We felt that research on improvisation in theater has to catch up and so we invited 10 advanced researchers of the field to present and discuss their topics. The result was an interesting mix of methods, approaches and academic conven tions. As expected the contributions were quite heterogeneous, since there is no such thing as a “theory of improvisational theater” or even a consensus of which discipline should investigate on it: Psychology? Theater studies? Linguistics? This book compiles most of the contributions of IMPRO TALKS and makes them accessible for an interested public and for further research.
Contributors: Edgar Landgraf, Gunter Lösel , Nicolas J. Zaunbrecher, Tony Frost and Ralph Yarrow, Duncan Marwick, Christian F. Freisleben-Teutscher
The symposium IMPRO TALKS was held in October 2016 at the Zurich University of the Arts and to our knowledge it was the first international academic gathering dedicated to improvisation in theater. We had realized that there is an imbalance in research on improvisation in different artistic fields: While there is quite an impressive corpus of research on improvisation in music, there is only very little academic literature on improvisation in theater, dance and writing. The most comprehensive collection on research in improvisation «The Improvisation Studies Reader (Caines and Heble 2015)» is a manifestation of this: While contributions on music reach a deep academic level, contributions on theater are more essayistic and practical. Research in music is highly differentiated, technologically up to date and well established; fascinating research has been conducted in search of neurological mechanisms that foster improvisation (Limb and Braun 2008) (Beaty 2015).
We felt that research on improvisation in theater has to catch up and so we invited 10 advanced researchers of the field to present and discuss their topics. The result was an interesting mix of methods, approaches and academic conven tions. As expected the contributions were quite heterogeneous, since there is no such thing as a “theory of improvisational theater” or even a consensus of which discipline should investigate on it: Psychology? Theater studies? Linguistics? This book compiles most of the contributions of IMPRO TALKS and makes them accessible for an interested public and for further research.
Editor: Gunter Lösel
Contributors: Edgar Landgraf, Gunter Lösel , Nicolas J. Zaunbrecher, Tony Frost and Ralph Yarrow, Duncan Marwick, Christian F. Freisleben-Teutscher
ZHdK: Institute for the Performing Arts and Film (IPF)
Acoustics of the Vowel. Preliminaries | Dieter Maurer
It seems as if the fundamentals of how we produce vowels and how they are acoustically represented have been clarified: we phonate and articulate. Using our vocal chords, we produce a vocal sound or noise which is then shaped into a specific vowel sound by the resonances of the pharyngeal, oral, and nasal cavities, that is, the vocal tract. Accordingly, the acoustic description of vowels relates to vowelspecific patterns of relative energy maxima in the sound spectra, known as patterns of formants. The intellectual and empirical reasoning presented in this treatise, however, gives rise to scepticism with respect to this understanding of the sound of the vowel. The reflections and materials presented provide reason to argue that, up to now, a comprehensible theory of the acoustics of the voice and of voiced speech sounds is lacking, and consequently, no satisfying understanding of vowels as an achievement and particular formal accomplishment of the voice exists. Thus, the question of the acoustics of the vowel – and with it the question of the acoustics of the voice itself – proves to be an unresolved fundamental problem.
Akustik des Vokals. Präliminarien | Dieter Maurer [E-Book PDF]
Die Frage, wie wir Vokale erzeugen und wie sie sich in der Folge akustisch «abbilden», scheint im Wesentlichen geklärt: Wir phonieren und artikulieren. Wir produzieren mit den Stimmbändern einen allgemeinen Klang oder ein Geräusch und formen diese über die Resonanzen von Rachen, Mund und Nase zu einem einzelnen, spezifischen Laut. Dementsprechend werden Vokale akustisch über charakteristische Energiemaxima im Spektrum, über sogenannte «Formanten» beschrieben. Intellektuelle und empirische Gründe, wie sie in dieser Schrift zusammengestellt und erläutert werden, geben aber Anlass zu einer ausgeprägten Skepsis gegenüber einer solchen Auffassung. Die vorliegenden Darstellungen und Erläuterungen lassen folgern, dass eine nachvollziehbare Theorie der Akustik von Stimme und stimmhafter Sprache, und mit ihr ein entsprechendes Verstehen von Vokalen als Leistung und Formgebung der Stimme, bis heute aussteht. Die Frage nach der Akustik der Vokale erweist sich mithin als ein ungelöstes Grundlagenproblem.
75 Jahre Schauspielschule Zürich | Hartmut Wickert, Anton Rey (Hg.)
Vom Bühnenstudio zur Zürcher Hochschule der Künste. Geschichte und Gegenwart der Schauspielausbildung in Zürich 1937 bis 2012. Hrsg. Departement Darstellende Künste und Film, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste
Mit einem Fotoessay von Lukas Wassmann und mit Beiträgen von Ute Kröger, Ralph Müller, Bruno Ganz, Peter Bissegger, Gardi Hutter, Hanspeter Müller-Drossaart, Peter Danzeisen, Hartmut Wickert und vielen anderen.
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