Empty voices
Pre- and postlingual processes of transformation – the first decades of experimental voices after 1945
Dorothea Schürch
After 1945 voice is rediscovered as material, and above all the empty voice, or the voice beyond language, is subjected to compositional and performative experiments. The research project of the Swiss National Fund ‘Écoute élargie – “empty voices” and “objets sonores” in post-1945 music’ at the Music University in Bern focusses on the beginnings of this development, looks for the traces of phonation and articulation in the sound of these voices and analyses the various artistic and technical production processes. In her research on empty voices the author also incorporates her experiences as a singer, performer and improviser.
