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.

8. A personal note

I learned from working with Fajo that I have to continue my body-work exercises in order to improve my grounding and inner body flow. In my first and fourth year at the Royal Conservatory I had weekly lessons with Fajo Janssen that were already focussed on the assets of grounding and body-flow. However, as he said during our collaboration: "In the beginning of your training you are, as a singer, not yet enough aware of the role your whole body plays in singing. Creating awareness of this can only be achieved by doing my exercises every day. Students should at least get body-work-lessons every week during the four years of their Bachelor training. Only then they start to understand after a while that the intention of my exercises is to make them aware of their whole instrument, teaching them how they should use their sensory abilities to move through space and helping them to become more expressive with their bodies.” I totally agree with this, because in my first year I could not understand the purpose of each exercise Fajo gave.

In Fajo’s own words: “Singing students mostly do not understand in the first few years of their training everything a voice teacher teaches them either. There is a lot of time and steps to take before a student is a Master in singing. Therefore, it seems difficult to explain that body-work-lessons are not scheduled weekly in a student’s curriculum. Even so, you cannot expect a conservatory student to sing technically perfect with only one singing lesson per week for 1,5 years, with a gap of 2 years not having any lessons. The muscles in your vocal tract need many years to understand how they should move in order to create space for the voice. The muscles in your body need exactly the same amount of time to develop. To understand how to use your whole body in singing, to understand what grounding is and how it should feel, to understand how to physically express yourself in singing needs time and coaching from as well voice teachers, dramaturges as body work dance teachers on a regular base”.

I cannot agree more with this. Therefore, I strongly recommend incorporation of body work dance lessons at least weekly in the curriculum of singing students in the first four years of their training.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my special thanks to the following persons:

Anna Scott, Supervisor: For giving me her constructive criticism and good advice regarding my Master Research during the past one and a half years.

Fajo Jansen, Supervisor: For helping me in the process of testing my study plan and for showing me new ways to improve my self-development.

Raymond Hautvast, Cardiologist MD,PhD: For screening my Research and for correcting my English.

Max Straatman, Master student, Law and Finance: For screening my Research and for correcting my English.

Gerda van Zelm and fellow students, Master Circle: For giving me new ideas and for their constructive criticism.

Participants, Questionnaire: For sharing their ideas with me, which were of great value for my Research.

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