The Final 45Stereo Digital Sound and Piano
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Girard Kratz
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The Final 45Stereo Digital Sound and Piano
I have been intrigued by how cult leaders can convince large numbers of people to do anything. In the case of Jim Jones, his ability to convince almost a thousand people to not only kill themselves but their children, simply to justify his actions, is particularly fascinating.
I had long wanted to write a piece using the 45-minute audio recording of Jones’s final sermon, i.e., the suicide council, as source material. I had tried many approaches which all involved severely altering the tape, none were satisfying. I then realized I found the delivery oddly musical and altering it destroyed that. I decided to leave the tape as unaltered as possible and simply compose accompaniment to it.
Part 1 starts from the tape's beginning. It is entirely Jones, speaking primarily prepared remarks, presenting his argument and blaming the downfall of Jonestown on various cult members who had betrayed him. I found Jones’s delivery is not only in a steady 60 BPM, he speaks in clear 4- and 8-bar phrases. The familiar, predictable pattern, even perceived subconsciously, would surely soothe his listeners. With the exception of some static noise, all sounds come directly from the source tape; the spoken words of Jim Jones are unaltered.
I have been intrigued by how cult leaders can convince large numbers of people to do anything. In the case of Jim Jones, his ability to convince almost a thousand people to not only kill themselves but their children, simply to justify his actions, is particularly fascinating.
I had long wanted to write a piece using the audio recording of Jones’s final sermon, i.e., the suicide council, as source material. I had tried many approaches which all involved severely altering the tape, none were satisfying. I then realized I found the delivery oddly musical and altering it destroyed that. I decided to leave the tape as unaltered as possible and simply compose accompaniment to it.
Betrayed, part 1 (Fixed Digital Audio) starts from the tape's beginning and is entirely Jones, speaking primarily prepared remarks, presenting his argument and blaming the downfall of Jonestown on various cult members who had betrayed him. I found Jones’s delivery is not only in a steady 60 BPM, he speaks in clear 4- and 8-bar phrases. The familiar, predictable pattern, even perceived subconsciously, would surely soothe his listeners. With the exception of the percussion and some static noise, all sounds come directly from the source tape; the spoken words of Jim Jones are unaltered.
Dissent, part 2 (Fixed Digital Audio and Piano) focuses on Jones’s interaction with Christine Miller, the only member to dissent. She offers multiple cogent arguments, each deftly refuted by Jones. His responses become more animated until he is finally worked into a frenzy by the end of the interaction. Jones is joined in support by member Jim McElvane.
The rhythmic delivery of this portion has been edited to smooth out the conversational aspects, but the pitch content has not. Often, as Jones tries to invalidate Miller’s arguments, he pulls the tone of the conversation up by half-steps. Tritones are abundant, and both regularly finish their own points with clear, traditional cadences. All of these aspects have been emphasized through the digital audio and piano accompaniment.
——end program note
Either part can be performed as a stand-alone piece. In these cases, the program note can be altered to remove the text specific to the missing part.