berio essay

8/9/2019 Berio Essay

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COMPOSING WITH VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY: EXTENDED VOCAL

TECHNIQUE CATEGORIES AND BERIO’S SEQUENZA III

by

Margot Glassett Murdoch

A dissertation submitted to the faculty ofThe University of Utah

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of


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Copyright © Margot Glassett Murdoch 2011

All Rights Reserved


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T h e U n i v e r s i t y o f U t a h G r a d u a t e S c h o o l

STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL

The dissertation of

has been approved by the following supervisory committee members:

, ChairDate Approved

, MemberDate Approved




Margot Glassett Murdoch

Miguel Chuaqui 11/22/10

Steve Roens 11/22/10

Morris Rosenzweig 11/22/10

Susan Neimoyer 11/22/10

Sydney Cheek-O'Donnell 11/22/10


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ABSTRACT

Luciano Berio’s Sequenza III for solo voice is a graphically notated piece of

music with very few exact pitches and rhythms, and instead a variety of unconventional

vocal gestures. Existing published analyses of Sequenza III have focused on extra-

musical aspects instead of its compositional structure. The analytical approach required

for a more structural analysis of Sequenza III must be based on musical elements other

than pitch and rhythm because they fail to provide an adequate description of the musical

material. In order to build an analytical approach, a survey of the history of extended

vocal techniques is undertaken from which a categorization of extended vocal techniques

is harvested and is organized according to vocal physiology. This physiological

categorization combined with other general musical parameters is the basis for analysis of

Sequenza III where musical motives are described in terms of physiological production


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VIII. AT TIMES SHE BELIEVED THAT EVERYTHING LOVED HER…………...114

IX. INGRID, OVER HER TIDEPOOL…………..…………………………………….148


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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

1. Location of First Appearances of Complete Phrases……………………………48

2. Descriptions of Characteristics………………………………………………….54

3. Characteristics Found in Each Production Type………………………………...58

4. Locations of Production Types by Section………………………………...……59


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LIST OF FIGURES

Figures Page

1. Basic vocal anatomy…………………………………………………………….24

2. Spectrograph of cross-register ululation………………………………………...30

3. Spectrograph of overtone isolations………………..……………………………32

4. Overtone isolation range………………………………………….……………..33

5. Spectrograph of multiphonic ingressive fry………….………………………….37

6. Relationships among the characteristics of production types A, B, and C……...53

7. Relationships among the characteristics of production types A, B, C, and D…..55

8. Characteristic relationships of all production types……………………………..57

9.

Division of characteristics in Cadenza and Statement sections…………..……..60


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LIST OF EXAMPLES

Examples Page

1. Cold Genius’ solo from Henry Purcell’s King Arthur……………………………8

2. Example of air turbulence in Sequenza III ………………………………………40

3. Example of unlunged noise in Sequenza III …………………………………….40

4. Example of speech, ululation, singing in Sequenza III ………………………….40

5. An example of production type A……………………………………………….50

6. An example of production type B.……..………………………………………..50

7. An example of production type C…..………………...………………………....52

8. An example of production type D……………………………………………….53

9. An example of production type E…..…………………………...……………....55

10. An example of production type F……..…………………………………………56


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ACKNOWLEGEMENTS

I am indebted to a number of people whose help and support made this

dissertation possible. I owe my deepest gratitude to the chair of my committee, Miguel

Chuaqui, for his hours of work on my behalf. His guidance helped me focus my ideas

and his suggestions added depth to my composition. I am truly grateful for his relentless

dedication and gracious criticism.

The members of my dissertation committee, Steve Roens, Morris Rosenzweig,

Susan Neimoyer, and Sydney Cheek-O’Donnell have generously given their time to

better my work. I thank them for their thoughtful considerations.

I own many thanks to Christian Asplund for providing a place to explore my

voice and for creating a community where inspirations are abundant, and to all the

members of UBA for engaging in sessions of musical brainstorming. Also to Lara


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PART I

COMPOSING WITH VOCAL PHYSIOLOGY: EXTENDED VOCAL

TECHNIQUE CATEGORIES AND BERIO’S SEQUENZA III


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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Many different analytical approaches have been applied to music written after the

Second World War, not the least of which include psychological approaches, formal

approaches (such as semiotics), comparative analysis, poststructural methods and still

others.1

This suggests that there is more than one valid method of analysis for many

pieces, and that some pieces are best examined using custom-built analytical approaches.

This dissertation will analyze Sequenza III by Luciano Berio (1925-2003), a seminal

extended vocal techniques (EVT) piece, using an approach specifically designed for this

work . Since Sequenza III is graphically notated with very few exact pitches and rhythms,

and instead focuses the listener’s attention on a variety of unconventional vocal gestures,

the analytical approach required for this piece must include musical elements in addition


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theory.3 While both of these analyses give insight into the piece, they are mainly

philosophical discussions, and neither discusses the development and cohesion of the

actual music.

Although ultimately inadequate for an overall understanding of the piece, the first

musical element that will be considered is pitch. There are three ways of representing

pitches on staves in Sequenza III : (1) pitches written on one-line staves, which are

spoken, (2) pitches written on three lines, which are sung without exact intervals (notes

represent relative registers), and (3) pitches written on five lines, which are sung on exact

intervals, but not exact pitches. Each sequence of intervals (between “spoken” sections)

can be transposed to fit the vocal range of the performer.4 Therefore, an analysis of exact

pitch in this piece will tell little about the piece since pitch is relative and meant to

change with every performance. Interval and register, then, are the most important

factors. The register of the piece is still somewhat dependent on the performer, but in

most performances, the spoken sections are mostly in the chest register while the sung

sections, all except the very end of the piece, are sung in mixed registers or the head


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interval that recurs most prominently is the minor third (see 1’10”-1’30”, before 1’50”,

3’40”-3’50”, 5’40”-6’10”, 8’20”), appearing even more often than either major or minor

seconds. As Kodály discovered, the minor third is the most natural singing interval, one

that is very present in elementary folk songs and the one that children can most easily

imitate. Berio’s frequent return to the minor third puts the voice at ease amidst the other

vocally demanding leaps. This is fitting because, as will be discussed later in more depth,

Berio’s specific compositional choices in Sequenza III are consistently influenced by the

capabilities and limitations of the voice.

The minor third often appears several times in a row on the same two pitches as if

the singer is stuck on this interval. The minor third also serves as an intervallic marker

for progression in the text amidst all of the other phonetic sounds. Yet as the piece

closes, the final interval is not a minor third as in the rest of the piece, but instead the

music moves by major third. It is this change in interval that certifies the final cadence.

The piece contains 32 minor thirds, and the second most common interval is the minor

second, which appears 29 times. Compare that number to the mere eight times a major


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This dissertation will look at the compositional structure of Sequenza III and

determine relationships between its specific vocal production types. How the voice is

used physiologically, combined with other general musical parameters (such as speed of

production) will be examined throughout the piece. This physiologically influenced

approach will reveal how the voice’s capabilities and tendencies are the impetus for the

structure of Berio’s Sequenza III .

To preface the analysis, a brief historical survey and a categorization of extended

vocal techniques will be undertaken. These categories may serve as a starting point for

analysis of all EVT (Extended Vocal Techniques) music, including Berio’s Sequenza III.


