{"id":10782,"date":"2016-05-13T05:30:20","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T09:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=10782"},"modified":"2016-05-13T09:02:54","modified_gmt":"2016-05-13T13:02:54","slug":"roomful-of-teeth-putting-music-where-their-mouths-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2016\/05\/13\/roomful-of-teeth-putting-music-where-their-mouths-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Roomful of Teeth: Putting Music Where Their Mouths Are"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt’s all about the voice,\u201d says Brad Wells<\/strong>, founder of Grammy Award-winning Roomful of Teeth<\/strong>, a nine-person modern classical vocal ensemble dedicated to \u201cmin[ing] the expressive potential of the human voice.\u201d Through use of a wide array of supremely challenging and\/or obscure vocal techniques, the group creates a sound like nothing else.<\/p>\n

\u201cPretty much all of us [in the group] come from a choral music tradition,\u201d says Wells. And while classical choral music sometimes adds instruments, Roomful of Teeth records and performs unaccompanied. \u201cA guiding principle of the project is [to highlight] what’s possible with the human voice in creating a ‘mixed martial arts’ instrument from a group of singers, where different styles are available to composers at the same time and place,\u201d Wells says.<\/p>\n

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The group studies and employs Tuvan throat singing, Hindustani music, yodeling and many other exotic \u2013 and historically important \u2013 vocal styles to create their sound. The ensemble’s repertoire is built wholly on original material and commissioned works from celebrated composers. Wells says that when working with Roomful of Teeth, those composers have a wide palette with which to work. \u201cThey don’t have to cut and paste; they can just hear what somebody [in the group] can do, and transform it into their own compositional language.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ensemble member Caroline Shaw<\/strong> was awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Partita for 8 Voices, featured on the group’s self-titled 2012 debut album. The Partita is also a favorite in the ensemble’s live set. Wells says that awards and critical acclaim have certainly increased the ensemble’s visibility, which he says \u201cresults in more performances, more people interested in programming the group, and more interest or openness from composers of note.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\nCurrent and upcoming projects will find the vocalists working with names as diverse as Julia Wolf<\/strong> (another Pulitzer winner), the Seattle Symphony<\/strong> and The National<\/strong>‘s Bryce Dessner<\/strong>. Such projects \u201cestablish that this group is out there doing interesting music,\u201d says Wells.<\/p>\n

Roomful of Teeth’s second release, 2015’s Render<\/em>, is highlighted by composer Missy Mazzoli<\/strong>‘s \u201cVesper Sparrow.\u201d Arguably, one need not understand the song’s lyrics to experience the power and transcendence of the work. \u201cMy sense of that piece,\u201d observes Wells, \u201cis that there are so few lyrics \u2013 they come in and out in a kind of dreamy way \u2013 that if you catch all of the words or none of the words, the spirit of the piece should still work.\u201d Along with Caleb Burhans<\/em>‘ work \u201cBeneath\u201d and other pieces, Mazzoli’s \u201cVesper Sparrow\u201d is on the group’s current set list.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea of inventive repertoire choices is a through-line with our programming,\u201d says Free Range Asheville’s Executive Director Estelle Woodward Arnal<\/strong>. The local organization describes its brief as providing \u201ca platform for research and discourse where local, national, and international artists can engage and collaborate in performance and laboratory settings with other artists and organizations.\u201d Recent programming sponsored by Free Range Asheville included performances by The Knights<\/strong> chamber orchestra, an entry in the Creative Thinker series, and a performance by The Tesla Quartet<\/strong>.<\/p>\n