Composer of the Day!

Today’s composer of the day is Meredith Monk.

(b. 1942)

She’s an artistic chameleon. She has been a successful composer, performer, vocalist, film-maker, and choreographer. Often her work is inter-disciplinary. Check this out.

It has been said by a certain someone that her

New sounds and new ways of organizing them were the engines of exciting adventures, and Ms. Monk’s extensions of the human voice became a part [of the vibrant downtown New York scene]. Words faded to the background; wails, shrieks, burbles, tremolos, squeaks and screams, all carefully modulated and controlled, created nonverbal texts.

Ms. Monk brings calm to an experimental field better known for its violent extremes.

Her use of harmony soothes. The rhythmic disruptions and the minimalist overlays of repetition go far enough to interest the ear, but not much further.

I couldn’t say it any better.

You should listen to her music.