Ep. 4: Vocal Timbre & Identity

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!

This episode includes clips from Howard Ashman and Alan Menken's "Kiss the Girl" (a karaoke version from Youtube), Jon Batiste's "Star Spangled Banner" from the Superbowl (2025), Chris Stapleton's "Star Spangled Banner" from the Superbowl (2023), SOPHIE's "Immaterial" (2017), Mandy Moore's "When Will My Life Begin" (Tangled, 2010), and Chappell Roan's "Picture You" (2023).

Don't forget to check out our website at from-the-margins.com and our instagram, @fromthemarginspod!

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:11 Update: pedagogy resources
• 2:38 Office Hours: what makes someone a queer icon?
• 12:59 Activity: the Star Spangled Banner & vocal timbre
• 23:29 TL;DR: the term "Vocal Timbre"
• 25:44 Love is Blind & The Voice & identity
• 33:02 TL;DR: making assumptions
• 34:30 Case Study #1: Disney Princesses
• 48:45 Case Study #2: Chappell Roan
• 59:08 TL;DR: final thoughts on vocal timbre
• 59:41 Shoutout to the superstars of vocal timbre 🌟
• 1:00:22 Outro