Strategies to keep strident. Rethinking vocal stereotypes through research-creation: insights from the workshop Reasons why I hate my voice

Recent studies have examined artistic practices using voice as an aesthetic and political tool to challenge representational stereotypes. Such inquiries trace a media-archaeological genealogy, exploring how certain vocal norms and expectations have been constructed – from the “standard voice” in radio and cinema, through notions such as phonogénie, up to the de-sign and creation of contemporary voice assistants like Siri and Alexa. This paper examines how particular vocal profiles have historically been favoured, alongside social and cultural resistance to high-pitched voices, as discussed in Anne Carson’s essay The Gender of Sound. Building on this critical perspective, the study focuses on research-creation practices developed by artist-researchers that foster collective, embodied exploration of vocal norms and encourage participants to experiment with maintaining a strident voice as a way to challenge habitual assumptions about voice. The ongoing workshop Reasons why I hate my voice, developed alongside the performance-lecture Pitch. Notes on Vocal Intonation, provides an autoethnographic case study bridging theory and practice, showing how participants can explore and unsettle entrenched vocal habits, preferences and stereotypes. The workshop is analysed in terms of its structure and methodology, and is related to participatory research-creation practices by artists such as Erik Bünger and Amina Abbas Nazari.