In this week's episode, Aaron D'Zurilla explores how the vocal utterances and non-verbal vocalisms in Ellen Reid’s opera p r i s m (2018) convey the complexities of the trauma experienced by survivors of sexual assault.

This episode was produced by Zach Lloyd along with Team Lead Matthew Ferrandino. Special thanks to peer reviewers Colleen Renihan and Evan Ware.

SMT-Pod’s theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia, with closing music by Yike Zhang. For supplementary materials on this episode and more information on our authors and composers, check out our website: https://smt-pod.org/episodes/

[SMT-Pod opening theme music]

Welcome to SMT-Pod! The premiere audio publication of the Society for Music Theory. In this week’s episode, Aaron D'Zurilla examines how the vocal utterances and non-verbal vocalisms in Ellen Reid’s opera p r i s m (2018) conveys the complexities of the trauma experienced by survivors of sexual assault.

The following podcast comes with a content warning for auditory sequences of simulated assault, sexual abuse, panic attacks, and child neglect. Along with these audio examples, there will be discussion and analysis of the same topics in the context of this work. Listener discretion is advised.

[Introductory instrumental music from p r i s m]

p r i s m was premiered in 2018 at the Roy and Edna Disney California Arts Studio Theater in Los Angeles, California. Upon release, it received wide critical acclaim, including the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in music. Composed by Ellen Reid on a libretto by Roxie Perkins, p r i s m is a glimpse into a traumatic, abusive life through the lens of a daughter Bibi, and her mother Lumee.

As the audience, we see the world through the eyes and ears of Bibi, a girl of unknown age whose innocence is ripped away through sexual assault, abuse, and the emotional trauma propagated by her mother, Lumee. p r i s m takes place over the course of three acts, starting at Bibi and Lumee’s home, then moving to a nightclub, and finally returning to their then visually altered home. p r i s m as an opera is a harrowing piece, as it beckons the audience to question what is real, and what is only real in Bibi’s mind.

In a 2019 NPR interview, Ellen Reid detailed that p r i s m was first conceived in 2015. While it was first written before the rise of the MeToo movement, the impact of this movement was felt during the production of p r i s m, with Ried stating, quote: “It was something that Roxie Perkins, the librettist, and I had both experienced personally, and it felt like something that we wanted to delve into together. As you can imagine, going so deeply into something that is so difficult is really challenging. There's something about the piece that makes people who haven't experienced sexual assault understand just a little bit more what it might be like.” End quote.

That last note by Reid is of particular interest, how is the pain and horror of assault translated into this operatic medium? In my reading of the opera, it is primarily through the protagonist Bibi and the evolution of her verbal utterances and non-verbal vocalisms. This is not without precedence in the analysis of survivors in opera.

[Transition music from p r i s m]

In the 2021 paper, Survivors' Songs in Opera: What the Vulnerable Voice Can Do, Olivia Bloechl describes the stigmas around survivors telling their stories, with judgement focusing particularly on how their vulnerable state is conveyed. Bloechl describes that modern perceptions of trauma describe its performance as all-consuming, “embedded in the body”, something that is expected to be perceptible through changes in vocal production, giving what she describes as “tells” for the audience.

On the embodiment of trauma, Joy H. Calico describes, within her chapter of Contemporary Opera in Flux, how this is expressed within characters on stage during Chaya Czernowin’s Infinite Now. Through non-verbal utterances such as harsh breaths and amplified heavy breathing, there are a variety of related ways that signal to the audience that a character is experiencing a traumatic event or a related relapse.

Likewise, with p r i s m, I am proposing that Bibi signals to the audience, through perceptible tells in changes to her vocal utterances and non-verbal vocalisms, her experiences of sexual assault and trauma.

To synthesize these changes in verbal utterances, I will be using Kristal Spreadborough’s distinctions between three sets of Vocal Tone Descriptors: onset, sustain, and termination. I will also be referencing Steven Connor’s book Beyond Words in the discussion of non-verbal vocalisms, which are defined as coughs, cries, gasps, etc. These references were chosen for this analysis as they aid in describing the subtle storytelling found in verbal and non-verbal utterances in p r i s m.

Beginning with Spreadborough’s Vocal Tone Descriptors, onset describes how words with vowels are initiated, specifically between glottal and aspirate onset. Glottal onset is percussive, with air suddenly being released with a good deal of force. Such as in this: ask. Aspirate is a breathy, smooth onset, where breath passes through the vocal cords before they begin, such as this: ask.

Glottal onset is associated with confidence, and conversely with fear, with a call to attention in many cases. Aspirate onset is associated with dueling ideas as well, both subdued tension and something more closely associated with anxiety. The importance of these vowel sounds is also corroborated by Steven Connor, commenting that they are, quote, “the soul of speech”, in their evocative possibilities.

Next is sustain, essentially how vocal production develops between beginning and end. Unlike onset, there are a wide variety of possible binary descriptors here: loud or soft, vibrato or none, high or low range, and so on. Finally, termination is the conclusion of vocal production, with a binary between clear and tapered. Clear termination as in: pulp, and tapered termination as in plush. Clear termination has more happy, light-hearted associations, whereas tapered has the connotations of fear and distress.

Now, with the ideas of onset, sustain, and termination in vocal utterances, as well as non-verbal vocalisms, let’s take a look at p r i s m.

