Judaica: An Embodied Laboratory for Song-Action

自20世纪70年代以来，包括人类学、社会学、文化研究、哲学和最近的认知研究在内的各个领域的学者都在争论具体化和具体化实践在知识生产中的中心地位。借鉴女权主义和社会学对“客观”研究的无实体状态的批评，许多学者呼吁采用新的方法来扰乱或推翻理论对实践的假设等级。戏剧、舞蹈和表演的理论家为这些讨论做出了重要贡献，他们展示了歌曲和舞蹈等表演形式如何能够“作为重要的转移行为，传递社会知识”。（泰勒，2003年：2-3），而文化和宗教研究的学者也类似地分析了武术，瑜伽，和其他实践的体育文化模式的“体现知识”（Farrer和惠伦桥2011年）。本项目将具体化知识的概念更进一步，提出在重点实验室环境中的具体化实践可以成为知识生产和传播的场所，从而以新技术的形式产生大量的研究成果。本项目将使用科学知识社会学，特别是实验室研究的子领域，振兴二十世纪的“剧院实验室”概念，导致发展一个强大的方法体现的研究。定义和评估这种研究的一个关键标准是要研究的具体技术领域的精确规范。在这种情况下，研究的核心对象是“歌曲动作”的技术，一个具体的方法，歌曲，包括动态的心理物理行动和互动，以及声乐音乐性。在今天的世界无处不在的录音，我们习惯于认为歌曲的音轨受到无限的复制。以前的技术时代将歌曲理解为书面乐谱。这个项目回归到对歌曲的更基本的理解，即歌曲是个人和群体体内的有机资源。它将“歌曲-动作”定义为一种特定类型的歌曲--在本例中是犹太人的piyutim和nigunim --与20世纪表演先驱康斯坦丁·斯坦尼斯拉夫斯基（Konstantin Stanislavski）和耶日·格罗托夫斯基（Jerzy Grotowski）发展的心理物理动作的动态交叉。该项目的核心是为期六个月的全职具身研究，涉及三名熟练的从业者在工作室实验室。从业者将在歌曲（自然和扩展的声音和音乐性）和行动（运动，体育文化，心理物理分数）的技术先进的能力，并将共同努力，系统地绘制和探索由选定的歌曲的声乐结构定义的心理物理行动的实际可能性。作为一种具体的技术，歌唱不仅仅是节奏、旋律和歌词，即使这些是它的基本基础。个别歌曲，特别是通过口头传统或录音学习的歌曲，也定义了呼吸的结构，声音的共鸣质量（音色或颜色），以及西方音乐符号无法很好地捕捉的体现声音的许多其他微妙方面。具体研究的核心阶段将由戏剧和音乐学研究支持，PI将保持和扩大与犹太研究和音乐导师的关系。实验室实践将模拟文件和透明度的最佳实践，因为它们涉及到具体的实验室研究。其结果将通过在英国，美国和波兰的现场研究报告;一个跨学科的总结研讨会;原始文件文件的集合;和一系列的印刷和数字多媒体出版物，探索这种新方法的具体发现和认识论的影响。

Since the 1970s, scholars in a variety of fields - including anthropology, sociology, cultural studies, philosophy, and most recently cognitive studies - have argued for the centrality of embodiment and embodied practice in the production of knowledge. Drawing on feminist and sociological critiques of the disembodied status of 'objective' research, many scholars have called for new approaches that trouble or overturn the assumed hierarchy of theory over practice. Theorists of theatre, dance and performance have made important contributions to these discussions by showing how performative forms such as songs and dances can 'function as vital acts of transfer, transmitting social knowledge' (Taylor 2003: 2-3), while scholars in cultural and religious studies have similarly analyzed martial arts, yoga, and other practices of physical culture as modes of 'embodied knowledge' (Farrer and Whalen-Bridge 2011). This project takes the concept of embodied knowledge a step further by proposing that embodied practice in a focused laboratory setting can be a site of knowledge production as well as transmission, leading to substantial research outcomes in the form of new technique.The project will use the sociology of scientific knowledge, and specifically the subfield of laboratory studies, to revitalize the twentieth-century concept of the 'theatre laboratory', leading to the development of a robust methodology for embodied research. A key criterion for defining and assessing such research is the precise specification of the area of embodied technique to be investigated. In this case, the core object of research is the technique of 'song-action', an embodied approach to song that includes dynamic psychophysical action and interaction as well as vocal musicality. In today's world of ubiquitous sound recording, we are used to thinking of songs as audio tracks subject to infinite duplication. The previous technological era understood songs as written scores. This project returns to a more primary understanding of songs as cultivated organic resources within the bodies of individuals and groups. It defines 'song-action' as the dynamic intersection of a particular type of song - in this case, the Jewish piyutim and nigunim - with psychophysical action in the sense developed by twentieth-century pioneers of acting Konstantin Stanislavski and Jerzy Grotowski.The core of the project is six months of full-time embodied research involving three skilled practitioners in a studio laboratory. The practitioners will have advanced competency in the technique of song (natural and extended voice and musicality) and action (movement, physical culture, psychophysical scores) and will work together to systematically chart and explore the practical possibilities for psychophysical action defined by the vocal structures of the selected songs. As embodied technique, singing is much more than just rhythm, melody, and lyrics, even if these are its essential foundation. Individual songs, especially when learned through oral tradition or audio recordings, also define structures of breath, vocal resonance qualities (timbre or color), and many other subtle aspects of the embodied voice that are not well captured by western musical notation. The core phase of embodied research will be supported by dramaturgical and musicological research and the PI will maintain and expand relationships with mentors working in Jewish studies and music.The laboratory practice will model best practices of documentation and transparency as they pertain to embodied laboratory research. Its results will be shared through live research presentations in the United Kingdom, United States, and Poland; a concluding interdisciplinary symposium; a collection of raw documentation files; and a series of print and digital multimedia publications that explore the concrete findings and epistemological implications of this new approach.