Meredith
Jane Monk is an American singer, dancer, director, choreographer, and composer
that is widely known for her extended vocal techniques and interdisciplinary
performance.
The
play “Abscent” by Monk starts very intensely with a female singer that is
yodeling. Her yodeling is combined with very interesting high-pitched sounds
that are similar to the yodeling in some way. The yodeling and high-pitched
sounds occur in an alternating way, making this part of the play very intense
and exciting. The sounds are accompanied by a violin in the background.
Then,
a male voice joins the female voice. The male voice mainly sings a harmonious
“oh eh oh”. This adds depth but also a mysterious and interesting character to
the play. Even though the female voice is the dominating voice of the play, the
male voice and its effect stuck with me very much.
Furthermore,
the then added several male and female voices in the background of the play
also give the play more depth and harmony. The voices match very well with the
sounds of the violin.
What
I really liked about the play was the “na na na” break towards the middle of
the play. For about a minute, only the several male and female voices were
existent. I was not able to really hear any instruments in the background. The
focus of this part of the play therefore was only on the voices of the singers,
rather than any instruments. This shows me that voices are an essential part of
music making. Often, it is assumed that music equals instruments, but this
shows that just voices themselves are some kind of instruments too.
Towards
the end of the play, the female voice begins yodeling again and also the high-pitched
voice sounds occur again. Picking up and continuing the style and sounds of the
beginning of the play make the play unified and coherent. It creates this image
of a closed circle because the beginning and ending of the play are so similar.
All
in all, I really liked “Abscent”. In the first moment, I was actually a bit
surprised and shocked by the yodeling but then started to like it because of
the added sounds and voices that made the play very harmonious.
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