Sun 4/3
Eight superb vocalists impel Roomful of Teeth — self-described as a “vocal project,” more prosaically identified as an acapella vocal ensemble. These vocalists expand, push and test the boundaries of musical performance, and explore sound-producing techniques (from throat singing to harmonics to mountain yodeling). Organized by Brad Wells in 2009, the Teeth offers a fresh blend of old and new..
In a concert at Baldwin Wallace University, Roomful of Teeth offered a sampling of pieces (some can be heard on YouTube, search for the titles below) that elicited clearly expressed delight from conservatory students and applause from sometimes puzzled general audience members. To “get” what is going on takes a degree of musical sophistication, nothing wrong with that, and the ensemble’s acceptance, not just last night, but nationally (awards include a Grammy for the group and a Pulitzer prize for composer Caroline Shaw) shows that listeners enjoy their efforts whether they make any “sense” or not.
It’s possible that it’s easier to describe the Teeth by saying what it does not do instead of what it does. Imagine that you are strolling through an art museum, moving chronologically past classics from the Middle Ages on. At last you reach the Impressionists, the Monets, the Rembrandts, even the later Picassos. By now you’re used to the way visual artists communicate with clear (sometimes “clearish”) subjects and themes.
Musically speaking then, this is what Roomful of Teeth is not: traditional.
If you stick with the visual art analogy, it would be something like walking into a room packed with Abstract Expressionists (for example, Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning or Mark Rothko) and seeing paint splashed everywhere on canvases that don’t “make sense,” according to traditional viewing habits. And yet there’s still color and form and (maybe) a message behind the assemblage of artistic elements. The program we heard incorporated elements from musical history (chant, harmony, melody, dissonance, etc.), but it also threw notes across the stage in new arrangements and combinations.
Try googling “Roomful of Teeth” and listen to a sample. Here’s one from an NPR “Tiny Desk” concert.
Each paired with a mic and a monitor and arranged in a line across the stage, sopranos Estelí Gomez and Martha Cluver, soprano, altos Caroline Shaw and Virginia Warnken, tenor Eric Dudley, baritone Avery Griffin, bass-baritone Dashon Burton, and bass Cameron Beauchamp offered Partita for 8 Voices (Shaw); “High Done No Why To” (William Brittelle); “Beneath” (Caleb Burhans); “Montmartre” (Judd Greenstein); “Cesca’s View” (Rinde Eckert), and “Otherwise” (Brad Wells). Each voice offered a unique beauty and sound — what could be better?
One suggestion: Since all the works were new (to many of us) I wish the Teeth would consider incorporating visuals (at least title tags) projected onstage into their concerts.
Bottom Line: Clearly, Roomful of Teeth aims to shake things up — and I’d say they have succeeded – by combining their own strong and beautiful voices into expressive combinations of world music from every era, including Tuvan throat singing, yodeling, Persian classical singing, belting, etc. One gets the impression that if it’s out there, they have tried it. Go hear them when you get a chance.
[Written by Laura Kennelly] [Photo by Christine Dorey]Berea, OH 44017