Ep. 4: Vocal Timbre and Identity

Chappell Roan - 📸 by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

In this episode, we talk about one of our favorite musical topics: vocal timbre and identity! We use examples from the Superbowl - "The Star Spangled Banner" - as well as our own in-progress dissertations - Disney Princesses and Chappell Roan respectively. We also do our best to answer a question in office hours, "what makes someone a queer icon?" and suggest some lesson plans for vocal timbre, available on google docs here!

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LINKS/RESOURCES

Blooket.com

Mr. Jay's Music Room - rhythm imposter and Among-Us-like games

The Trevor Project

Heartstopper (show on Netflix)

Heartstopper (graphic novel by Alice Oseman)

Kate Heidemann, "A System for Describing Vocal Timbre," MTO 22.1 (2016).

Nina Sun Eidsheim, The Race of Sound: Listening, Timbre, and Vocality in African

American Music (Duke University Press, 2018).

Kaitlyn's Disney Princess playlist

Catherine Provenzano, “Making Voices: The Gendering of Pitch Correction and The Auto-

Tune Effect in Contemporary Pop Music,” in Journal of Popular Music Studies 31, no. 2

(2019).

Lesson Plans: Vocal Timbre

"The Superstars of Vocal Timbre"

• Nina Sun Eidsheim, The Race of Sound: Listening, Timbre, and Vocality in African

American Music (Duke University Press, 2018).

• Kate Heidemann, "A System for Describing Vocal Timbre," MTO 22.1 (2016).

• Victoria Malawey, A Blaze of Light in Every Word: Analyzing the Popular Singing Voice (Oxford University Press, 2020).

• Drew Nobile, “Alanis Morissette’s Voices,” MTO 28.4 (2022).

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MUSIC

Intro/thinking/outro music: "Kiss the Girl" Karoake Version

Timbre examples: Jon Batiste singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Superbowl, 2025.

Chris Stapleton singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Superbowl, 2023.

Brain break music: "Immaterial" by SOPHIE (2017).

More timbre examples: "When Will My Life Begin," sung by Mandy Moore for Tangled (2010).

"Picture You" by Chappell Roan (2023).

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K&K'S PLAYLISTS: WHAT ARE WE LISTENING TO? 🎧