A guest lecture that stuck with me this term was the first one of the year delivered by Imani Mason Jordan. They described themself as a writer for the spoken voice, the heard voice. Something I found very interesting at the time as I wanted to incorporate my voice or perhaps writing into my practice more. They talked about this idea of steady listening, listening to the voice, its timbre and the sensical/non sensical. Using the spoken voice as an instrument they perform live narrations where mistakes are alright and welcomed where they are not just talking but trying to persuade you to feel.
The speaking voice is being watched.
They believe there is an inherent song in the written word which is conveyed in their text scores or poetry where the sonic language of how something is said has to be considered. Conveying meaning through the aesthetics of the voice, for example the changes to the way they speak as they perform whilst running on a treadmill. The voice is therefore critical and transformative to the sound itself
They rely heavily on intuition and improvisation in their practice.
They showed us different performances of Rzewski’s Coming Together to show us the importance of the sound of the spoken voice as an instrument in its effectiveness and how transformative it is to the performance.
Encouraged to examine various artist statements and bios to develop our own her is a section of Jordan’s:
Imani Mason Jordan (b. 1992, London) is an interdisciplinary writer, artist, editor and curator interested in poetics and performance. Imani has written numerous articles, reviews, essays, poems, plays and love letters, some of which they have published. Since 2016, they have developed a keen interest in poetics, oration, experimentation and practices of reading aloud, from which they have synthesised a performance practice that centres writing and collaboration as well as using the speaking voice as an instrument.
I like how concisely yet descriptively they present their practice and very accurately too. I also like the slight whimsy in the ‘some of which they have published’ which pushes against the grain slightly but not too much that the statement is unprofessional or not serious.