Me too. Exactly! I first heard them because I watched the Netflix show "Dark" and I was like, WHAT IS THAT AMAZING GROUP and I went looking for them. I couldn't even focus on the show because of the music. I am a classically trained musician who also performed many pop styles so I know cutting edge when I hear it.
wow! their vocal capabilities are so diverse and incredible. The yodeling song gave me the chills. Incredible compositions and vocalists. Anyone who loves chamber music, throat singing, experimental accapella, will recognize how skilled these people are. I was blown away!
I am from the jazz standard, cabaret tradition. I've also sung in choirs and with bands. This blew me away. I learned long ago to never limit my musical experience and appreciation by leaning on the familiar. This is astonishing stuff! The ability to make sound with one's own body is a small miracle. These people rock the boat, and I could NOT be happier!
We just got home from a Roomful of Teeth concert. Our feet haven't yet touched the ground. We were incredibly moved - lifted, even- by what we heard, and felt. Being in a small theater with this ensemble was like being inside a pipe organ. The amount of practice, coordination, imagination and talent required to make this music is unfathomable. If you have the opportunity to see them perform, do so.
Lots of people talking about whether this music is subjectively "good" or "bad", but nobody is talking about the quality of performers here and the unity of them as an ensemble. It's difficult to listen to something new, I'm sure. But, imagine trying to learn how to sing something "new"
It definitely is more difficult to learn and perform, but it's actually not really new. It's actually more primitive/traditional than most modern genres.
I shudder to think what some of the people in this comment section would think of other sorts of contemporary classical music. This is quite tame compared to a lot of what's out there. It's still awesome though.
Thank you NPR. Music is for everyone. If you dont like a certain song or band you dont have to listen. But those who open their minds to new things are better for it. Thank you again
Amazing. Great to performance and music. All those open harmonies with all those great moments of harmonic tension as well. Loved it. My baby boy was just smiling and harmonizing with it. HARMONY!!!!
Wow! Amazing! Thanks NPR for bringing this amazing band. Human voice can definitively be astonishing. If you are a musicuan or have your ears educated, then you will sure appreciate the value of their vocal harmonies and different colors.
I see Room Full of Teeth is a flexible group. As long as they have perfect pitch and the right attitude I guess anyone can fall under Caroline Shaw's spell.
"Roomful of Teeth is a vocal ensemble focused on contemporary classical music. Founded in 2009, it premiered composer Caroline Shaw's Pulitzer Prize-winning work, "Partita for Eight Voices"[1] and in 2014 won a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.[2] Roomful of Teeth's stated mission is to "mine the expressive potential of the human voice", and its eponymous debut album features yodels, grunts, audible exhalations, drones and other techniques from a wide variety of musical traditions.[3]"
I wouldn't listen to this style of music regularly but it definitely has a place in the whole musical landscape and I enjoyed listening to something so very different to the norm. Fascinating actually. Not sure how they notate or follow the music ;)
Spec-freakin-tacular!!! Gomez's yodelling was just extraordinary - the vocal control and harmonic dynamics... just wow. This music is just so incredibly human, and in that way beyond beautiful. Thank you for you RoT!
how do roomful of teeth go harder than most punk/metal/rap/rock bands while remaining relatively unknown? looking 4ward to seeing these fine folks whenever they do a show in los angeles.
That last song is interesting. At first it feels kind of like an exercise in variable meter and time and that kind of makes sense but feels like the composer reminding me that he's smarter than I am, which he probably is. But then it relaxes and gets really nice. Not something I'd normally find or listen to and I'm not sure I'll go out and buy an album, but definitely worth a listen. Thanks
Gorgeous voices, strong singers who knows how to tune in with eachother and listens well. Knows intervals well, I bet they sightread excellent in Caroline Shaw’s audition. She’s so inspiring, to be the youngest and win Pulitzer Prize
They don't consider themselves as classical. They call themselves a "band," even though they sing classical-inspired repertoire and come from classical backgrounds.
Of course it is not up to "pop" acapella standards, they're not Pentatonix for Christ's sake. I love this group because they push limits of traditional vocal techniques and composition. It is that adventure that makes me love hearing their oddly beautiful compositions.
What they're doing is way harder than Pentatonix. I do like a lot of acapella but Pentatonix drives me nuts b/c they're so technically perfect - it's like the soul is sucked out of them. These guys are technically perfect and they're also fearless. This would be so fun to sing. Damn!
Smoking to dis 😎 got me visioning myself lost in the forest and this song is making me find myself. People who dislike this or find this “bad” just lack being open minded
Sadly, the world changed on all of us instead. Don't know about you, but I'm watching Tiny Desk because singing gigs is a COVID-19 impossibility. Stay safe y'all.
