Nov
26
Spellbeamed: a Deconstruction of Conventions
November 26, 2012 | Leave a Comment
Spellbeamed, a work of conceptual music performed by Zeena Parkins and the Ne(x)tworks Ensemble with JACK Quartet at the Roulette Theatre, is a surprising, creative, multi-layered exploration of sound, communication, and people’s relationships to objects. The performance defies conventional understanding of instruments such as the harp and violin by rejecting their traditional production of classical music in favor of complicated and original discordant sound.
The performance begins with vocal artist Joan La Barbara reading a piece based on the work of German philosopher Walter Benjamin, but her words become obscured through the static effects of her microphone. This creates language that can almost, but not quite, be understood; it is information buried by digital translation; it is like the language of music, which can’t be understood as words but instead must be contemplated for its composition, movement, volume, and progression. This establishes that the performance will communicate in unusual forms, such as through images, sounds, and numbers. Traditional ideas, not only of communication, but of music and art, are torn apart and reconstructed through the delicate and extremely difficult composition of the music, as well as through the use of abstract images and vocal sounds.
Instead of a clear reading of a text, there are quiet, muffled, almost-understood words. Instead of harmonious, classical music, there are wild, compelling, upsetting, complex waves of sound. Instead of recognizable images that directly complement the music, they are abstract, disconnected, and yet relevant.
The instruments are played in extremely inventive ways; the performers pluck, scrape, and break strings, they create beats by tapping on the bodies of their instruments, and they toe the line between harmony and chaos by overlapping sounds and notes. The musicians follow complicated and precise sheet music and the composition of each piece transcends its base in a classical understanding of music to create an innovative and surprising sound that is both vibrant and deeply pensive, like a great cat just barely constrained by ropes or a cage. The music is capable of movement, volume, and tension that is more intense than many classical pieces because it is not constrained by formal rules; Spellbeamed makes use of these rules only to bend and break them to achieve raw and purely creative, original music. This seems to make many audience members uncomfortable, as it flips convention on its head and explores chaos, darkness, language, and emotion on a level that is not possible through other forms of music.
Spellbeamed not only explores new forms of communication and music, it also focuses on the relationships between people and objects. Each part is based on a different object and examines its abstract shape, color, and physical qualities, as well as the meaning they are given through human ownership and interaction. This returns to the theme of communication and how ideas can be expressed through means other than spoken language. Spellbeamed causes the audience to consider what certain objects express to them, what certain notes and arrangements of sound communicate to them, and what certain colors and images convey to them. This forces the viewers to think about their relationships with the objects and people around them and asks them to reconsider the possibilities of nonverbal language and sound. The noises created by the instruments are at times familiar and yet surprising and strange, sometimes sounding almost like bells, other times almost like power tools. This keeps the audience in a tension between what they think they know and what is possible, a tone that is reflected in the music, which slides from chaotic noise to soothing classical sound.
Spellbeamed is neither a clean nor obvious work of art—it is a downhill bike ride with no brakes—but it has a specific inspiration, vision, and direction, and it is a work of abstraction that is meant to be contemplated and digested by the viewer. It is meant to be appreciated for its careful construction, complex layers of sound, its movement and expression. It allows the viewer to rethink his preconceptions about himself, his relationships, and about music itself.
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