PhD Thesis Available

I’m delighted to announce that my PhD (2021) thesis is now available to access, via the following DOI. I look forward to sharing in your critical engagement with this, and my other works.

Thesis Title:

‘Deed I do: Narrating expert vocal jazz improvisers’ experiences of the piano

Thesis Citation (APA 7):

Feldman, C. (2021). ‘Deed I do: Narrating expert vocal jazz improvisers’ experiences of the piano [PhD thesis, University of Southern Queensland]. https://doi.org/10.26192/kf22-ap58

Thesis Abstract:

Jazz singers have historically been perceived as “improvisational underachievers” in comparison to instrumentalists. However, a growing body of research demonstrates that singers are a distinct subset of improvising jazz musicians, who have unique experiences and skills of improvisation, and who face unique challenges in improvisation due to the embodied nature of the voice as an instrument. Vocal jazz pedagogy commonly cites a correlation between playing piano and the ability to improvise with the voice; many expert vocal jazz improvisers are also known to play piano. Whilst playing piano is advised in the literature, little is known about the experiences of singers who engage in such behaviours, and if the claimed benefits are experienced in practice. Situated within a narrative inquiry framework, this study employs narrative approaches to investigate expert vocal jazz improvisers’ experiences of the piano. Findings reveal that singers’ experiences of the piano builds a sense of “hyper-embodiment” of the singing voice whereby the voice paradoxically transcends its fundamentally embodied nature and becomes an instrument encompassing all the faculties, systems, and senses of the body and external environment. Findings also reveal that singers’ experiences of the piano are meaningful in building and supporting vocal agency and jazz musicianship; the piano supports the development of the voice as an improvising instrument, facilitates singers’ embodiment of jazz language, and informs singers’ ability to independently develop musical skills for practice and performance. These findings present implications for jazz performance and education and reinforce that vocal jazz improvisation is worthy of research attention.