Skip to main content

Listening report – Meredith Monk

 

Prof. Dr. Herzogenrath

The Future of Avantgarde-Music

Blaha, Malte C.

Matrikelnummer 7509502

 

Listening report – Meredith Monk

For me, the music of Meredith Monk creates a musical world itself, instead of creating a “musical song”. It sounds like a world to immerse yourself in. Monk’s music stands for the idea of making use of the human voice as an instrument itself, instead of portraying voice-like instruments. As there is no instrument that can trigger emotions so easily and so all-surrounding like the human voice, she seems to make use of it as an universal instrument. The difference is that this instrument – the human voice- has the ability to trigger the same vibe and the same emotions to any listener. It appears, as if Monk figures out what notes a musical world exactly needs and then adds them in favor to this very unique world.

Further, Monk plays rhythmical with the use of canon. She modulates the voice, topples or breaks it. While the human voice can also illustrate order, Monk uses the variety of the human voice to also create disorder. It is also outstanding how Monk’s Lullaby Live can trigger emotions and sounds like an emotional story, without any use of any real wording. At certain times, it seems as if the singers were not in control of their voice, which in turn, displays just how much they are in control of the expression of their voice. There are powerful sounds, mixed with melodic background tones; the voice as a piece of expression, as a powerful tool, that has the ability to tell the story without the need for any real words. A story that is thought and told through the power of voice.

In addition, Monk kind of shows how the voice in general works. This is done through the multiple musical works of her, while most seem in perfect control, providing an atmosphere, they can also very well trigger disturbing and fearful sounds. This is necessary to the extent, that Monk wants to illustrate all possible musical worlds that the human voice might hide. The idea is: we ourselves are capable of creating the atmosphere that we want to deliver.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure

 Sarah Kumar Dr. Bernd Herzogenrath The Future of (American) Music 06 Mar. 2023 Listening Report on John Oswald: Plexure According to John Oswald, “[a] plunderphone is a recognizable sonic quote, using the actual sound of something familiar which has already been recorded” (Lecture Slides 18). However, only if the source stays recognizable can it be called plunderphonics. In his album Plexure , several songs are played back and mixed together, thus creating a new sound. This is interesting because while the excerpts of songs that are used are recognizable or at least sound familiar to some degree, played backwards and mashed up as they are in Plexure , they create a new sound. Like on the cover of the album, on which a collage making up a man can be seen, the mixing of different songs played backwards gives a new feeling to something known. The way the songs are mixed makes them unintelligible. The meaning of the words of the original recordings are not able to be compr...

John Cage – Inlets

  This does not sound like music to me. Depending on the interpretation of different players or performers, this piece will always sound different. In this case, it sounds to me like someone is walking through a cave with water at the bottom, dragging their feet through it. Sometimes it sounds like water in a toilet bowl, especially when we hear the water in a bigger shell being swished around. These sounds are relaxing in the background, it is like a gentle stream of water. I just wonder what went through the head of the composer while writing this piece. But I guess he had some experimental ideas that are interesting to try out. Those shells are quite pretty, I have never seen such big ones that are not broken. I was surprised when something else happened towards the end of the piece. That tone which came out of the one shell was so clear, it sounded like a trumpet. I didn’t know that shells can sound like that. It was quite beautiful. It was a nice way to end the piece. I di...

William Basinski – The Disintegration Loops III

  The Disintegration Loops is a quartet of albums published in 2002 and 2003 by American avant-garde composer William Basinski. The pieces are made up of tape loop recordings that were played over time, with noise and crackles rising as the tape deteriorated. Basinski noticed this effect when attempting to convert his older recordings to digital format. The completion of the recordings coincided with the September 11, 2001 events, which Basinski witnessed and adds a deeper meaning to the composition. The composition is fascinating in many ways and makes the listener lose track of time. The tape loop recording had a very calming effect on me and put me in a trance-like state when I listened to it in its entirety. The tape loop is really soothing, so much so that I didn't even notice the loss of quality when I first listened to it. It makes you forget about time and allows you to really get into the piece capturing the calmness it exudes. You forget or don't really notice how i...