‘The Music Box’ in New Orleans is a Sonic Shantytown
Piety, synonyms: respect, veneration, awe.
The day before my niece Alma’s funeral some of us went down to the Music Box installation at the Dithyrambalina on Piety Street in the Bywater section of NOLA.
They let us experiment with the instruments in the various “houses,” including the spiral staircase organ (I actually got up to the top of it), the Balinese hut with the bells on the wall, a little shack with floorboards which would each play a different tone (reminded me of the giant foot-operated piano in “Big”) and a little gazebo which had what looked like a giant wedding dress (that you could sit inside – see photo) lined with bells and other things (keys, etc) that would tinkle and ring when shook. There was also the tiny house which had a stethoscope hanging from the rafter, which you could place against your heart to have the life beat broadcast throughout the yard. This was slightly disconcerting to me, as in, what if there was no sound, what if — it stopped? Yet it also emphasized so clearly that each person who tried it (and we all did) had a unique sound and vibration.
The air was so clear, crisp, and the light so winter.
I’d never been to New Orleans in this kind of weather. The group was quiet. Really, what do you do on the day before you bury your wife, your daughter, your sister, your friend?
The installation is also a fine place for musicians to play and experiment, and I see that’s the point of us being there that day, something Alma would have been first in line to do.