Pandemonium
by Dr. Adam Walters

Abstract

Pandemonium is an original piece of music written for the forces of the combined instrumental and vocal ensembles of the Academy for the Performing Arts, University of Trinidad and Tobago (APA UTT). It was written to be played by APA UTT instrumentalists and singers and to be choreographed and danced by APA UTT dancers.

Composed in mid-2020, this seven-minute work is a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It will be suitable for live performance at such a time when this might be possible, but initially the idea is for the work to be prepared during the time of restrictions imposed by Covid-19. The musicians and dancers will record their parts individually and then these recordings will be assembled digitally as online content to showcase the work and creativity of the students during lockdown.

Pandemonium is the fourth collaboration between Adam Walters and La Shaun Prescott. Prescott helped to shape the concept of the piece (see below) and, once the music was written, guided the dance students in devising the choreography.

Context

Walters wrote the score at home in London, UK. When finished, he prepared instrumental and vocal parts, synthetic audio files and notes for performers and made these available for APA UTT Ensemble leaders online for distribution to students. This process was completed on 9 October 2020.

Prescott's choreography students worked with the synthetic audio files during Semester 1 of the academic year 2020-2021. The instrumentalists deferred starting work on the piece until a later time, and so a date for completion has not been determined by the time of writing (January 2021). However, the piece will be particularly suitable for large-scale presentations by APA UTT students such as APAFEST (either live on in an online incarnation).

Pandemonium provides APA UTT lecturers and students with an original, bespoke work to be used in the courses "Ensemble" and "Choreography".

Process

Before the music was composed, Walters and Prescott shared ideas via video link about artistic and logistical matters concerning the piece. One theme they identified as particularly relevant was that of "transformation". There are many examples of transformation in Trinidadian society (particularly within many Carnival traditions but outside of this context, too) and Walters and La Shaun felt that a conceptual link could be drawn between this and the societal transformations caused by Covid-19.

Pandemonium depicts the transformation from the routine normality of pre-Covid life to the initial panic many of us felt when we first realised what the implications of the pandemic might be. Walters' imagined narrative for the piece is set in Trinidad as set out below:

Section one depicts an everyday commute along the highway into Port of Spain, with tone clusters representing car horns mingling with a rising, optimistic melody.

Next is a passage that begins happily enough (like one's daily routine in an office, maybe), but news of the virus (represented by the low piano and bass drum notes) soon takes over the positivity, leading to foreboding, heartless harmonies.

After that there's panic (Pandemonium) and everything feels different.

Whilst the motivic elements remain recognisably intact throughout the piece, the harmonic and gestural language of the music changes noticeably after the musical depiction of the virus about three minutes into the work. This is a metaphor for the change in society brought about by Covid-19: things may seem the same in some ways (the physical environment, for example) but the virus has transformed and distorted so many other aspects of modern life.

Pandemonium was written to have strong educational value for the APA UTT students. It presents certain technical challenges for the music student, for example, includes sections in mixed metre, and incorporates extended techniques in some of the parts.

The piece is designed to engage the students both musically (Walters aimed to write an exciting piece with plenty of harmonic and rhythmic interest) and thematically (it is a piece about an experience (Covid-19) that unites us all). Walters also strived for a balance of repetition and development to make the music appropriate and interesting for the dance students to work with.

The choir plays a central part in the score, singing syllables that don't mean anything in particular but were chosen for their energy and impact. The singers are also required to gasp at times, suggesting the breathlessness caused by Covid-19.