Breaking the Silence

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#CCCCCC" TEXT="#080000" background="13cfd5a3.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Aaron Alon"><U><B><IMG SRC="3a27d140.png" border=0 width="125" height="20" ALT="Homepage" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Breaking the Silence</B>   |   <A HREF="id158.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="All Rights Reserved"><U>All Rights Reserved</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id144.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dulce et Decorum Est"><U>Dulce et Decorum Est</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id104.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fairy Tales"><U>Fairy Tales</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id101.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hibakusha"><U>Hibakusha</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id81.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A View to a Death"><U>A View to a Death</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Peter Pan Suite"><U>Peter Pan Suite</U></A>   |   <A 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SRC="80e6b200.png" border=0 width="363" height="32" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></I></div> <div> <B>INSTRUMENTATION</B>: Soprano & tape</div> <div> <B>DURATION</B>: Ca. 13 minutes</div> <bR> <div> I began work on <I>Breaking the Silence</I> knowing only that I wanted to write a piece about child abuse, a horrific social illness which is alarmingly pervasive in our society.  Aside from writing a brief <A HREF="#sung_text" TITLE="Breaking the Silence"><U>text</U></A> -- which is sung by the soprano, who represents a small child singing a children's song of her own invention -- I sought to have the direction and social statements of the piece guided by the interviews of survivors: the freely-spoken words and/or the writings they chose to share.  These interviews compose the tape portion of the piece and tell, in words, stories more powerful than a writer could manufacture or a composer could mimic.  I sought to bring their stories together, to interweave them, always seeking to have their words understood, but allowing the audience to experience, through spoken vocal polyphony, the struggle of breaking the silence, of having one's words heard.  I am aware that the piece is controversial.  My only hope is that the volunteers who shared their stories will gain from being heard and that this may help others to break their silence too. </div> <bR> <div> <B><U>WARNING</U></B></div> <div> This piece contains graphic descriptions of child abuse which some may find disturbing and may be inappropriate for children. </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>WATCH THE VIDEO OF THE PREMIERE:</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.aaronalon.com/BreakingTheSilence.mov" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.aaronalon.com/BreakingTheSile"><U><B><IMG SRC="88ad8900.png" border=0 width="216" height="144" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <I> <A NAME="sung_text"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></I></div> <div> <B><U>Sung Text</U></B></div> <div> Ten, ten very pretty ladies</div> <div> Locked up in a tower</div> <div> And far out of sight</div> <bR> <div> Ten, ten sleeping pretty ladies</div> <div> Quietly are bathed</div> <div> In summer moon's pale light</div> <bR> <div> Ten, ten lovely little ladies</div> <div> Safe up in the tower</div> <div> In the dead of night</div> <bR> <div> Breathe, breathe, breathing little ladies</div> <div> Sleeping in the tower</div> <div> Where they feel no fright</div> <bR> <div> Breathe, breathe, I'm a pretty lady</div> <div> Far away from here</div> <div> And I am sleeping tight</div> <bR> <div> Breathe, breathe, breathe, you pretty lady</div> <div> You are not yet dying,</div> <div> You will wake to light.</div> <bR> <div> Breathe, breathe, it will soon be over</div> <div> Daddy cannot help</div> <div> Who he becomes at night</div> <bR> <div>                -Aaron Alon</div> <bR> <div> <U>Tape</U></div> <div> The tape part is composed of excerpts of interviews with four survivors of child abuse who volunteered to record their stories, as well as portions of the written <A HREF="#sung_text" TITLE="Breaking the Silence"><U>text</U></A>, as sung by soprano <B>Angela Mortellaro</B>.</div> <div> Interviewees: <B>Mike Migura</B>, <B>Michelle Fellow</B>, "<B>SafeAtLast</B>," & <B>Anonymous</B></div> <bR> <div> <U>Performance History</U></div> <div> <A HREF="id152.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="April 14, 2008"><U>April 14, 2008</U></A></div> <div> Laura Botkin, soprano</div> <div> Aaron Alon: Doctoral Composition Recital</div> <div> <I>Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, Houston, TX</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Text and music ©2008 Aaron Alon (ASCAP).  All rights reserved. </div> </td> </tr></table></body>