In Discipline and Punish, Michel Foucault theorizes that disciplinary power can be applied to docile bodies through three techniques: scale of control, object of control, and modality. Foucault also discusses control of activity through time-table, temporal elaboration of the act, correlation of the body and the gesture, body-object articulation, and exhaustive use. When these concepts are combined it is possible for docile bodies to be subjected, used, transformed and improved through disciplinary power (p.136). These concepts can be used to train docile bodies in the art of singing.
American Idol reintroduced the concept of talent search with a fusion of reality television that allowed viewers to select their “idol.” Unfortunately, the preselected contestants rarely have much knowledge or training in music and singing. This was not true of every contestant, but there were very few, if any, contestants with a music degree or extended music education. Even when the judges critiqued the performances, they mainly spoke of their preferences and generalized their analysis. Typically, the most in-depth they would go would be to say a performer was “pitchy.” Other than that, judges on American Idol did not address many of the other aspects of singing.
Foucault’s principles can be applied to concepts in What Every Singer Needs to Know About the Body by Melissa Malde, Mary Jean Allen, and Kurt-Alexander Zeller. In the singing process, there’s the idea of scale of control. Although the body acts as a whole while singing, the body can be treated as many individual parts. First, posture is very important. Everyone has the image of standing up straight the way a soldier would in formation. This might be similar to standing up straight with your back against the wall. For singing, proper posture requires ankle joints, knee joints, hip joints, arm structure, and head are all aligned. Proper alignment requires the singer to stand with knee joints slightly released from the locked position, while the hip joint is un-tucked which means singer has the sensation of feeling like they are leaning forward while the arm structure and shoulders are relaxed which is different than how a solider is standing because the chest cavity is not pushed out. This position allows the singer’s diaphragm to freely move which in turn allows the singer to get a deeper breath. The singer is using the diaphragm for breath control instead of using the shoulder and chest to draw a breath. When a singer is breathing properly, it appears that the torso is expanding when breath is drawn in and there is very minimal shoulder movement.
While posture is important, proper breathing is also necessary. A singer should never “tank up” or take in more breath than is necessary to sing a phrase because this creates unnecessary tension and leads to fatigue (p.70). “Breathing for singing involves the entire torso. Without the coordinated movement of diaphragm, intercostals, abdominals, and pelvic floor, a good singing breath is impossible” (p.70). Next, “sound is generated by the vocal folds and resonated in the chamber of air defined by the vocal tract” (p.108). This means that proper placement of the tongue inside the mouth and the shape of the mouth is necessary to for cleanest sound. The hard and soft palate within the mouth moves to create a chamber that allows for sound to resonate and for vibrato to come through as long there is no tension in the vocal tract and the jaw.
Each individual part must be controlled and work together as a whole for in order for a singer to produce the best signing voice. Foucault’s ideas on control of activity can be applied to singing through the repetition needed to perfect the singing process. All parts of the body, from posture, breathing and position of mouth must be repeatedly practiced and sound must be matched to a tuned instrument, usually a piano, in order to make sure the singer is properly and accurately producing the correct sound. There are more in-depth aspects to signing, but this brief overview clearly shows how Foucault’s ideas about how disciplinary power applied to docile bodies and control of activities can be demonstrated in the singing process.
American Idol reintroduced the concept of talent search with a fusion of reality television that allowed viewers to select their “idol.” Unfortunately, the preselected contestants rarely have much knowledge or training in music and singing. This was not true of every contestant, but there were very few, if any, contestants with a music degree or extended music education. Even when the judges critiqued the performances, they mainly spoke of their preferences and generalized their analysis. Typically, the most in-depth they would go would be to say a performer was “pitchy.” Other than that, judges on American Idol did not address many of the other aspects of singing.
Foucault’s principles can be applied to concepts in What Every Singer Needs to Know About the Body by Melissa Malde, Mary Jean Allen, and Kurt-Alexander Zeller. In the singing process, there’s the idea of scale of control. Although the body acts as a whole while singing, the body can be treated as many individual parts. First, posture is very important. Everyone has the image of standing up straight the way a soldier would in formation. This might be similar to standing up straight with your back against the wall. For singing, proper posture requires ankle joints, knee joints, hip joints, arm structure, and head are all aligned. Proper alignment requires the singer to stand with knee joints slightly released from the locked position, while the hip joint is un-tucked which means singer has the sensation of feeling like they are leaning forward while the arm structure and shoulders are relaxed which is different than how a solider is standing because the chest cavity is not pushed out. This position allows the singer’s diaphragm to freely move which in turn allows the singer to get a deeper breath. The singer is using the diaphragm for breath control instead of using the shoulder and chest to draw a breath. When a singer is breathing properly, it appears that the torso is expanding when breath is drawn in and there is very minimal shoulder movement.
While posture is important, proper breathing is also necessary. A singer should never “tank up” or take in more breath than is necessary to sing a phrase because this creates unnecessary tension and leads to fatigue (p.70). “Breathing for singing involves the entire torso. Without the coordinated movement of diaphragm, intercostals, abdominals, and pelvic floor, a good singing breath is impossible” (p.70). Next, “sound is generated by the vocal folds and resonated in the chamber of air defined by the vocal tract” (p.108). This means that proper placement of the tongue inside the mouth and the shape of the mouth is necessary to for cleanest sound. The hard and soft palate within the mouth moves to create a chamber that allows for sound to resonate and for vibrato to come through as long there is no tension in the vocal tract and the jaw.
Each individual part must be controlled and work together as a whole for in order for a singer to produce the best signing voice. Foucault’s ideas on control of activity can be applied to singing through the repetition needed to perfect the singing process. All parts of the body, from posture, breathing and position of mouth must be repeatedly practiced and sound must be matched to a tuned instrument, usually a piano, in order to make sure the singer is properly and accurately producing the correct sound. There are more in-depth aspects to signing, but this brief overview clearly shows how Foucault’s ideas about how disciplinary power applied to docile bodies and control of activities can be demonstrated in the singing process.