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CHAPTER 2

A BRIEF HISTORY OF EXTENDED VOCAL TECHNIQUES

The oldest and most widely used musical instrument is the voice. At the same

time, in Western music, the techniques associated with the singing voice have changed

over the centuries. Alterations in mainstream vocal techniques from the Renaissance to

the Romantic period involved mostly stylistic preferences in those respective eras and,

some would argue, a continual evolving of technique towards the nineteenth century bel

canto school.5 Although singing styles, ornaments, and aesthetics may have changed

during the years leading to the bel canto school, the voice throughout these years was

used as a medium to transmit text. The techniques that were taught increased beauty,

clarity and volume to support the voice’s unique ability to simultaneously convey words

and pitches. Yet, in the twentieth century, the voice would finally be treated as an


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Although composers around this time were expanding the sonic capabilities of orchestral

instruments, composers continued to write for the voice traditionally, as a melodious

conveyer of text. Perhaps one reason for the slow development of vocal extended

techniques is that the voice is the most personal and intimate of all instruments. The

composer and vocalist Meredith Monk has said of the voice “It has so much nuance and

yet a very direct connection to the center of each person.”6 Meaning is conveyed through

the voice with language and with nonverbal human sounds common to all people.

Perhaps the personal nature of the voice made it less aesthetically pliable than its

instrumental counterparts during the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries.

EVT executed for ornamental reasons can be found in Western music before the

twentieth century. Some folk songs contain animal sound imitations, utilizing non-

singing techniques such as “Old McDonald” or “I Had Me a Cat.” Even in art music,

there were special effects such as the Baroque ornament called a “tremolando” or

“tremulando,” a kind of measured repetition that was used by composers to represent

shivering, among other things. Henry Purcell used vocal tremolando in the Frost Scene


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Example 1. Cold Genius’ solo from Henry Purcell’s King Arthur .

These examples of EVT remained isolated while the majority of singers and

composers were concerned chiefly with perfecting an established vocal technique.

Examples of EVT prior to the twentieth century had specific artistic duties and specified

meanings.

Composing for the voice would be reshaped by the Futurists, the Dadaists and the

Modernists, but the real emancipation of vocal technique from the bel canto tradition

could not be possible until those early twentieth century developments of musical

declamation and phonetic liberation met an unexpected catalyst: electronic music. Not


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Early Developments and Roots

Like so many trends that would blossom in the twentieth century, the evolution of

extended vocal technique can at least in part be traced back to Schoenberg (1874-1951).

Pierrot Lunaire (1912) brought forth his use of Sprechstimme, a half speaking, half

singing technique that allows for spoken inflections to play a part in conveying the text.

Just as Schoenberg’s twelve-tone theory is said to have developed logically from the

extended harmonic language of the time, so the use of Sprechstimme was a logical

development of the use of the voice during the time, most prominently from the tradition

of melodrama.9 Melodrama composers correlated the declaimer’s part with the

instrumental music in a variety of ways. Some parts gave continuous text and allowed

the performer to decide how the text would fit with the music. Other scores had specific

markers indicating when the declaimer was to begin.10

What set Pierrot Luniare apart

from earlier melodrama is the precision of the Sprechstimme notation, both rhythmically

and melodically, that allowed the declaimer less interpretative freedom. The declaimer’s

part was no longer only dramatic, it was actually a part of the music. Berg and Webern


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orchestra and voices that continued the ideas (relating to the voice) of Schoenberg.

Singers in Le Visage nuptial and Le Soleil des eaux use a variety of speaking modes:

monotone, parlando, precisely notated declamatory rhythms, and exaggerated and

prosodic sentence designs. Schoenberg, Boulez, Stravinsky, and Milhaud were some of

the first major composers that allowed the voice to do something besides sing, a first step

towards expanding the voice’s expressive range, and, paradoxically, a first step towards

expressing the meaning of the text by undermining its intelligibility as language.

Schoenberg’s invention of Sprechstimme was not the only artistic vocal

transformation that happened in the early decades of the twentieth century. Another early

trend by various groups (mostly noncomposers) was the breaking down of language into

presentations of phonemes and nonsense syllables. Although James Joyce (1882-1941) is

known to most as a writer, attention to sound and rhythm and to phonetics in his work is

nothing short of musical. Joyce’s work would inspire one of Berio’s first vocal

explorations, Thema (Omaggio a Joyce) later in the century. Absurdist theater authors

such as Eugène Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Arthur Adamov, and Harold Pinter,


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itself.”11 During the 1910’s, Futurists were producing one-act plays that contained

nonsense speech. Giacomo Balla wrote “Macchina Tipografica” (1914) where the voice

imitates the sounds of a printing press using phonetic and syllabic fragments while the

performers physically imitate the operation of the printer’s gears and levers.12

Developing alongside these vocal innovations were sound experiments involving

machines. Luigi Russolo invented instruments such as the “Intonarumori,” which created

hisses, pops, grunts and other mechanical noises. The use of machines alongside the

extended voice is a trend that returns with the invention of electronic music. The effects

the Futurists would have on music would not be seen immediately as the growth of their

radical movement was hindered by political and economic unrest in Western Europe after

World War I. Not until a few decades had passed, when composers such as John Cage

and Karlheinz Stockhausen started working in the electronic medium, would the

Futurists’ ideas be further realized.13

Another movement related to the development of extended vocal techniques was

the Dadaist movement. During the First World War, artists gathered in Switzerland to


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The breaking down of language and phonetically based vocal pieces would become the

focus of composers such as Henri Pousseur, Mauricio Kagel, and György Ligeti later in

the century. Berio’s vocal pieces would also break down language, but he would break

down coherent language whereas the Dadaists started from phonetic sounds only.

Symbiosis: Electronic Media and the Extended Voice

As discussed above, before the invention of electronic music, composers

interested in writing non-bel canto style vocal music did it in ways that involved spoken

vocal sounds. Spoken declamation, phonetic collages, and mixtures of speech and

singing (Sprechstimme) were the major extended techniques developed in the early

twentieth century. The invention of electronic music would invite composers to think

even more freely about the voice, independently of singing and speaking. As electronic

composers explored the sound capabilities of their machines, they would imitate these

capabilities in traditional instruments, like the voice. This prompted many composers to

use the voice in new ways.


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others, either wrote electronic pieces using the voice or composed for voice and

electronics. The voice was not only manipulated by these composers, but was actually

the main source material and inspiration for their pieces.

From the very inception of electronic music, the voice played an important role.

When Pierre Schaeffer (1910-1995) was creating what would become known as musique

concrète in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he looked for sound sources that would be

rich enough to make a piece of music. After a few electronic music trials that he

considered to be failures such as using locomotive sounds, he created a catalog of sounds

that contained two categories: human sounds (breathing, vocal fragments, humming) and

nonhuman sounds (footsteps, percussion, instruments).14

These categories are juxtaposed

in his piece Symphonie pour un homme seul , which was presented in concert in 1950.

It is significant that both the Futurists and Schaeffer initially used mechanical

means and the voice to explore new sound worlds. Schaeffer’s experiments involving

sounds from trains and other found noises seem to follow the Futurist manifestos calling

for the use of noises as music, but astonishingly, Scheaffer claimed to be unacquainted


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and in some sense followed Marinetti in that it “metalized, liquefied, vegatalized,

petrified, and electrified the voice” by combining vocal Musique Concrète with

synthesized Elektronische Musik .16 The dissecting and layering of the boy’s voice in

Gesang is not unlike what Berio would do in Sequenza III, only Berio had a smaller

ensemble to work with (a single voice instead of several layers). Repetition of text,

mutilation of text beyond recognition, juxtaposition of texted sounds with other sounds

and sectional form are common to both pieces.

