Vocal Improvisation

Excerpt from a performance in "Lessons" by William Earl Kofmehl III at the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh PA 6-29-19. WEK III built a working shower within a gallery at the Mattress Factory during his artist-in-residence project there, and invited a series of guests to "lecture" from within.

Excerpt from a vocal improvisation for the Hallet's Cove performance series at the Salt Tree Arts Mushroom Festival, June 2019

I’ve collaborated multiple times with Liz Glynn on performances that take place within her large-scale installations. For “Archeology of Another Possible Future” at MASS MoCA in 2018, I created vocal improvisations according to several different concepts addressed in the exhibition as described by Liz, which she recorded on analog tape and had pressed to vinyl, playing from a turntable housed in a large pallet pyramid toward the front of the installation. During the run of the show, I also joined her and percussionist Corey Fogel for a five-hour performance that moved through each of the exhibition’s five sections.

One of the first vocal improvisations I ever performed was in collaboration with Dawn Kasper for her performance at Human Resources for the Action Bureau's "Free Clinic II" on 10-13-2011, also featuring percussion amplified by contact microphones and handmade ceramic beads by Tara Jane ONeil. Dawn created a collage she wanted me to use as a vocal score, a challenge that significantly expanded my vocal practice. She has invited me to vocalize in several of her performances in the years since.