Monster Voice: Split Tongue

Monster Voice: Split Tongue is a live recitation composition of a spoken language dedicated to female pain, one that may become a new method of communication for women who hurt. A new sound language based on phonetic symbols, designed using SuperCollider, is read aloud on the custom-built body-worn Arduino instruments. The pain of a hurting woman is difficult to convey to others. Instead of language, the content of pain has been vocalized through whimpers, cries, screams, or silence. Following in the footsteps of generations of women who have attempted to verbalize their pain, the language dismantles the existing [consonant+vowel] language system. Instead, it incorporates the structure of [sound+vowel] to interpret the writings of women who came before us. At the same time, the language is an attempt to vocally communicate the chronic pain of the composer/performer herself, who suffers from fibromyalgia. The process of physically translating the new language, Monster Voice, through the custom-built body-worn instruments revive and give voice to the pain of the composer/performer and the women of previous generations.