A blended quantitative-ethnographic method for describing vocal sonification in dance coaching

In this paper we present a micro-analytic description of the role vocalizing plays in a single case of professional dance instruction. We use a novel mix of qualitative and quantitative tools in order to investigate, and more thoroughly characterize, various forms of vocal co-organization. These forms involve a choreographer using vocalization to couple acoustic dynamics to the dynamics of their bodily movements, while demonstrating a dance routine, in order to enable watching dancers to coordinate the intrabodily dynamics of their own simultaneous performances. In addition to this descriptive project, the paper also suggests how such forms of coordination might emerge, by identifying those forms of voice-body coupling as potential instances of “instructional vocal sonification”. We offer a tentative theoretical model of how vocal sonification might operate when it is used in the teaching of movement skills, and in the choreographic teaching of dance in particular. While non-vocal sonification (both physical and computer-generated) is increasingly well-studied as a means of regulating coordinated inter-bodily movement, we know of no previous work that has systematically approached vocal sonification. We attempt to lay groundwork for future research by showing how our model of instructional vocal sonification might plausibly account for some of the effects of vocalization that we observe here. By doing so, the paper both provides a solid basis for hypothesis generation about a novel class of phenomena (i.e., vocal sonification), and contributes to bridging the methodological gap between isolated descriptions and statistical occurrences of a given type of event.