Vocal Embodiment: A Well Beyond Humanity
Publication information:
Abstract
Vocal embodiment is a fundamental method for survival, belonging, healing, and re-integration into a more-than-human network of existence. Sound is relational, reaching from body to body. The embodied voice simultaneously connects us and reveals our interiority. Vocal embodiment is approached as both a somatic awareness that engages the full body as a resonant instrument, and a relational practice through which the voice becomes a vessel for more-than-human sounding, with ecological, spiritual, and ancestral connections. This presentation considers contemporary expressions in communal practice, as well as longstanding religious and indigenous traditions. Drawing upon ethnomusicology, religious studies, human development, and critical theory, we investigate the necessities, hindrances, and gifts of vocal embodiment, map burgeoning vocal embodiment communities, and widen the scope beyond human sounding.
Presenter Biography
Michelle Bentsman (PhD Candidate, Harvard) is writing a dissertation on ritual singing shaped by leading Jewish pre-burial rites, assisting Shipibo-style ayahuasca ceremonies, and past work in a Hindu hospice. She has taught on sound and song for the Bard Prison Initiative and sings with Voices 21C, a social justice choir.