vigil by Austin Lemmons

Elijah McClain was a massage therapist in Aurora, CO. His family and friends describe this 23-year-old Black man as a “peacemaker who was exceedingly gentle.”

McClain was walking home on August 24 2019, when he was stopped by police, handcuffed, forced to the ground, and injected with ketamine. He died in the hospital seven days later as a direct result of this interaction.

This incident became the subject of an uproar in June 2020, as part of a larger surge of support for the Movement for Black Lives. The governor of Colorado has instructed his administration to re-open the case around Elijah’s death and conduct a third-party investigation. As of July 9 the officers involved have been fired for smiling in a picture where they recreate the chokehold used on Elijah at the site of his memorial, but have not been arrested.

Many of the vigils held for Elijah honor one of his favorite ways to spend his time: playing his violin for cats in animal shelters.

I came up with the idea for this piece when I saw one of the videos of the Aurora violin vigil for Elijah McClain on twitter (footage used with permission from the journalist who shot it). I thought the sounds from the vigil were stunning, which made it even more frustrating to see footage of the Aurora police coming in to break up the peaceful protest just a few minutes after the violin footage was taken.

The piece is divided into three parts, with some crossover between each. The first is improvised electronic audio using the sound from the video. The second is a combination of noise ADSR's and filtered noise with some resonant frequencies emphasized. The third is just the sound from the video, first played backwards and ten times slower, then forwards and increasingly faster until it gets back to the original speed.

I think the best summation of this story comes from comic Rebecca Harding:
“I really hope the lesson people take from Elijah McClain is not ‘it’s extra sad because he was so sweet,’ but rather, ‘no amount of gentleness and respectability can protect a Black person from the arbitrary wrath of police.’”

I will not be keeping a cent of any money made from downloads for this piece. I’m privileged enough to have a job that pays me well enough that I can pursue creative work on the side (side-note: please support your artist and performer friends however you can right now). Instead, whatever money you can give to download the piece will go to one of four main categories that you get to choose (just send me a message with your choice after you’ve downloaded it).

-The Sphinx Organization, which supports diversity and equity in classical music from education through professional careers

-Aid for Black trans women

-Mutual aid

-Bail funds

You: “But long form sound art isn’t really my thing, and I don’t want to listen to twenty minutes of literal noise.”

That’s okay! Noise music isn’t necessarily a lot of people’s cup of tea! Instead of downloading my noise, you can just donate directly to one of the funds below:

The Sphinx Organization:

http://www.sphinxmusic.org/testimonials-and-impact/

Bail funds:

https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/nbfn-directory

https://fundly.com/coloradofreedom

https://givebutter.com/NobodyLeftBehindBailFund

https://chicagobond.org/

https://afgj.salsalabs.org/actionbailfund/index.html

https://faithintx.org/bailfund/

Mutual aid:

https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/

Aid for Black trans women:

https://groundswellfund.org/black-trans-fund/

https://www.blacktranstravelfund.com/

https://www.artsbusinesscollaborative.org/asp-products/black-trans-femmes-in-the-arts-sponsored-projected_/

https://www.artsbusinesscollaborative.org/asp-products/the-okra-project-sponsored-project/

https://www.gofundme.com/f/joshua039s-campaign-for-gallery-aferro-inc?utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link-tip

Austin Lemmons is a performer, improviser, and educator currently based in Waco, TX. He enjoys exploring the various possibilities contained in noise, silence, and everything in between. Austin’s creative work focuses on incorporating white noise, audio samples, tones, and found instruments as well as traditional percussion instruments into cohesive structures.