The sixties would see a flourish of activity in the electronic and extended vocal

genres. Electronic music studios would be founded around the world and composers

would start to think about sound and the voice in ever newer ways. Composers using

EVT would not only incorporate electronic music’s uninhibited sound world, but they

would employ actual processes stemming from the creation of electronic music. In 1961,

Pauline Oliveros would write Sound Patterns, a piece for extended technique choir. In

Sound Patterns, she explored vocal devices such as phonetic sounds, glottal stops, tongue

clicks, hand muting and other vocal devices. Around this time, Oliveros had been


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EVT music also contains elements inspired by electronic music processes, he did not

come to them as directly as Oliveros, or use them as exclusively. However, Berio’s

inspiration can also be directly traced to electronic music but, as will soon be discussed,

the relationship between electronic music and extended vocal techniques in his music

stems from Cathy Berberian’s improvised imitations of electronic music, not via the

direct imitation of electronic music techniques.

The studio that would have the most responsibility for developing the use of the

voice would not be Schaeffer’s studio in Paris, but the Studio de Fonologia in Milan,

perhaps to compensate for its having had less sophisticated recording equipment than

other contemporary studios. In order for complex sounds to be synthesized, the studio

included a bank of nine oscillators. To the close circle of composers working in the

studio, vocalist Cathy Berberian (1925-1983) was known as “the tenth oscillator.”18

Berberian at the time was married to Luciano Berio, who along with Bruno Maderna, was

the original founder of the Milan studio. Starting in 1954, Berberian and Berio would

work together on radio music projects, one of which was inspired by the work of James


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After lecturing with John Cage (1912-1992) at Darmstadt during the summer of

1958, Berio invited Cage to come work in the studio in Milan. Cage accepted and

worked on his Fontana Mix at the studio in Milan and spent much of his time at the Berio

residence. Berberian had been living “in a world obsessed by epics of tape montage. In

response, she had developed her own form of ‘domestic clowning’: a one-woman

simulacrum of rapid tape editing that leapt from one type of voice to another, but

maintained the expressive integrity of each.”20 Cage saw the potential of her “domestic

clowning” and wrote a piece for her that involved ten singing styles, which he called

Aria. Berberian imitated vocal tape pieces, which Cage then turned back into a vocal

piece. For many composers, Cage’s Aria changed what could be expected of the voice.

Two composers who would see Aria performed and take particular notice of Berberian’s

unique vocal capacities were Sylvano Bussotti and Berio himself.

Berio’s first response to Cage’s Aria was an electronic and voice piece entitled

Visage. The precomposition of Visage would influence Berio’s vocal writing for the rest

of his life. During two or three hour recording sessions, Berberian would improvise in an


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frantic stuttering, moaning, crying, and laughing. The voice colorfully declaims a

nonsensical text with a variety of emotions. Also explored in this piece are extended

techniques such as mid-register ululation, vocal fry (also known as glottal clicks), and

rapid declamation of singular phonemes.22 It would not be until after their divorce that

Berio would write the piece that distilled the Visage improvisations into a purely acoustic

composition: Sequenza III (1966). This piece would be the couple’s vocal magnum opus,

making use of Berberian’s vocal and dramatic gifts and Berio’s rigorous compositional

abilities.

Composers who were associated with electronic music expanded the repertoire of

extended techniques by disassociating both speech and pitch from traditional vocal

sounds. Although only a few are mentioned here, many more composers who were

active in electronic studios also wrote for the extended voice. A new generation of

vocalist-composers would build upon the vocabularies and vocal aesthetics of Oliveros,

Stockhausen, Berberian and Berio and develop a vocabulary of techniques useful for the

description and analysis of EVT music.


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composers have done for the extended voice, and so are worth mentioning here. Their

work broadens the catalog of extended vocal techniques presented in this dissertation,

and contextualizes the techniques Berio uses in Sequenza III . The composers discussed

below are representative of a larger group of singer/composers that have explored the

voice including Greetje Bijma, Yoko Ono, Priscilla Mclean, Shelly Hirsch, Brenda

Hutchinson, Pamela Z and Diamanda Galas, to name a few.

The extended voice tradition is still developing, and these vocalist composers

each discovered their catalogs of technique in their own ways. While pieces like

Sequenza III have given composers permission to further explore the voice, composers

have also used other sources of inspiration to find their vocal sound world. In addition to

the electronic music and literary sources that inspired Berio, they also have looked to

non-western singing techniques. In fact, this practice is not limited to post-Berio

composers. In the early decades of the twentieth century Arthur Farwell and Maurice

Délage used non-Western vocal techniques in their pieces. Arthur Farwell was

concerned with Native American folk music, and wrote pieces such as Bird Song Dance,


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One notable extended technique vocalist who broke ground during the seventies

was Meredith Monk (b. 1942). The early years of Monk’s professional life were spent as

a dancer and avant-garde theater choreographer and in the early 1970s her theatrical roots

would serve her music when she turned to composing. Like Schoenberg, Monk’s

extended vocal technique developments were inspired by theater, but unlike Schoenberg,

Monk sought to create an amalgamation of art forms throughout her career; even her

purely acoustic pieces can be heard as “invisible theater.” Monk said, “I work in

between the cracks, where the voice starts dancing, where the body starts singing, where

theater becomes cinema.”24

Her repertory of vocal techniques would eventually include

glottal stops, Native American style vibrato, nasal singing, nonsense syllables and child-

like vocal tones, sounds featured in Balkan singing, Tibetan chanting, and vocal

techniques from other non-western traditions. Like Berio, the techniques used by Monk

are rooted in singing and are considered extended because they specify the singing

methods involved. The difference is that Monk’s techniques include styles from many

traditions while Berio’s are limited to Western traditions.


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Reich and Phillip Glass, and by John Cage. These influences are evident in her writing

throughout her career.

Some of La Barbara’s early pieces are etudes of sorts that invite the exploration of

vocal possibilities. Hear What I Feel (1975) presents a blindfolded singer sitting in front

of bowls with unknown objects in them. The singer then vocally responds to what she

feels in the bowls. The exploration of her vocal extensions she says “developed as a

result of improvisation, sometimes with other musicians, and as a result of responding to

experimental situations of stimuli from other media or ideas.”25

In her mature style, her

compositional style is formally drawn-out, exploratory in aesthetic, and predominantly

concerned with timbre and vocal colors. While Berio uses several universal and familiar

vocal techniques in new ways (juxtaposed and rapidly alternated), La Barbara uses new

techniques. She was one of the first to extensively use circular singing, pitched ululation,

glottal clicks, fry, and multiphonic singing.

While La Barbara was creating her extended vocabulary on the East Coast, the

Extended Vocal Techniques Ensemble was creating and cataloging its own vocabulary at


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would eventually tour the United Stated and Europe with whimsical compositions written

specifically for them, including pieces by vocalist-composer Deborah Kavasch. Some of

the ensemble’s primary influences were:

Tibetan monks chanting and creating an octave drone with prominent overtones,Mongolian and Tuvan overtone singing, Bulgarian women’s music and African

funeral music using ululation, popular music with occasional vocal fry ormultiphonics (such as in recordings of Janis Joplin) and jazz recordings with

octave singing (Ella Fitzgerald sings an entire chorus of How High the Moon inoctaves. . .).26

From these inspirations, the members created two EVT lexicons. The first one

attempted to categorize the sounds with linguistic-like terminology while the second used

a more subjective terminology that accentuated the inherent properties of the sounds.

