- Overview
- Module description
Voice Theatres (DRA3091)
| Staff | Dr Konstantinos Thomaidis - Convenor |
|---|---|
| Credit Value | 30 |
| ECTS Value | 15 |
| NQF Level | 6 |
| Pre-requisites | DRA 2067: Staging the Text |
| Co-requisites | none |
| Duration of Module | Term 1: 11 weeks; |
Module aims
This module is designed for students with an interest in voice as a central aspect of performance making. It aims to develop your skills in recording, manipulating, listening to and devising ‘around’ voice. By the end of the term, you will have developed a collaborative piece of voice theatre, gained experience in reflecting on your practice through a blog, and been introduced to interdisciplinary approaches to voice drawn from sound studies, fine art, poetry, philosophy and performance. The module is open to all students in the BA Drama, BA English and Drama and the BA Art History and Visual Culture & Drama.
ILO: Module-specific skills
- 1. Situate your creative practice within a specific lineage of voice-based performance.
- 2. Create a collaborative piece of voice-based theatre using advanced techniques in voice-sensitive dramaturgy and devising.
- 3. Critically evaluate your performance practice using theoretical approaches to voice.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
- 4. Relate to others in theatrical processes and performances; to work effectively with others in small task-orientated groups and to initiate and sustain creative, analytic and interpretative work within strict time limits and to solve a number of specific technical problems and apply that understanding to performance work.
- 5. Utilise research tools effectively and to translate theory into practice
- 6. Demonstrate the ability to contribute research to small groups in effective presentations, to evaluate visual evidence and to develop advanced confidence in the ability to analyse, critique and manipulate complex material.
ILO: Personal and key skills
- 7. Develop group cooperation skills, including the ability to give and receive constructive critical feedback and to improve communication skills and analytic abilities in discussions.
- 8. Develop advanced confidence in performance skills and public presentation, in a variety of situations and/or with a variety of audiences, both of dramatic practice and researched material.
- 9. Develop advanced personal research skills using personal initiative; to set personal objectives that are linked to a sense of challenge and extending boundaries and to identify and evaluate personal learning strategies that are self-critical as much as self-reflective.
Syllabus plan
This module will be taught through a combination of lectures and workshops. For each session, you will do preparatory reading and watch recordings of performances that we will discuss in class. During studio sessions, you will be introduced to specific techniques and practices and develop your own approach to voice-based devising through small-group tasks, for which you will receive peer and staff feedback. You will also blog about your devising process.
Here is an indication of how the module may be structured:
Weeks 1-4: Contextual lectures and workshops
Week 5: Group presentations (formative assessment)
Weeks 7-11: Group devising
Week 12: Summative assessment (assessed group performance)
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 66 | 234 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching activities | 66 | Studio practice and lectures: a combination of staff-led lectures, devising tasks, feedback and discussion. |
| Guided independent study | 33 | Self-directed sessions to work on small group presentations and devising tasks set in lectures and workshops. |
| Guided independent study | 201 | Reading and individual preparation for lectures and group rehearsals |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blog | 500 words | 1, 3, 5, 6, 9 | Staff written |
| Group presentation | 20 minutes | 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 | Peer and staff verbal |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group performance | 50 | 30 minutes | 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 | Written |
| Blog | 50 | 3,000 words | 1, 3, 5, 6, 9 | Written |
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 | ||||
| 0 |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group performance | Piece of written work related to intended performance, plus additional critical analysis of professional archive performance (3,000 words total) | 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 | Referred/deferred period |
| Blog | Essay (3,000 words) | 1, 3, 5, 6, 9 | Referred/deferred period |
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
Barthes, R. (1977), Image-Music-Text, trans. S. Heath, London: Fontana Press.
Brown, R. (2010), Sound: A Reader in Theatre Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Cavarero, A. (2005), For More than One Voice: Toward a Philosophy of Vocal Expression, trans. P.A. Kottman, Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Chion, M. (1999), The Voice in Cinema, trans. C. Gorbman, New York: Columbia University Press.
Connor, S. (2014), Beyond Words: Sobs, Hums, Stutters and Other Vocalizations, London: Reaktion.
Curtin, A. (2014), Avant-Garde Theatre Sound: Staging Sonic Modernity. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Doane, M.A. (1980), The voice in cinema: the articulation of body and space, Yale French Studies, 60: 33-50.
Dolar, M. (2006), A Voice and Nothing More, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Grotowski, J. (2002), Towards a Poor Theatre, New York and Oxon: Routledge.
Karpf, A. (2007), The Human Voice: The Story of a Remarkable Talent, London: Bloomsbury.
Kreiman, J. and Sidtis, D. (2011), Foundations of Voice Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Voice Production and Perception, Boston: Wiley-Blackwell.
Linklater, K. (2006), Freeing the Natural Voice: Imagery and Art in the Practice of Voice and Language, London: Nick Hern Books.
Macpherson, B. & Thomaidis, K. (eds) (2015), Journal of Intredisciplinary Voice Studies, Intellect: http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=248/view,page=2/
Neumark, N., Gibson, R., and van Leeuwen, T. (eds) (2010) Voice: Vocal Aesthetics in Digital Arts and Media, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Rebstock, M. & Roesner, D. (eds.) 2012. Composed Theatre: Aesthetics, Practices, Processes. Bristol, UK & Chicago, USA: Intellect.
Roesner, D. (2014). Musicality in Theatre: Music as Model, Method and Metaphor in Theatre-Making. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
Thomaidis, K. & Macpherson, B. (eds) (2015), Voice Studies: Critical Approaches to Process, Performance and Experience, London and New York: Routledge.
Thomaidis, K. (2017) Theatre & Voice. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Young, M. (2015) Singing the Body Electric. London and New York: Routledge/Ashgate.
Module has an active ELE page?
Yes
Available as distance learning?
No
Origin date
16/02/2017
Last revision date
16/02/2017
Key words search
voice, sound, vocality, headphones, installation, devising
