Karim Al-Zand: Music: BeatBox

BeatBox

a divertissement for young audiences

BeatBox was written for Musiqa’s educational children’s show “Musiqa ReMix.” The piece unfolds as part of the plot: two characters come across a musical machine, a “beat box”, bathed in a bluish light and emitting a machine-like humming sound. On a backdrop screen, a message is displayed: “BeatBox: Awaiting Input!” Eventually the characters get the BeatBox started and manipulate its sounds via five levers, labeled with the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. The levers divide the basic beat into parts, each one corresponding to an instrumental line. The characters manipulate the levers, first singly, then in various combinations, discussing the resulting sounds, which are also given graphic representation on the screen. (Graphic design by Andrew Zukoski.) Eventually, the characters flip all the levers simultaneously, with dramatic results.