This second lexicon, called the Lexicon of Extended Vocal Techniques (1974) includes

sounds organized according to their sonic qualities and categorizes them into three

groups: monophonic (for example: ululation and fry), polyphonic (for example: glottal

overpressure and cross register ululation), and miscellaneous (for example: clicks and

tongue squishes). The Appendix of this dissertation (a catalog of extended vocal

techniques) includes several of the same sounds as the Lexicon, but organizes them


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Another composer/performer who has also created an important catalog of

extended techniques for the voice is the English composer Trevor Wishart (b. 1946).

Wishart has taken the relationship between the voice and electronic music that was

explored by pioneers such as Stockhausen and Berio, and delved deeper into the

acoustical properties of the voice, allowing him greater flexibility in the electronic realm.

Wishart writes primarily digital audio media with extensions of the voice serving as the

main source material. He has several publications, including On Sonic Art (1996), where

he demonstrates some of the philosophies and tools he uses in the creation of his digital

audio media. On Sonic Art also includes a chapter called “The Human Repertoire” which

catalogs all sounds human. In addition to vocal sounds, Wishart includes sounds that can

be made with the hands when combined with the voice. His discussion starts with vocal

oscillators and filters and then proceeds through various vocal effects. Wishart is

methodical in his exploration of the sounds that a human, not just a human voice can

make. On Sonic Art has an accompanying CD where the described vocal sounds are

demonstrated. Unlike the Lexicon, Wishart puts more focus on nonlaryngeal oscillators


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CHAPTER 3

EXTENDED VOCAL TECHNIQUE CATEGORIES

Both The Lexicon of Extended Vocal Techniques and “The Human Repertoire”

chapter of On Sonic Art include a variety of sounds and innovative thinking in relation to

the sounds themselves, but because the capabilities of the voice are so broad, neither is

organized in a manner that concisely demonstrates the voice’s abilities within a historical

framework. Neither catalog lists speaking or singing as categories, which in their various

forms, are contained in a sizeable portion of EVT repertoire. A more concise system of

organization of possible vocal sounds is necessary for the analysis of EVT pieces, and

will be more useful for composers’ navigation of the voice. The Lexicon of Extended

Vocal Techniques is organized according to sound qualities and does not include the

breadth of sounds that Wishart does. “The Human Repertoire” chapter of On Sonic Art is


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The Appendix is organized according three distinct contributors: 1) oscillator, 2)

filter and 3) lung function. The Appendix categorizes EVT production by beginning with

vocal fold oscillators and moving through other oscillators. Each category includes very

broad sonic possibilities as members of categories may be manipulated more specifically

by filters, placements, registers, and by combining sounds from other categories. Where

a category ends and another begins is determined by considerable deviation within any

one of these contributors, as well as the technique’s historical significance. For example,

ululation could be considered a subcategory of speech or singing, but because the lung

function is so unique to this technique, it warrants its own category.

The most distinctive contributor to any vocal sound is the oscillator. The

oscillator is the specific part of anatomy that actually vibrates to produce sound. In

typical speech and singing, the primary oscillator is the vocal folds contained within the

larynx. Secondary oscillators are used in speech and singing to create consonants, such

as the tongue for a rolled “r” or the lips for a “p” sound. In addition to the vocal folds,

extended vocal technique oscillators may include various parts of the tongue, the cheeks,


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Filters are the immovable anatomy such as the structure of the mouth, and

movable anatomy such as the lips, tongue, cheeks, larynx (also known as Adam’s apple,

which houses the vocal folds), and soft palate. They affect the volume of a sound’s

various partials. The easiest way to understand filters is through comparisons of vowel

sounds. Every distinct vowel sound has a different filter configuration. For example, the

“i” (ee) vowel requires the middle of the tongue to be close to the roof of the mouth and

the lips to be relaxed and slightly open while the “u” (oo) vowel requires the tongue to be

much lower and the lips to be pursed. The different shapes of the mouth produce unique

sonic spectra. Filters can create more than just vowels used in language; a wide gamut of

filter configurations can also produce sounds not associated with speech.

The third area of production is lung function. Lung function dictates which

oscillators and filters may be used (some sounds are not possible when breathing in a

specific direction and others do not require lungs), and how the oscillators and filters may

be used. In addition, the lungs may alter the sounds made through starting, stopping or

pulsing air. Air can be flowing in through the oscillator (ingressive) or out through the


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human sounds that do not involve the vocal tract such as clapping. The table is meant to

succinctly demonstrate vocal possibilities and serve as a guide for analysis and

composition. Where a label has become more or less standard for a technique, it is used

in the Appendix.

The first supplemental file included with this dissertation will be referenced in the

coming paragraphs. This audio file contains 31 audio examples that demonstrate the

capabilities of the extended voice. The Appendix may also be useful at this point in

distinguishing various EVT categories.

The first vocal category listed in the Appendix is speech. Speech traditionally

involves egressive movement of air, although ingressive speech is possible with some

modifications to certain consonants (audio example 1). The larynx is the primary

oscillator of speech and combinations of the lips, teeth and tongue as secondary

oscillators to create consonants. A basic understanding of phonetics is most beneficial to

a composer working with extended vocal techniques, as speech contains in itself a

complicated and fascinating range of musical possibilities. Earlier, the speech


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music. Composers such as Meredith Monk have continued to explore the possibilities of

connecting music and dramatic speech.28

The vocal technique that has been most explored musically is obviously singing,

the second technique in the Appendix. Singing can be defined as pitch focused vocal fold

production. As with speech, filters, registers, and placements may be altered to produce

very different sounds, which when stylized by extra-vocal musical features, are distinct

enough to be heard as individual techniques or vocal styles. The mechanics of singing

are well documented and a variety of vocal styles have been physiologically explained by

the location of moveable anatomy along the vocal tract combined with placement,

phonation, and register issues. The representation of styles in audio example 2 is only a

small sampling of existent vocal styles, and represents only one interpretation of each

style. Each style may mean something different to every singer and whole careers are

spent perfecting single styles. John Cage’s Aria is an exploration of dynamically varied

singing styles in which singing is the exclusive technique. Recordings of this piece

demonstrate how stylistically flexible one voice can be. Cage allows the performer to


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resonance cavity, efficient phonation, and mostly head register while a “jazz” style would

have a more neutral resonance cavity, perhaps breathier phonation (less efficient), and

mostly a chest or a chest/head mixed register.

Before leaving the topic of singing, a few less traditional singing techniques will

be discussed: ingressive singing, filter modulations and shakes. Ingressive singing (audio

example 3) is possible and has been used by composers such as Joan La Barbara in

combination with egressive singing to create “circular singing,” where only a very brief

stop in sound must occur while the air changes directions. Unlike many other extended

techniques that will be discussed later, ingressive singing still allows for some level of

traditional vocal virtuosity in speed and interval size. Filter modulation (audio example

4) is another specific singing technique in which specific filters are rapidly alternated to

create a singing flutter effect. Different vowel combinations can be used to create

harmonic modulations. An oo-ah combination requires intensive use of the lips while oh-

ee most rigorously utilizes the tongue. Vocal shakes (audio example 5), which are

related to wide vibrato and vocal trills, require fast alternation of two pitches, spaced


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spectrograph of this cross-register ululation, including two fundamentals and two

harmonics. Both of the harmonics belong to the lower note of the ululation. The interval

of a major third can be heard most predominantly; the bottom of the third is sung in the

singer’s chest/middle register and the top of the third is sung in head register. Figure 2

demonstrates that the listener actually hears a rapid alternation of two pitches, and that

those individual pitches have very different spectra resulting from the registers in which

they were produced.


