"When Lauren Elkin was a child, she took lessons with a voice teacher in Northport, Long Island, who would get her to perform in front of a mirror. Singing songs from the Italian classical repertoire, Elkin who was a soprano was required to smile and lift up her eyebrows as she sang since it helps with placement. She was told her breathing should come not from the chest but the diaphragm, and that she must smooth over the vocal break, which is where the chest voice changes into the head voice."
"Elkin practised hard to make her voice nearly featureless, even though she secretly wanted to rebel. Looking back, she wishes she'd understood that she could work with, not against the imperfections in my voice with its different colours and resonances, its scratches and cracks like skips on a record, its atmospheric flaws Embracing the flaws can strengthen the work; through vulnerability can come power."
"In Vocal Break, Elkin examines the female voice in all its forms and with all its imperfections. Using the singers who have shaped or moved her Cyndi Lauper, Cynthia Erivo, Tori Amos, Beyonce, X-Ray Spex's Poly Styrene, Bikini Kill's Kathleen Hanna and more she examines the rules and expectations foisted on female vocalists and the ways they have fought against them."
"She digs into notions of self-image, coolness, integrity and authenticity, the constrictions of genre and the implications of changing trends in pop music and musical theatre on the voice. She ponders the history of the vocoder and the current vogue for Auto-Tune: though she declares herself Auto-Tune sceptical, she is"
A childhood voice-training approach emphasized smiling, eyebrow lifting, diaphragm breathing, and smoothing the vocal break between chest and head voice. Practice aimed to make the voice nearly featureless, even while private rebellion lingered. Later reflection reframed imperfections—different colors and resonances, scratches and cracks—as usable qualities that can strengthen performance through vulnerability. Vocal Break examines the female voice across forms and flaws, focusing on rules and expectations imposed on women who sing and the ways singers resist them. The work draws on influences including Cyndi Lauper, Cynthia Erivo, Tori Amos, Beyoncé, Poly Styrene, and Kathleen Hanna. It also considers self-image, coolness, integrity, authenticity, genre constraints, and how pop and musical theatre trends affect vocal expression, including the history of the vocoder and current Auto-Tune use.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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