It’s Not What You Say…It’s How You Responsively Vary the Physical Dimensions of Your Voice
Greg Schell and Dominique Vuvan (Psychology)

We propose that beyond the exchange of specific information, the physical dimensions (pitch, timbre etc.) of one’s voice can also be laden with consequential non-verbal information that helps determine social status. While these dimensions are biomechanically constrained, individuals can responsively vary these qualities. We propose a new multidisciplinary line of research investigating the relationship between status and vocal attributes.

Trop: A Jewish Vocal Tradition
Elisha Denburg (Music)

My talk focuses on the vocal tradition of Jewish liturgical melodies. The Torah (Old Testament) and all other sacred scrolls are chanted using a series of shorthand symbols embedded among the words. These symbols are known as Trop. They indicate certain fragments of melody and are learned mnemonically, akin to the popular Do-Re-Mi system. After introducing how Trop functions in a traditional synagogue context, I address its influence on my work as a contemporary classical composer.

Textual Voices: A Survey of Notations, Librettos, and Polyphony in Canadian Poetry
Katherine McLeod (English)

The frameworks literary scholars have used over the last century to examine textual voice illuminate the complex voices of experimental poetry. Regarding such poetry as a form of musical notation (as though for a voice performance), I offer a survey of the poetic notations of a range of Canadian poems, from sound poetry to operatic librettos, to introduce the audience to the practice of textually mapping voices.

WIDEN (Workshops for Inter-Discipline Exchange & Novelty) aims to reveal the shared projects and symbiotic insights emerging from the manifold knowledge bases of the University of Toronto.

On Rehabilitation April 23 2010
On Food April 9 2010
On Mining March 26 2010
On Movement March 10 2010
On Expertise February 26 2010
On HIV/AIDS February 10 2010
On Colour January 27 2010 (in bold defiance of midwinter)
On Women December 4 2009 (in commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the Montreal Massacre)
On Fidelity November 27 2009
On Walls November 9 2009 (in commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall)
On the Supernatural October 30 2009
On Voice April 29 2009
On Space April 14 2009
On Remembering Violence March 11 2009
On Vision February 25 2009
On Darwin February 11 2009
On Pleasure January 28 2009