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Ingressive ululation is possible, but less flexible than its egressive counterparts

(audio example 10). Ululation has been widely used by extended vocal composers and

has roots in vocal music of the Medieval and Renaissance periods where shorter single

note reiterations were used ornamentally. As mentioned earlier, the Baroque term

tremolando is thought to have been associated with various kinds of ululation.30

Another specific kind of “singing” is overtone isolations or harmonic singing.

Tuvan and Mongolian singers are practiced in this technique, and use a gravelly

phonation that we will call chant (discussed below) that allow their overtones to speak so

clearly. Singers not accustomed to this kind of production may find it easier to explore

overtone isolations through traditional western singing. Written explanations for

producing overtones differ on methods of production for overtone isolations, but what is

common to all sources is that the oral cavity filters are manipulated to make overtones

speak. Overtones can be produced on a variety of vowels, but are most easily produced

on closed vowels. The “oo” vowel (audio example 11) requires a slight lowering of the

larynx and the pointing and retroflexing of the tongue to bring out the third partial. The


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Figure 3. Spectrograph of overtone isolations.

the “oo” and “eehr” sounds. The images on the left are the “eehr” sound from audio

example 12, whose isolated overtones are very bright. The second partial is also very

strong and may be distracting while listening for the upper partials. The “oo” sound from

audio example 11 is on the right and conversely has a stronger fundamental and less

interference from the second partial.

While changing the shape of the lips and tongue allows certain overtones to

“speak,” it is the singer’s soft palate height, glottal height, and air flow pressure that


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easy to find being from G6 to D7. While women can certainly isolate overtones, the

available acoustical range of the overtones gives men some advantages, as men’s range

for fundamentals is more conducive to creating scalar overtones. The circled notes in

Figure 4 demonstrate the overtones in isolation range for two given fundamentals, G3 and

G4.


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In other words, women must sing at the bottom of their range where fundamentals

produce a greater variety of overtones in order to create more than a few notes on a given

fundamental.

Overtones higher than this range can be isolated when a higher fundamental is

sung with additional effort, but the trend is that fewer overtones speak as the fundamental

gets higher. For example, if a singer is singing C6, only two partials (the third and

fourth, G7 and C8) may be isolated. For this reason, composers may find it advantageous

to often move the fundamental when writing music for female overtone singers. Audio

example 14 shows overtone singing in a higher register.

“Chant” is a term borrowed by the Extended Vocal Techniques Ensemble from

Tibetan chant production. Octaves are perceived in this type of phonation (audio

example 15), caused by the simultaneous vibration of the vocal folds and the false vocal

folds. Like overpressure, fry, and forced blown sounds, which will be discussed below,

this technique involves two simultaneous oscillators in the area of the larynx. Unlike

overpressure, fry, and forced blown sounds, it impossible to get the secondary oscillator


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in required airflow. The first three use oscillators near the end of the vocal tract (the

buccopharynx): lips, tongue, and cheek. The next three use oscillators near the beginning

of the vocal tract in the area of glottis (the laryngopharynx) whose employed anatomy is

less easily identifiable. The last categories are air turbulence noises and a series of

unlunged pulses that can also be combined with the vocal folds.

Lip flutters are created by forcing air through the lips. As with tongue and the

vocal folds oscillations, this oscillation results from lower air pressure being present

where air is moving, causing the lips to repeatedly pull together and burst open. Lip

tenseness affects production, as demonstrated in audio example 16 as the lips go from

tense to relaxed. Ingressive lip flutters are also possible when the lips are tense, and

double lip flutters are possible when the middle of the lips are pressed together and either

corner of the mouth allows air to escape.

Egressive and ingressive tongue rolls can be produced using various parts of the

tongue. Audio example 17 contains egressive flutters with the front, middle and back of

the tongue followed by ingressive flutters with the front, middle and back. The front


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chant. Therefore, the glottal clicks can be initiated without also initiating the vocal folds

(audio example 19). The clicks may be combined with regular vocal fold vibrations to

create semi-voiced fry and voiced fry, which may contain multiple pitches (audio

example 20). Strohbass, a term commonly mistaken for fry, is actually voiced fry in a

person’s lowest register when the larynx is forced below its normal stabilized position.

Vocal fry is only a by-product of this ultra low singing. Fry is possible while singing

higher pitches also (audio example 21), it just takes a conscious decision to add it instead

of fry resulting from pushing the range lower. Music for strohbass has been written

mostly for men, but women are also capable of creating strohbass with their voices, it is

simply not as resonant or useful as the male counterpart.

Where egressive fry may prove to wear the voice and be difficult to sustain and

stabilize pitches, ingressive fry is easy on the voice, easy to sustain, uncomplicated to

make resonant, and can extend a singer’s low range by an octave or more (audio example

22). Ingressive fry may also move from unvoiced to voiced (audio example 23). It is

possible to create secondary audible melodies with ingressive fry by manipulating the


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Figure 5. Spectrograph of multiphonic ingressive fry.

26. Notice the lower, weaker fundamental in yellow that stays stationary while the main

fundamental and its overtones ascend.

Overpressure, or windpipe noises, have been heard by most people thanks largely

to Louis Armstrong’s singing of “What a Wonderful World.” Wishart believes that the

overpressure technique originates from the shaking of the windpipe below the larynx and


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Air turbulence noises are those made without a specific oscillator, but by pushing

(or pulling) air through the vocal tract in specific ways including breathing, panting,

whispering, and teeth whistles (audio example 30). Some consonants such as s, sh, f, and

h, are made distinctly by sustaining air friction. Other consonants are made by shorter

bursts of air friction (k, t, p). Sustained s and sh are called teeth whistles.

Unlunged or semilunged noises are those that are created by snapping or

squishing air pockets created along the vocal tract. Audio example 31 demonstrates seven

different pulses in the same order listed in the Appendix. Like other sustainable sounds

not created by the vocal folds, pulses may be combined with the vocal folds. Several of

the categories may be multiplexed (rapidly alternated) or combined according to the

availability of filters, oscillators and airflow.

The vocal techniques listed above can be divided into five category groups: vocal

fold sounds (speech, singing, ululation, reinforced harmonics, chant), buccopharynx

oscillators (lip flutter, tongue flutter, cheek flutters), nonvocal fold laryngopharynx

oscillators (glottal clicks, glottal over-pressure, forced blown), air turbulence, and


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in Example 3 (the box with a vertical line through it) is a tongue click that signals the end

of the use of one motivic category and the introduction of the next. This use will be

explained in more detail in the next chapter.

While air turbulence and unlunged noises play specific roles in the piece, the

motives that are developed in the piece are built on three categories of vocal fold sounds:

speech, singing, and ululation. Example 4 shows a moment in the piece when all three of

these categories are used in close proximity; it includes speech (very tense), ululation

(nervous laughter), and singing (impassive). It occurs during the introduction at about

1’00”.

Berio carefully introduces these vocal fold categories and combines them with

other musical elements while maintaining their identities. The next chapter will explore

the physiological consequences of the juxtaposition of these categories in the work, as

well as how musical elements based on these categories are combined as a means of

formal articulation and development.


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Example 2. Example of air turbulence in Sequenza III.

Example 3. Example of unlunged noise in Sequenza III.


