FARMINGTON – The sun was setting, the heat of the day falling toward mild and the conductor is holding a flag down by his side. When he raised the flag he raised a cacophony of engine revs, radios, horn honking, hood closing, and door slamming as well.
This came on an evening last week as Phil Carlsen conducted his fifth automobile orchestra.
Student Tyler Noyes, a creative writing major, noted, “it was the best one yet.”
The performance was described as an open orchestra. Carlsen would instruct the performers what to do by waving flags in particular places or with different movements. These signals would inform the drivers to honk their horns, turn up their radios, slam their doors, or other things. Student Drew McClain, a theater and music major, described it as “the full automotive musical experience.”
The performance took place in a parking lot near the Emery Community Arts Center. It was attended by nearly 50 people, students and friends of the performers. The musicians were faculty and staff, all of whom had arranged their vehicles in parallel parking spaces. The onlookers sat on the nearby lawn.
Musicians included staff from all departments of the university, such as Gretchen Legler of the Creative Writing department, Peter Simmel of the Theater Department, and John Messier of the Business department, and even UMF President Kathryn Foster.
When asked about the performance Foster enthusiastically said: “It all had a profound sense of edginess, creativity, passion and community.”
Each vehicle was given a different “vocal title” based on the pitch of the cars horn, soprano for the higher pitched horns, then to alto, to tenor, and finally bass with the lowest pitches. Carlsen was inspired to write these pieces by his former teacher, Robert Sudenbarg, who passed away earlier this month.
“This performance is a sort of memorial for him,” Carlsen said.
The performance ended with musicians leaving their vehicles to recite poetry, blow on noisemakers, while moving toward a central location, other performers began circling them while whirling whistling pipes.
“It’s the community aspect bringing the performers together at the end,” Carlsen said.
I’ve missed this now every year. I wish there had been more publicity. Perhaps my head is burried in the sand but I live JUST out of earshot and would love to have witnessed, maybe even participated, in this spectacle.
For those who notice such things, I misplaced a comma in my last comment.