Joan Linda La Barbara (born June 8, 1947) is an American vocalist and composer known for her explorations of non-conventional or "extended" vocal techniques.[1] Considered to be a vocal virtuoso in the field of contemporary music,[2] she is credited with advancing a new vocabulary of vocal sounds including trills, whispers, cries, sighs, inhaled tones, and multiphonics (singing two or more pitches simultaneously).
An influential figure in experimental music, La Barbara was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is a classically trained singer who studied with soprano Helen Boatwright at Syracuse University and contralto Marion Freschl at the Juilliard School in New York.[3]
Joan La Barbara's early creative work (early to mid 1970s) focuses on experimentation and investigation of vocal sound as raw sonic material including works that explore varied timbres on a single pitch, circular breathing techniques inspired by horn players, and multiphonic or chordal singing. In the mid 1970s, she began creating more structured compositional works, some of which include electronics and layered voice sounds.[4]
Joan La Barbara has also done work acting and composing for television, film, and dance. She composed and performed the music for the Sesame Street animated segment Signing Alphabet, for electronics and voice, and has composed a variety of chamber, orchestral, and choral works. She also appears in Matthew Barney’s 2014 film River of Fundament. La Barbara is currently on the music composition artist faculty at New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, and on the faculty of Mannes/The New School/College of Performing Arts.
Voice Is the Original Instrument (2016). Arc Light Editions, vinyl release, ALE005.
io: atmos (2009) New World Records, CD 80665
Voice Is the Original Instrument: Early Works (2003). Lovely Music, CD 3003.
Awakenings, for chamber ensemble (1994) Music & Arts, CD 830
Shamansong (1998) New World Records, CD 8054
73 Poems (1994) book and CD with Kenneth Goldsmith, Lovely Music, Ltd., CD 3002
"Computer Music Series, Vol.13, The Virtuoso in the Computer Age III", l'albero dalle foglie azzurre (tree of blue leaves), for solo oboe and computer music on tape (1993) Centaur Records, CRC 2166
Sound Paintings (1991) Lovely Music, Ltd., CD 3001
Silent Scroll on Newband Plays Microtonal Works, (1990) Mode Records, #18
The Art of Joan La Barbara (1985) Nonesuch, LP 78029-1
As Lightning Comes, In Flashes (1983) Wizard Records, LP RVW 2283
The Reluctant Gypsy (1980) Wizard Records, RVW 2279
Tapesongs (1978) Chiaroscuro, LP CR-196
Voice Is the Original Instrument: Early Works (1976) Wizard Records, LP 2266
^Pool, Jeannie G. (Jan., 1979). "America's Women Composers: Up from the Footnotes", p.35, Music Educators Journal, Vol. 65, No. 5., pp. 28-41. "Joan La Bar-[<br>]bara, a major innovator in her use of voice in both live and taped electronic works."
^Sadie, Julie Ann & Samuel, Rhian. The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers, , The Macmillan Press Limited, 1995, p. 259.