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Meredith Monk - Listening Report

 

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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