Music with bite
Roomful of Teeth
The eight-piece vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth is the brainchild of Brad Wells, who brought the singers together in 2008 for a residency at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary of Art. Wells arranged for experts in various native styles from across the world to teach their vocal techniques to the new ensemble, from Inuit throat singing and Hindustani classical singing to alpine yodelling and Korean P’ansori.
The group also worked with a variety of composers including Harry Stafylakis, who taught them how to sing with ‘supraglottal laryngeal constriction’, a technique used by death-metal singers. This was indicative of where the ensemble was heading – Brad Wells has described how the great project of 20th-century music was to liberate instruments from their prescribed sounds, which is something he now endeavours to do with the voice.
Roomful of Teeth has gone on to collaborate with composers renowned for their boundarypushing approaches to composition, including Missy Mazzoli, Terry
Riley and Julia Wolfe. As well as performing, the octet shares its extensive knowledge of vocal practices from across the globe in masterclasses and improv-based workshops. Their eponymous debut album was released in
2012, featuring a cappella works inspired by African pygmy yodels, Appalachian hymns and Eastern European singing, including four works by Caroline Shaw. Since then, they have released two further albums and have appeared alongside major orchestras.