Pärla röd sonic
On Saturday, a casual crowd gathered in Portland Institute of Contemporary Art's warehouse to hear Yelling Choir, a " performance process " created by Portland-based musicologist Maxx Katz. The afternoon show was part of the Time Based Arts Festival's happy hour programming, with the choir's brief min piece What will contain us?
Pärlplattor
Attendees grabbed plastic chairs and cracked seltzers while children crawled on the cool cement floor. Choir members were already present from the outset, standing on platforms arranged throughout the audience, wearing monochrome outfits—blue, yellow, red. Some were shrieks. Others could be classified as cries or moans. I listened for distinctions between the sounds and what they conjured internally—an anxious rattling in my chest, sadness, even elation.
Descending from their platforms, the choir members looked like bands of rainbow, as they slowly formed a line on the center stage. Their cries grew louder, then halted in sudden silence. Dressed in white, Katz used hand gestures to rouse eruptions of hoots, hollers, whispers, clucks, and clicks from the choir.
Sonic Arts & Music Production
Sweeping arm motions encouraged oozing "aaaaah" sounds and angular gestures elicited abbreviated huffs of air. The flow of notes continued, and I wondered: How does gesture become sound? Eruptions of riotous sound, freed from the confines of predictable harmony, rhythm, and structure, hold an enormous capacity for emotional release. Practices like these command sonic space.
As Yelling Choir is composed of femme, women, and nonbinary persons, it adds to this long-standing conversation in contemporary performance art. The project builds collaborative power by creating room for the historically voiceless. Katz's eclectic research into somatic practices, heavy metal, trauma-informed mindfulness, improvisation, and classical music infuses the choir's work with a radical and unexpected edge.
The results feel visceral, almost ritualistic. Throughout the performance, the choir embraced between shouts and collapsed into shrieking, hyena-laugh exorcisms.
Sorry about that
The audience giggled, nervously or otherwise. Mid-performance, one choir member emitted a long, guttural, stabbing screech that sounded like death itself. Impaled by the sound, the choir froze in place. Beats of silence accentuated other sounds in the room—a baby muttering, a car coasting down NE Hancock, a cough, a burp. Toward the end of the performance, Katz motioned toward the audience, inviting us to join the choir.
The crowd conjured a range of subtle, unsure sounds that grew louder and more assured over brief moments. I managed to emit one small noise, and wondered if it was enough. I chose to trust that it was. Savage Love Bold Type Tickets. Support Portland Mercury. Log In Sign Up. All contents © Noisy Creek, Inc. Here's Our Voter Cheat Sheet!
Where to Find Our Election Issue! TBA Sep 18, at am. Freed from the confines of predictable harmony, riotous sound can stimulate emotional release. Lindsay Costello. Yelling Choir photo by Lindsay Costello.