[Dixielandjazz] Music in the Dark

[Stephen G Barbone]

Maybe we should listen to, and perform Dixieland in the dark at  OKOM  
Festivals in order to have, as described in the below article  
excerpt,  the listeners experience a heightened state of awareness,  
becoming acutely attuned to the intricacies of a psychedelically  
beautiful soundscape that unfolds in total darkness"?

Could be fun, as well as a way to reinvigorate the genre. <grin>

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband

Unearthly Harmonies, Best Heard in the Dark
By Vivien Schweitzer - NY TIMES - February 16 2011


During Georg Friedrich Haas’s “In Vain,” the listener experiences a  
heightened state of awareness, becoming acutely attuned to the  
intricacies of a psychedelically beautiful soundscape that often  
unfolds in total darkness.

Mr. Haas is unusual in the way he wields light and darkness in his  
scores. Stipulating that a work be performed in a pitch-black hall  
sounds potentially gimmicky, but in this case it isn’t — it renders  
the experience initially disorienting, then intoxicating.

There is artificial light everywhere, Mr. Haas said in a phone  
interview in explaining his decision to write music for darkened  
spaces. “We do not have any night in our modern life,” he said. “But I  
think our body and our souls desire night, and I give this in my art.  
If we close our eyes, of course our ears are more sensitive. Maybe we  
don’t listen to music; we listen more to sounds.”

When composing “In Vain,” Mr. Haas said he incorporated light “like a  
silent percussion instrument.” His swelling soundscapes become even  
more startling when suddenly pierced by ghoulish glimpses of the  
musicians, a phantom orchestra that ominously fades away.

Performing in the dark is obviously an enormous challenge for the  
players, who must memorize chunks of the score and play without visual  
cues. “We have to prepare everything in rehearsal, and then it’s a  
huge leap of trust,” Mr. Galante said. “Everyone’s awareness is  
heightened.”

Discussing “In Vain” from a listener’s perspective in a preconcert  
chat viewable on YouTube, the composer Bernhard Lang said: “Awareness  
of sound and perception is changed.

After conducting “In Vain” at the Miller Theater, Mr. Galante said, he  
felt as if he had “gotten the wind knocked out” of him.

“I was sitting there in a stupor,” he said. “It’s amazing to hear a  
work that makes you think differently about the possibilities of music.”

And it’s intriguing how hearing such music in a setting removed from  
the concert comfort zone can affect your perception of ordinary  
sounds. After the performance in 2009, I drifted out of the Miller  
Theater in a mild trance, attuned to how the noises of street and  
subway were meshing into a haunting nocturnal soundscape.