"Granite Timbre" by Cameron Pinchbeck (Knox County)
Music poured out onto the rainy streets, the clack, roll, and tumble of the drums suspended in the air like cooling magma. Always moving but solidifying into form and shape at the same moment. The horn section starts slow, glimmering as if flecks of mica riddled the notes. Flashes of orange, black, and white weave together carrying the punches of the base. The melody was imbued with the same cool-to-the-touch feeling from the rain-streaked pavement outside. Ash and heat cooling on the ancient landscape, the gasses and odors rising into the sky. Breaking away from the high mountain tops tumbling to be washed by the oceans. Formed by all prior circumstances the notes become tangible, like holding a stone in your hand.
The rock in some form of constant decay right after its inception is just like the tones and vibrations of the instruments. Then the sound hits like a rock to the teeth grading away enamel. The taste of blood salt mixing with the crystals baked into the igneous by its exposure to the rhythm of the waves. The stinging scent of crushed rock tossed by the waters. The journey starts somewhere but when you are listening you feel only the tempo of step and the tick of clock, not the first not the last. Everything is one and the same, the smooth edges of sound, the round teardrop taken from the earth's crust, and the orange light dancing in the puddles, all frozen and fluid at this juncture.
In the same way that the moon feels like it belongs to the earth, stone, tone, and vibrance are separated by thousands of characteristics but somehow meld seamlessly. The confines of our world are only assumed by our minds. What difference exists between a pebble and a tune?
Cameron Pinchbeck is 17 years old and lives in Hope ME, he wrote “Granite Timbre” as an assignment for school but it quickly took on a life of its own. He hopes that this piece can in some way use abstract language to interpret tangibility and the experience of time. Cameron enjoys adventuring in all the wilderness Maine has to offer and is involved with sustainability initiatives in his community.