To singdance is to allow movement to affect vocalization, in order to create musical potentials, which the ear can then specify. Breath is exaggerated into a movement or a shape. Body positions affect the timbre and range of the voice. Motion creates a topography of force along which the voice flows, rushes, pools and spurts like water in a river bed. Thus the music is created by and dependent on the movement. For example, in order to arpeggiate (rhythmically outline) chords, performers must stagger their movements.

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How Do You Singdance?

If you already dance, you can singdance very easily by paying attention to when you would be able to inhale and exhale in a dance. Voice the exhalations, let your movement affect that vocalization, and you are singdancing. If you sing, start by vocalizing your emotions without words. Allow your body to move along with it.

Everyone has INNER SONG!

In addition to these improvisatory ways in, which are very empowering for some people, I am developing a very specific modern dance technique which continually considers the respiratory needs of the singdancer. Each movement is considered either an inhale or an exhale, depending on whether the abdominals are contracting. I find and teach melodic bits from small loops of movement, the force of which give a rough shape to a melodic line. From there it is a short step to deciding on exact intervals, like a major third and a minor ninth.

The reason this works is due to the nature of the vocal folds. The voice makes sound because the vocal folds open and close hundreds of times per second: for example, if your vocal folds open and close 440 times in one second, you sing the note A 440. Little puffs of air are released every time the vocal folds open and close; those puffs create the vibrations in the air that make the sound. Therefore you need more air to sing higher notes; also to sing louder (more air molecules per puff= more volume, same frequency). In other words, when a singdanced move pushes out a lot of air, that air can be channeled into making a higher note or a louder note. The more air, the higher the note. This is how the movement of the body really can affect pitch and/or volume.

Roots of Singdancing: Related Links

Photo by Aletha Nowitzky.

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