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CHAPTER 4

ANALYSIS OF BERIO’S SEQUENZA III

In traditional Western music, specifically music that has been identified as being

organic and formally unified, a composer makes decisions on the order of events in a

work based on the relationships between combinations of pitches and rhythms, or through

the spinning out of a motive. This kind of organicism is also evident in Berio’s Sequenza

III , but the traditional analytical tools of pitch and rhythm fail to provide an adequate

description of the musical material. A motive can be identified in an EVT piece such as

Sequenza III not primarily by pitch, rhythm or interval, but by its specific combinations

of various vocal sounds. In extended vocal music, these vocal sounds can be described

using phonation, phonetics, placement, register, intensity and production location. Pitch

and rhythm still play a roll in the identification of a motive in EVT analysis, but instead


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reasons. First, a recording of Sequenza III depends on the performance, unlike a

recording of a tape piece, which is fixed. A spectrograph of a singer’s performance of

Sequenza III would be specific to that performer so an analysis by this method could

never purely represent the piece. Second, a spectrograph cannot vividly demonstrate

words, syllables, emotions and other elements of human expression that are essential to

an EVT piece. Analysis based on physiological coding of sounds can give great insight

into how an EVT composer might go about composing out vocal ideas. A

physiologically based analysis can demonstrate how motivic events are juxtaposed,

transformed, liquidated, repeated, or otherwise manipulated while correlating them to

human forms of expression. In addition to shedding light on vocal production variation, a

physiological approach can take into account compositional aspects that a sonogram

cannot show, since physiological issues (such as vocal weariness) often affect

compositional choices made by the composer.31

Producing a vocal sound makes the

employed musculature demand a counterbalancing response, a need to bend the voice

back the other way. Physiological sensations often lead the improviser/composer towards


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heard around their house with “domestic clowning.” These clownings were her vocal

impersonations of spliced tape music. Berberian’s improvisations used multiple vocal

personalities and rapid changes in technique. It was Cage who first recognized the

brilliance in her improvisations, and composed Aria for her. Berios’s first response to

Cage’s piece and first use of Berberian’s improvisations was in Visage, a tape piece made

of Berberian’s wordless vocal improvisations. The improvisations Berberian produced

during the creation of Visage would influence Berio’s writing for the voice for years to

come. The influence of Berberian’s improvisations in Visage can be seen particularly in

Sequenza III . Because Berberian’s material was physiologically born, Berio’s

construction is sensitive to the voice’s tendencies and capabilities. Berberian edited

Sequenza III , and even said, “We almost composed it together.”32

As Janet Halfyard put

it, the material of Sequenza III “is rooted in the way that Berberian vocalized.”33

Joke Dame even argues that Berberian, or any performer of the piece, actually

plays a bigger role in the creation of this piece than does the composer.

34

Dame’s

analysis of Sequenza III is rooted in the French philosophies of Roland Barthes and Julia


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which is not said.”35 Dame relates geno-text and pheno-text to Sequenza III, and claims

that the piece is basically a showcasing of geno-text; that geno-text is the actual subject

of the piece. Since the performer actually creates the geno-text, she is “responsible for

the ultimate composition.” Later Dame writes “The score is more a description of

Berberian’s vocal experiments than a prescription for Berberian as a performer.”36 While

the performer is key to Sequenza III , and while the score is based on Berberian’s vocal

experiments, this analysis will show that there is more in the structure of the music than

a description of geno-text improvisations.

On the other hand, Anhalt analyzes Berios’ Sequenza III according to

psychological implications.37 He uses the research of Jean Piaget and P.J. Moses as a

starting point and regards the piece as an utterance monologue in which the performer is

trying to tell the audience something, but is incapable of doing so. Anhalt categorizes

sounds into general groups of pathological phenomena and uses the contents of those

groups to demonstrate a psychological chronology that includes anxiety attacks and

oscillation of moods. He comes to the conclusion that the woman that the actress is


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Sequenza III is invalid, it just means that there is also more at play. Berberian’s initial

vocalizations were inspired by machines, and in some sense, specifically because of its

treatment of the text, the piece dehumanizes the performer despite its emotional intensity.

The text in the piece is not declaimed in a traditional manner but is fragmented, repeated,

and interrupted. Berio set phonemes, syllables, whole words, and whole phrases from the

text, and did so in a calculated manner that has a coherence beyond the presentation of

psychological states in Anhalt’s analysis. This analysis will show that Berio used the

fragments of the text more musically than linguistically. The text fragments are often

combined with traditional musical building blocks like pitch and rhythm in a motivic

manner that contributes to overall cohesive structures. The varied presentation of text,

whether presented as phonemes, syllables, whole words, or whole phrases, has structural

or motivic purpose. The modular text by the Swiss writer/designer Markus Kutter reads:

Give me a few words for a womanto sing a truth allowing us

to build a house without worrying before night comes

Part of the text, “Give me a few words for a woman to sing,” consists of Berio’s own


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only “a pile of bricks with no cement.”38 The text will be considered more closely within

the context of the musical analysis below.

The score contains no dynamic markings, but instead a series of emotion-related

expression markings. Anhalt and Halfyard have created a categorization of these words,

such as “tense,” “anxious,” “distant,” “frantic,” and “nervous,” in order to distill the

range of emotions and vocal colors of the piece.39 The score instructions describe the

function of the descriptive words, saying the words may inspire facial and body gestures,

but the singer should not pantomime the words, allow them to let the cues “. . . act as a

spontaneous conditioning factor to her vocal action (mainly the color stress and

intonation aspects) and body attitudes. The processes involved in this conditioning are

not conventionalized; they must be experimented with by the performer herself according

to her own emotional code, her vocal flexibility and her ‘dramaturgy.’”40

Berio was obviously more interested in the singer’s resulting interpretation of the

score than in a specific realization of a series of traditional dynamic markings. The best

access Berio had to such a broad spectrum of vocal colors was through the emotions


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years,41 after her death, Berio’s preferred performer of the piece was Luisa Castellani.42

This analysis, although primarily based on the score, is informed by Berberian’s and

Castellani’s performances.

Sequenza III can be heard in six basic sections: Introduction (starting at 0”),

Statement 1 (starting just before1’50”), Cadenza 1 (starting just after 4’20), Statement 2

(starting at approximately 5’15”), Cadenza 2 (starting just before 6’50”), and Closing

Statement (starting just after 7’30”). The Statement sections present the text coherently

and contain music that is mostly sung on musical intervals. By contrast, in the Cadenza

sections the text is broken up into phonemes, and Cadenza sections are characterized by

rapidly juxtaposed alternation of pitched and unpitched vocal techniques.

Although the piece is somewhat exploratory in character, one can observe a solid

logical progression of the text and an organic progression of musical ideas. With the

exception of ‘a woman,’ in the Introduction, whole words are presented phrase by phrase

in their original word order. However, the stretching of the words in time, and the

amount of fragmented material between initial presentations of the text phrases, skew the


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Table 1

Location of First Appearances of Complete Phrases

Introduction (a woman)

Statement 1 give me a few words for a woman (1’00”) / to sing (3’50”) / a

truth (4’20”)Cadenza 1

Statement 2 allowing us43 (5’47”) to build a (6’00”)

Cadenza 2

Closing

Statement

house (7’45”) before night comes (8’13”)

The appearance of these phrases in their designated sections supports the idea that

there are two kinds of sections in the piece: those that move the text along (Statement)

and those that have another purpose (Cadenza). The sections have been identified by the

categories of sounds that are used in them. The next paragraphs will label techniques and

identify then within the sections.


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Example 5. An example of production type A.


