It’s a moving sound sculpture, says St. Albert Public Library’s children's services co-ordinator Ashley King, trying to come up with the best description for the undescribable.
Perhaps a better way for people to understand what Unsilent Night is, is simply to attend and be present for it on the evening of Tuesday, Dec. 21. It's based on a piece created by American composer Phil Kline nearly 20 years ago. The piece has four parts to play.
"The participants choose one of the four parts of the music to play on their device and then everybody will press play at one time," King explained. "It's like the participants and their devices are the orchestra and the instruments."
It will work like this: people start by visiting the event page on the library's website at https://sapl.libcal.com/event/3643145 where they will access the link to Unsilent Night's homepage. There, they can download the app to their devices. King suggested that people could even bring boomboxes or Bluetooth-connected speakers to amplify the tune.
Attendees are requested — nay, required — to bring those devices for the performance's start at 6 p.m. that night. The more people who participate, the more devices will be playing the different parts of the piece, and therefore, the more balanced and harmonic the end result.
Regardless, it will have its own unique auditory and acoustic dimensions as the weather, the shape of nearby buildings, and the volume of people’s devices will all play in as factors.
"One of the neat things about it is, no matter where you are, you'll have different numbers of people, so the music's always going to sound a little bit different. The music will change as the group is walking along and bouncing off of different buildings; probably the temperature will change the sound of the music as well, because air does that," she continued.
"It's a moving sound sculpture because the shape of the music will change."
The walking impromptu festive musical group will start from the plaza in front of St. Albert Place starting at 6 p.m. and tour around an as-yet-unspecified route around the downtown Perron District.
It was meant to be on the schedule for the holiday season of 2020, but we all remember how pandemic gathering limits of the time precluded it as a possibility.
"We're excited to be doing it this year. It started in New York City where their climate is much more mild than here. We chose the longest night of the year. That's something to celebrate, too, even though sometimes it can feel really dark. We haven't been able to get together a whole lot. This is a safe community experience that we were excited to bring to St. Albert."
King added that participants should remember to dress for the weather, as the walking performance is expected to take about 45 minutes. She added that people are also encouraged to dress up in reflectors, Christmas lights, or anything else to add a theatrical/costumed aspect to the performance as well.
"Let's make some memories together," she enthused.
For more information visit unsilentnight.com
