which occur in stressful situations like singing exams or auditions. I wondered what I could change in my practising in order to stop producing meaningless gestures in my performances. The answer I found was to become more physically involved with a text. To train this I created a method based on how I practise my singing. The assumption based on my findings was that by embodying the spontaneous physical expression of the meaning of a word through rehearsal, my physical involvement with the text became stronger in such a manner that unhelpful thoughts (regarding my singing technique) could no longer penetrate my mind in a stressful situation. I stated that if I could reach this goal, my meaningless gestures would therefore diminish or even disappear.

The effectiveness of my method, which I referred to as a study plan later in chapter 5, was tested, coached and supervised by body work dance teacher Fajo Jansen. We did two sessions where we went through all the steps until STEP 4 and one session where we executed STEP 5. Through the evaluation that Fajo and I did after both SP-sessions I concluded that the study plan I created was one dimensional. The desired result of my study plan could only be reached if I implemented two aspects into my practising: 1) The practising of placing my gestures correctly, and 2) The broadening of my margin by adding various physical sensations in each STEP of my study plan. Thus, embodiment of gestures as described in my study plan is not sufficient for increasing my physical connection with a text (or as I personally call it: my ‘performance-focus'). Therefore, I need to incorporate both aspects Fajo taught me into my study plan in order to eradicate my meaningless gestures.

Furthermore, I concluded that in order to become more physically involved with a text, not only movements of the arms or hands should be rehearsed in accordance with the text, but the movement of the whole body as well. Therefore, I concluded in 5.4.3. that my research question should be altered to: ‘How can the embodiment of various physical sensations with a text help me to increase my performance focus with the aim of eradicating meaningless gestures during singing, and is it possible to create a step-by-step study plan that incorporates my findings?’

In addition, the instruction Fajo gave me to practise different scenic scenarios in order to broaden my margin (see ‘Carmen is handing out flowers to everyone' et cetera) taught me that in order to create free and natural gestures they do not only have to come from the motivation behind our words. This means that the physical movements I make in order to create different physical sensations do not necessarily have to be coherent to the words' semantic meaning, which I previously thought to be important for my study plan (see 2.5.3.). When the body rehearses actions that are not necessarily coherent to the content of what I sing about, my gestures (or physical movements in general) also can look meaningful and natural if I am reminded of the actions I studied. By this, the body remembers the corresponding physical sensation, hence creating a safe feeling that causes the gestures to become more free, less forced, more organic and calmer. As I explained at the end of 5.4.3, I formulate this as ‘training your physical imaginary’. I feel strongly, with the knowledge from my own experiences, that this should be incorporated in singing lessons and the personal practise of students much more than it is now. At least I will from now on incorporate this aspect of the physical imaginary into my practising.

Finally, the comparison between Habanera 2 (STEP 5) and Habanera 1 gave positive results. There were clear differences in how I physically expressed myself. Therefore, to give an answer to my research question regarding how the embodiment of gestures can help to restore my performance-focus with the aim of eradicating meaningless gestures, and to the question of whether a step-by-step study plan could be made that incorporates my findings I can say: Yes, a study plan can be created. However, as I already mentioned here previously, the embodiment of gestures alone is not sufficient for getting physically involved in a text. Elements like the ‘placement of gestures’ and the ‘physical imaginary’ should be added in order to strengthen performance-focus with the aim of eradicating meaningless gestures. The positive results of STEP 5 showed that my gestures were meaningful and in accordance to the content of what I was singing about. This means that I did not create meaningless gestures. Therefore, I conclude that my study plan with Fajo’s additions can be effective enough to eradicate my meaningless gestures under stressful circumstances—especially if I continued doing what I have been doing until now on a continuous level for the coming months or even years.

Further research
The findings of my research raised new questions. A first interesting avenue for further research is how quick someone’s progression would be in comparison with how things are now if he or she received four years of weekly coaching in physical training with a body work dance teacher. In addition, a question that arises is what further exercises there are to explore in increasing my physical imaginary and in better placing my gestures. Third, is it necessary to follow my study plan from STEPS 1 – 5 in my practising or can I also start for example with STEP 3 and then go to STEP 1 et cetera? Would the effect still be the same, worse, or even better? Fourth, is there a difference between training your physical imaginary for a Lied versus an aria? Lastly, is there a difference between training your physical imaginary for singing long lines versus fast coloratura lines? In my opinion, the aforementioned questions all contribute to a better understanding of the body in relation to singing.

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