Daniel Tones started his first act “To The Earth” with playing variations of 4 distinctive sounds in varying pace, that accords with the dialogue of the piece. His solo performance was astonishing in many aspects from his ability to vividly strike the audience’s diverse interpretation to his incredible talent to equally perform on different musical instruments, such as xylophone, harmonica, and timpani. He was successful to display a raw representation of chamber-ensemble, alongside Owen Underhill, using few instruments that represents a version of traditional contemporary art using unusual instrumentation. In the second act, Both have demonstrated contrasting variations of sounds, that appeared to me as an audible representation of symmetry. This mental image was my interpretation of contrastingly pitched, yet correspondingly paced, instruments such as small bells and flutes played on one end of the stage while shakers, drums, and rattles on the opposite side. Also, it was very easily noticeable that the musical piece was composed to display a harmonic congruity as both the intro and outro of this contemporary piece were following the same pattern. Moreover, the harmonic set played in set 3, “Invisible Cities” was initially monotonic, inspiring a feeling of affiliation with nature in its dormant state, with all its elements united and accordant. Afterwards, it forcefully shifted with an abrupt change from a solo performance into a chamber-ensemble with a polyphonic piece that adds a bell and a shaker to the piece in a way to cultivate the feeling of struggle and strife showcased as an imagery dialogue.
Personally, my opinion is that the musical pieces discussed were crafted in a very well thought and consistent manner to convey very strong emotions, using only very few instruments that some can only play fewer notes. It was made clear throughout the performance that increasing melodic frequency on a minor key was used when expressing sadness, grief, or life threat, and slower paced major keys when appreciating and acknowledging the wonders of mother nature. However, I found it hard to navigate my wandering emotions, without a given context or narrative prior to performance. Therefore, I was only left to comprehend the contemporary piece to the best of my understanding, likely to bee biased, of what the artist is aspiring to portray. Consequently, it was difficult to experience the full emotional journey, just like the composed has perceived it, especially to an unusual type of musical piece from what I am used to and an unfamiliar sequential progression of notes to my ears that requires a modification of perception to what the sounds represent. Lastly, coming from a place of witnessing a piece of contemporary art for the first time, I enjoyed its essence of challenging the traditional boundaries of what is perceived to be a composition of musical pieces nowadays with a very well defined theme. What distinguishes it from other forms of music is the very lack of a uniform organizing principle, which in turn expands the realm of its interpretation to one’s personal experience and how it stimulates one’s emotions and perception differently.