by Verena Buttmann

Darkness to Mouth is a vocal improvisation in two sessions. Beyond words of meaning and logical speaking we explore through the mouth group dynamics and the relation between the interior and the exterior of the body. We imagine vocality as a place for imitation, meaninglessness, desire, and connectivity. With blind folded eyes we stand inside a quiet room in a circle for about 30 minutes (not predetermined) and make everything between noise and words.

In the first session everyone is required to take a few minutes to walk around the garden and collect sounds for their own “imaginative archive” to take into the session. There aren’t many rules set, I only ask everyone to pay attention to the others and maybe respond to or pick up their sounds.

Standing in the circle we are making a scene in the literal sense. There is a polyphonic garden unfolding that sounds quite cinematic to me. Together with the acoustic world there is also a visual one unfolding in front of the inner eye, intensified through wearing blind folds. You can hear horses snort, dogs bark and bees swing their wings, once in a while a car tears along the far away street. Mixed with the sounds and rhythms from our organs, bones, and heartbeats it becomes something else than an imitation of the outside. The wasps’ buzzing goes through our bodies, the sheep’s “baa” rolls from mouth to mouth; the garden’s sonic texture transforms into weird fleshy communication. As if we were discussing the outside soundscape while rewriting it in our own language.

In the second session we start vocalizing standing in a circle again, eyes blind folded, without collecting sounds beforehand. I talk about circulating each others sounds and paying attention to one another.

The session becomes all about the dynamics within the group. I’m finding myself becoming very conscious about my own role and debating whether to contribute to the screaming part of the group or trying to calm it down by sending out sounds from the deep and low areas of my body. There are “discussions” going on between people, energies burst out. At times it gets so boisterous that one person tries to stop it by stomping their foot heavily on the ground — which is not noticed by the screamers —, others make themselves comfortable in the soft and quiet realm of their voices, reaching out to the others here and there, humming touches, keeping it cozy. Though, there might be some passive aggressiveness shining through their silly, somewhat stupid sounding “baa’s” or their annoying whining sounds that they send out against the screamers. The intensity of the session becomes clear when after about 30 minutes we reach the end and everyone keeps standing, silent and still blind folded, for another 5 minutes, letting the sounds reverberate inside and letting them go.