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utilized most intensively. In contrast, production type B most intensively uses the

muscles in the areas of the laryngopharynx (specifically the soft palate) and the

oropharynx (specifically of the larynx). In other words, type A and type B intensively

use muscles at opposite ends of the vocal tract. Berio will highlight the difference

between these physiological types throughout the piece, as well as combine

characteristics of the two types as a means of development. After the Introduction, these

initial two production types combined with new characteristics are used consistently in

different formal sections: type A in the Cadenza sections and type B in the Statement

sections. For the singer, the oscillation between production types, and consequently,

between one end of the vocal tract and the other is physiological reinforcement of the

piece’s sectional form. Similarly, a listener may be physiologically sympathetic (perhaps

unconsciously) to the singer’s vocal juxtapositions and also understand the piece’s

development through its physiological methods of production. Berio’s descriptive words

for the muttering (type A) are “tense” and “urgent.” Conversely, the sustained notes

(type B) are labeled “distant” and “dreamy.” Here we see a distinct concurrence of


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Example 7. An example of production type C

Type C is a musical and physiological convergence of “characteristics” (to be

designated “char.” below) from type A and type B. Type A’s characteristics can be

described as rapid (char. 1), containing consonants (char. 2), and undirected/undefined

pitch (char. 3). Type B’s characteristics are pitched singing (char. 4), on vowels (char.

5), and sustained/slow moving (char. 6). Production type C contains char. 1 (rapid) from

type A and char. 5 (on vowels) from type B. It also has a new characteristic: directed

pitch on repetition of a single phoneme, which will be labeled char. 7. As expected,

given their opposite manners of production, A and B share no characteristics, while C

shares characteristics with A and B and includes a new characteristic. This relationship is


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Figure 6. Relationships among the characteristics of production types A, B, and C.


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Table 2 has been included for the sake of clarity and lists the descriptions of the

characteristics found in production types A,B,C, and D, presented thus far.

Figure 7 shows the intersection between production types A, B, C and D, and the

characteristics they share.

After various less traditional production methods, the arrival of this most

traditional of production types, type D (singing a melody on words), stands out as

significant. The words “a woman” are the first intelligible text heard by the listener and

these words are also the central concern of the text. These words are misplaced within

the delivery of the original text, and their placement in the introductory section serves as

a foreshadowing of the first real statement, after 1’50”. Full phrases of text are always

presented for the first time using production type D.

Table 2

Descriptions of Characteristics

Char Characteristic


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Figure 7. Relationships among characteristics in production types A, B, C, and D.

The four remaining types are presented after the Introduction is over. Just as

characteristics of A and B combine to make C and D, Berio continues to combine

characteristics of production types to create new production types. Characteristics of

type A combine with characteristics of type C to create type E. Type E (see Example 9)

contains rapid, undirected pitch ululation and is introduced in Statement 1 at about 2’10”.

Type F (see Example 10), which contains characteristics from types A and C, is

first employed at 2’30”, and is described as single-pitch texted singing.


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Example 10. An example of production type E.

Type G (see Example 11), which contains characteristics from B and D, is

introduced just before 2’50”. Type G is a melody sung only on vowels.

The final type presented in the piece begins just before 4’30”. Type H (see

Example 12) is rapid pitch directed repetition containing consonants. In this case, single

consonants are rapidly repeated to create verbal trills.

The origins of types E, F, G and H are demonstrated graphically in Figure 8.

Entranced by the vocal spectacle that is Sequenza III , a listener may hear the

variety of vocal colors as random, but the connections between the characteristics of


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Example 12. An example of production type G.


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For the purpose of clarity, Table 3 is included. It describes the characteristics

found in each production type and may be used as a reference for the remaining analysis.

In order to get a clearer picture of how the use of production types contribute to

the structural understanding of the piece, see Table 4. Types are used in specific sections

of the piece: A, C, E and H are primarily found in the Cadenzas while B, D, G and F are

found primarily in the Statement sections. Table 4 demonstrates which sections

significantly employ each of the production types. An “X” in parenthesis stands for

notable, but less significant use of a production type.

Table 3

Characteristics Found in Each Production Type

Production

type

Characteristic

Numbers

Characteristics

A 1,2,3 rapid, containing consonants, unclear pitch.(muttering and speaking)

B 4,5,6 pitch focused singing, vowel phonemes, sustained

single pitch (includes humming)


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Table 4

Locations of Production Types by Section

Production

Type

Introduction Statement

1

Cadenza

1

Statement

2

Cadenza

2

Closing

Statement

A X X X (X)

B X X X X

C X X X

D X X X X

E X X

F X X

G (X) X X

H X X

Although each production type is primarily found in either the Statement or the

Cadenza sections, production types, and their characteristics, are rarely completely


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Figure 9. Division of characteristics in Cadenza and Statement sections.

The division of production types and characteristics as it pertains to the over-all

form results in a piece where the larger sections complement each other physiologically.

Figure 9 shows that Characteristics 1 (rapid), 3 (unclear pitch), and 7 (prescribed pitch

direction, repetition of a single phoneme) belong almost exclusively to the Cadenza

sections. While employing these characteristics, the voice will use mostly chest register,

bouncing of the diaphragm (for ululation), and intensive use of the filters contained in the

mouth (lips and tongue) to produce the rapid consonants. In contrast, the characteristics


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means of production apply to every singer. The descriptive words will change the

presentation of the production types according to the “emotional code” of the performer,

as instructed by Berio, and the notes and speed that are sung will change, but the

production types themselves are specifically described, and are, for the most part,

inflexible.

We have seen how Berio introduces his materials throughout Sequenza III and

how those materials are used in specific sections. The next portion of this analysis will

look in some detail at how those materials are employed after the Introduction, and how

their use supports the sectional form suggested earlier.

The first Statement section (starting just before 1’50”) contains the first

appearances of production types E, F, and G. At the section’s beginning, a long string of

coherent text is introduced for the first time. “Give me a few words for a woman,” like

almost all presentations of discernable text, is sung on production type D. Calling this

moment “production type D” and leaving it alone would not sufficiently describe the

depth of nuance contained within this passage. Within type D, Berio changes how the


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Example 13. Beginning of the First Statement section

The music of this phrase ends with a tongue click, referencing the tongue click at

20” in the piece’s Introduction. As in other passages, like the click at 20”, this new click

is followed by a new production type: the first appearance of type E (based on

“Ululation”). This production type only lasts a few seconds, and feels foreign to this

Statement section where sustained resonant singing dominates. Although production

type E is introduced in this Statement section, it will be used much more in the Cadenza

sections.

The next production type that is introduced is type F at 2’30”. Type F is preceded

by two different production types that share its characteristics. “Singing on words” from


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This is not the first time two divergent production types have been employed

immediately before introducing a new production type that is related to both. The

introduction of types C and D in the Introduction section could be described in this way.

It is not the last time production types will be introduced this way either. The phrase

after 2’40” can be described as production type F alternating with single short vowels,

which could be interpreted as type E. This passage precedes the introduction of type G,

which shares single characteristics with both types E and F, once again creating an

effortless evolution to the new production type. Example 14 shows the alteration of types

E and F on the words “/fo/ [i] be [u] to [e] /fo/ [i]” before the arrival of type G on “[a]”.

This method of introducing production types creates a sense of logic and

unification amidst the emotional turbulence and vocal ingenuity contained in Sequenza

III . By the end of Statement 1, the singer has been making sustained, sung pitches for

about two and a half minutes. Starting just after 4’20” (the beginning of Cadenza 1), the

diaphragm shifts as it bounces to accomplish the passage made of production types C and

E and is relieved by this new use. Counterbalancing use of the anatomy makes this


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The final production type is introduced shortly after at 4’30”. While the next part

of the first Cadenza mentally challenges the performer with its rapid changes of

production type, it is actually vocally quite freeing, and is vocally akin to warm-ups

singers do to make their voices relaxed and performance ready. From just before 4’40”

to just after 5’, six of the eight production types can be found (see Example 15). This is

the highest concentration of change in production types in the piece, and it is intense for

singer and listener alike.