[Transition music from p r i s m]

At the opening of p r i s m¸ we find Bibi in a barren, bright white bedroom with see-through walls. Bibi is on the floor, with her mother Lumee sleeping on the bed. Bibi, however is awake, experiencing what appears to be a panic attack:

[Example 1]

In the context of the greater work, this flurry of non-verbal vocalisms represents Bibi reliving a past rape. Gasping for air and unable to maintain a steady breathing pattern, this creates what Connor describes as “tears in the voice”, conveying anguish through the sudden stopping of sound indicating sobbing to the audience. The monotone voice present, however is not seen on stage, and recites what is described as a “calming prayer” for Bibi, forcing her to ground herself in her surroundings, so as to not become overwhelmed. Once Bibi calms herself, and her mother Lumee wakes up, Bibi’s voice takes on a completely different quality:

[Example 2]

A drastic change from the traumatic opening. Emulating what we would expect in operatic singing, with strong vibrato sustains that reach into various ranges of pitch, and calmly tapered terminations, such as with “she kissed me”. There is also a noticeable lack of non-verbal vocalisms such as in the first example. Bibi sings of her desire to experience the outside world, a life outside of this white box of a room.

This change of expression shows Bibi's remaining innocence and naïveté. This contrast of verbal utterances and use of non-verbal vocalisms highlights the dueling realities of an individual subjected to the horrors of sexual assault, while still maintaining hope and desire for more.

In Act II, Lumee brings Bibi to a nightclub. Flashing lights, pounding subwoofers, crowds of strangers, it is not a friendly environment for a child. After being coarsely told off by Lumee for giving their identities away to the bouncer, Lumee abandons Bibi in the middle of the nightclub. In one of the most chilling parts of the opera, the audience sees Bibi alone on the floor, spiraling into panic during the scene titled, mom come back:

[Example 3]

While what exactly is happening in this moment is up for debate, there are two prominent possibilities. Either Bibi is again reliving her past trauma of a rape, or has just suffered another sexual assault in the club. While neither is obvious from the staging or libretto, what is clear is the array of verbal utterances on display. The quivering sustains are prominent, such as the difference between the assertive “summer” and the repetition of the quivering “sanctuary”.

For terminations, there is a combination of tapered and clear. Notably, listen to the evolution of the word “midnight”, which first appears as a clear ending, symbolizing confidence, and then evolves into “midnight” with a tapered ending, indicating fear. Let’s again listen to this segment:

[Example 3]

Additionally, there is only one obvious vowel onset with the conjunction “a”, or in this case, “ah”. This aspirate onset of “ah”, according to Spreadborough, indicates the dueling emotions of subdued emotion and anxiety. Fitting perfectly into the setting of this excerpt, Bibi is fighting back against herself and the environment. Again, referencing to Connor’s description of vowel sounds being the “soul of speech”, even this small moment of onset describes Bibi’s state. Even further than the vocal tone descriptors, there are the non-verbal vocalisms, reminiscent of the opening of the opera, with continuous gasps and attempts to steady her breath.

Moving to Act III, the visual perception of the audience shifts alongside Bibi. Lumee and Bibi return to the same bedroom from Act 1, but it is no longer a baren white room. It is now covered in filth, is stained, enveloped in dirt and trash. As the scene continues, it becomes apparent that this apartment always looked like this. It was never clean and neat, never sanitary and safe, always rotten. Bibi is delirious, still not fully recovered from what happened at the nightclub, and Lumee is seemingly uncaring. Bibi begs her mother for a change in life and evokes this wish through her several different styles of utterances. First, listen to this excerpt:

[Example 4]

Before listening again, let us discuss several of the verbal utterances here. Notice the glassy, unwavering sustains of her plea, which then morphs into regular speech at the utterance of the word “lying”. Additionally, nearly all of her terminations remain tapered, again indicative of fear, most especially with the words “anymore” and “lying”. Finally, listen to the indications of the onsets. Particularly the statement of “I”, additionally highlighted by a descending tritone, is glottal in nature, projecting Bibi’s feigning confidence to confront her mom. Let’s listen again:

[Example 4]

Also noticeable in this excerpt is the creeping nature of Lumee’s own non-verbal vocalisms rising into the texture. Bibi’s vocalization shifts in reaction to the growing non-verbal utterances and tension of the texture. Harrowing and unsettling, p r i s m ends in ambiguity, with the future of Bibi and Lumee uncertain to the audience.

[Transition music from p r i s m]

The haunting sights and sounds of this opera play on our expectations of what an opera is and how embodied trauma can be conveyed on the stage or in the sonic realm. There are numerous things that could be analyzed within p r i s m, including but certainly not limited to: instrumental timbre, orchestration, the libretto, various feminist angles and cultural analysis in the wider context of the MeToo movement, just to name a few ideas. p r i s m is a captivating work that certainly cannot be summarized in just one podcast or two.

The subject material of this podcast and p r i s m is of a very difficult nature. If you are need of resources related to sexual assault or trauma, you can visit the national sexual assault resource organization Rainn at online.rainn.org, that’s online-dot-r-a-i-n-n-dot-org, where you can anonymously chat with one of their trained specialists, or call their 24/7 anonymous hotline at 800-656-4673.

I would like to take a moment to thank the people who helped make this episode happen. Thank you to the team lead Matthew Ferrandino, my peer reviewers Colleen Renihan and Evan Ware, and producer Zachary Lloyd. I additionally want to thank Megan Lyons at SMT Pod and Professor Rachel Lumsden of Florida State University; without either of them this project would not have happened.

Visit our website smt-pod.org for supplemental materials related to this episode and to learn how to submit an episode proposal. Join in on the conversation by tweeting your questions and comments @SMT_Pod. SMT Pod's theme music was written by Maria Tartaglia with closing music by Yike Zhang. Thanks for listening!