Breath/Heart/Voice

Breath/Heart/Voice was written as part of Crosstown Arts’ “Change of Tone” series in Memphis, Tn. The series is designed to explore a theme of falling in and out of sync with community and self in a non-traditional performance space in which audience and performers are separated by a significant distance. 

To that end, this piece uses musical material generated through physical gestures (breath, vocalization, and heartbeat) in order to connect performers and listeners in an accessible, communal experience.

  • I. Shared Breath - The first movement aims to join performers and audience in a single breath as a celebration of shared space. To this end, the piece begins with deep, communal breathing and slowly expands as the initial breath sparks a series of emerging identities throughout the ensemble.

  • II. Broken Breath- While the first movement used breath as a gesture of community and shared experience, the second movement modifies those gestures to depict breath as a source of isolation and vulnerability. Here, breathing becomes labored and anxious as players and audience grapple to fit their individuality in the context of their community.

  • III. Stuttering- The third movement asks the vocalist to read text through an auditory delay such that their speech is disrupted and uncontrollable. The piece explores anxiety from falling out of sync with oneself and a feedback loop of that anxiety causing feelings of isolation from community. Text written by Lynne Welden.

  • IV. A Supportive Voice- This piece serves as a foil to the previous movement as instrumentalists are asked to sing in a gesture of support and acceptance toward the vocalist.

  • V. To the Dirt- The supportive vocal gestures of the last movement are amplified in this piece, giving performers a moment to exist fully together in their playing. 

  • VI. Song for the End- The final movement has performers play in time with their individual heartbeats in order to allow for a space for their performance to naturally fall in and out of sync. To this end, players are required to wear stethoscopes held to their chests with elastic bandages.

Breath/Heart/Voice was premiered virtually by Lynne Welden, Aaron Philips, Bryan Pallotta, Ben Walsh, Michael Todd, and David Collins and recorded at Young Avenue Sound. The piece was a semi-finalist in the 2022 American Prize for Vocal Music Composition