Before the Statement section 2, Berio stops changing production types; the

remainder of the first Cadenza section uses only production type A and it alludes to the

arrival of the new section where changing of production type is less frequent. The

artfully executed transition includes the alternation of type A with type D (the most

characteristic type in the Statement sections) starting at about 5’15”, until type A has

been liquidated and the types prevalent in the Statement sections take over at 5’27”.

Register, duration and articulation create the climax of this Statement section.

Around 6’15”, the singer is asked to sing a high note of her choosing, and to stay on that


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Example 16. Climax in Statement 2

The climax happens on a combination of production types D and F, which share

two of their three characteristics. The Cadenza section before this produced a climactic

moment (4’45” – 5’05”) through rapidly changing production types, but the second

Statement section does just the opposite, hanging on to a single method of production to

create a climax.

This opposition of production type usage, and consequently physiological

opposition, is even more apparent when comparing the end of the second Statement

section with the beginning of the first Cadenza section (6’15” – 6’50” and 6’50” – 7’10”).

The second Cadenza section begins not through elimination of production types and

alternation with new production types (like the second Statement section) but by simply


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several times in a short time period) creating an even grander dichotomy between the

sections. This rapid succession lasts for a little more than 20 seconds before it begins to

give way to alternation between two production types: at 7’10”, only production types E

and A are employed. At 7’20”, production type A is transformed into type D (a

Statement section type) by sustaining the previously short notes before a sigh lets the

listener know the section is over.

The Closing Statement begins with an alternation of Statement Section material

(type G) and Cadenza Section material (type A), just after 7’30”. The alternation

between these two types is quite regular, creating a rhythm of change. The rate of change

of production type following this regular rhythm grows ever slower, giving the listener a

sense of ritardando and conclusion. Gradually, type D goes from interrupting types G, A,

and C to being the main material that is interrupted by types G and C. Like the

Introduction, the Closing Statement contains significant material from both Statement

and Cadenza sections, but in the Closing Statement, Statement material prevails and

seems to be interrupted by Cadenza material, whereas in the Introduction, Cadenza


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67

Berberian stayed in Italy. Berio disclosed that the piece “was not only written for Cathy

but is about Cathy.”44 The range of emotions, juxtapositions of production types, formal

contrasts, even the treatment of text, all lend themselves to a divorce narrative, or at least

a narrative of feelings towards an estranged spouse.

Berio reacted to Kutter’s text, “for a woman to sing a truth allowing us to build a

house” by cutting it up (Halfyard’s “pile of bricks with no cement”45). Perhaps this

Sequenza is Berio’s very personal essay about his relationship with Cathy. The final line

of Kutter’s poem, “before night comes” can be found just after 8’10”. The word “night”

is sung on a high, sustained note. The material that follows it is considerably lower in

register. This makes the word “night” stand out as significant. Certainly this piece

doesn’t have a happy ending, and his emphasis on the word “night” could symbolizes the

end of their relationship. Try as they might, these two dynamic personalities could not

“build a house” together, and they could not do it “without worrying.” The intensity of

the material seems to match the intensity of their relationship, and the formal contrasts

made clear by the use of distinct production types in different sections may describe the


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68

The climax of the piece (from 6’15” to about 7’10”) is a juxtaposition of the most

brilliant and rigidly characteristic production types. Having fully developed, this climax

is the crisis moment where the dichotomized characters (or dichotomized feelings) can no

longer co-exist. We may not know all the details of Berio and Berberians relationship,

but we do know that it was Berio who found someone new and left. Imbedded in the

lyrics of this climax statement just after 7’40” are the words “forgive me.”

One of the most striking aspects of use of the production types throughout the

piece is that they constantly interrupt each other. David Osmond-Smith recounted that,

“Even with an ocean between them, each was incapable of ignoring the other; each had

an almost seismographic measure of the command that they had upon the other’s

attention.”46

Speculation aside, while Berberian and Berio’s marriage may not have

lasted, the work they did together certainly has. Berberian’s vocal ingenuity combined

with Berio’s strong analytical mind produced one of the most remarkable vocal works of

the twentieth century.


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APPENDIX


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i l l a t o r

F i l t e r s

L u n g F u n c t i o n

N o t e s

a l F o l d s

s - d e f i n i t e

h )

m e c o n s o n

a n t s

u i r e a d d i t i o n a l

l l a t o r s s u

c h a s

t o n g u e a g

a i n s t

t e e t h f o r “ t ”

F i l t e r s a r e u s e d t o

c r e a t e p h o n e m e s .

E g r e s s i v e o r

i n g r e s s i v e

P i t c h c h a n g e s h a v e

m e a n i n g i n d i f f e r e n t

l a n g u a g e s .

a l F o l d s

fi n i t e p i t c h )

S p e e c h f i l t e r s

e m p l o y e d .

M a n i p u l a t i o n o f

f i l t e r s i n p a r t c r e a t e s

“ s i n g i n g s t y l e s ”


i n g r e s s i v e

O r n a m e n t a l

p o s s i b i l i t i e s s u c h a s

t r i l l s , y o d e l s , c r o s s

r e g i s t e r s h a k e s ,

v i b r a t o , s l i d e s , a n d

f i l t e r m o d u l a t i o n s .

a l F o l d s

F i l t e r s u s e d i n s p e

e c h

a n d s i n g i n g m a y b e

e m p l o y e d .


i n g r e s s i v e , a i r f l o w

i s q u i c k l y a n d

r e p e a t e d l y

i n t e r r u p t e d e i t h e r

b y e p i g l o t t i s o r

d i a p h r a g m .

C r o s s i n g r e g i s t e r s

c r e a t e s a m u l t i p h o n i c

i l l u s i o n .

a l F o l d s ,

a l s o

s i b l e w i t h

n t

A l l , t o n g u e i s

p r i m a r y , l i p s

s e c o n d a r y . S o u n d

s

m a y b e n a s a l i z e d .

F i l t e r s c a n c r e a t e

h a r m o n i c o s c i l l a t i o n

E g r e s s i v e

O n l y c e r t a i n v o w e l s

a r e p o s s i b l e ; f i l t e r s a r e

b u s y .

70


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a l F o l d s ,

a n p h o n a

t i o n

S a m e a s f o r s p e e c h o r

s i n g i n g

E g r e s s i v e

I n g r e s s i v e i s

d i f f i c u l t

s

T o n g u e , s o f t p a l l e

t ,

g l o t t a l h e i g h t

I n g r e s s i v e ,

e g r e s s i v e

L i p t e n s e n e s s a n d a i r

f l o w a f f e c t p i t c h a n d

o s c i l l a t i o n s p e e d .

D o u b l e l i p f l u t t e r

p o s s i b l e o u t o f s i d e s o f

m o u t h .

o n g u e

a l v e l o r r i d

g e o r

d p a l l e t ,

M i d t o n g u e / s o f t

t t e ,

a c k

g u e / u v u l a ,

i d e s o f

g u e / m o l a r s .

L i p s , s o f t p a l l e t ,

g l o t t a l h e i g h t

E g r e s s i v e

I n g r e s s i v e ( o n l y

p o s s i b l e w i t h

t o n g u e t i p w h e n

t h e t o n g u e i s

r e t r o f l e x e d )

T o n g u e t e n s e n e s s a n d a i r

f l o w a f f e c t p i t c h .

e k s a g a i n

s t

h

L i p s

I n g r e s s i v e

e f o l d s , w

h e n

a l f o l d s a r

berio essay

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