The outside world of human noises was quiet in 2020. However, in the confines of closed quarters during quarantine, many made their own soundscapes by singing or playing music while waiting for life to open up again. The Moments Before is the story of what happens prior to a performance. It is a sound collage of amateur and professional players and singers of all ages experimenting, rehearsing, and tuning their instruments. As a surround sound composition, The Moments Before is composed of over a hundred acoustic and electronic recordings from around the world made during the Covid-19 quarantine. Instruments and vocal approaches vary wildly and at any given moment one might hear scatting, humming, tuning, singing, and a variety of instruments from a diversity of countries. Disparate sounds are mixed in layers sometimes in dialogue with each other and at other times alone in their own intimate sonic worlds. The Moments Before is the soundtrack of anticipation while waiting to experience the full concert again.
The Moments Before is included in the Berkeley Bart Plaza’s ongoing series of multi-channel public sound art presentations.
