Integrating voice movement therapy and maskwork for performer vocal development : voicing the mask to de-mask the voice

Abstract

The performer's conceptualisation and perception of herself is projected through the acoustic voice and impacts upon vocal delivery in rehearsal and performance. However, in the context of performer voice training in Western theatre practice the performer's sense of self, or identity, is seldom the focus of development. Vocal development is inherently a transformational process that requires the performer to expand beyond what has become habitual selfexpression. Since vocal expression is embedded in identity, an attempt to change the voice necessitates a deeper understanding, questioning, and challenging of the performer's established sense of self. In this dissertation I posit that acoustic vocal development can be successfully achieved through an embodied and imaginative approach that investigates the performer's metaphorical voice through learning opportunities provided by a process that integrates the practices of Voice Movement Therapy (VMT) and maskwork. This dissertation presents art-based autoethnographic research into the potential value of such an integrated approach to performer vocal development. The VMT maskwork approach is fundamentally an embodied and envoiced process that provides a vastly different and heightened experience of the bodymind and invites the performer to play in the liminal realm of active imagination, which is triggered by the mask-image. The dissertation investigates the vocal development benefits of using self-made masks as a psychophysical training tool to expand the performer's understanding and experience of the bodymind. The area of archetypes and subpersonalities has been identified as a primary intersection between the two modalities and three ways of working are proposed, either taking impulses from the image (mask-image and/or imagination), the body and its movement, or the voice. These three ways of working trigger the bodymind into a process of active imagination that evokes a creative and integrated mask-voice-body exploration of archetypes and/or subpersonalities. The process gives permission to, and provides a safe container for, the amplified expression of the extremes of self and voice. This dissertation offers a tri-phase VMT maskwork process structure, and highlights key steps for the VMT practitioner-led facilitation of such a process. It positions the mask as a useful transitional object which encourages reengagement with imagination, body, voice and emotion, and thus encourages an on-going and multi-layered reflection and investigation of self and voice is possible. The research showed that the integrated approach of VMT maskwork resulted in vocal expansion in all 10 of the VMT 10 vocal components; pitch, pitch fluctuation, loudness, glottal engagement, free air, disruption, violin, register, timbre and articulation. Apart from acoustic vocal expansion, the approach fostered expansion in the performer's metaphorical voice and resulted in improved grounding and confidence in performance. These conclusions support the research statement that VMT maskwork may be a valuable approach to vocal development in the context of theatre performer voice training. As researcher practitioner I hold that the embodied learning process of VMT maskwork exposes the performer to a vastly different experience of self, which fosters a process of self-reflexivity leading to personal meaning making, self-knowledge, the challenging of vocal habits, and ultimately, vocal transformation.