Chelsea Komschlies

Hexactinellida

for Alarm Will Sound

2019

Hexactinellida:

A class of ancient, unusual deep sea sponges whose skeletons are composed of a complex lattice of six-pointed spicules made of silica, earning them the name “glass sponges.”

Lacking an epidermis like other sponges, hexactinellids are wrapped in a covering of multinucleate cytoplasm which can send electrical impulses through their glass skeletons better than any fiber optics humans have created. In contrast to this lightening-fast reaction time is their extreme longevity; one currently living specimen is estimated to be 15,000 years old.

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The music evokes glass sponges’ structure: hard, densely-packed, buzzing lattices lit up by pulses of electricity; their texture, crunchy and spiky rather than smooth and crystalline; and their bodily shapes, which simultaneously resemble ultra-futuristic algorithmic architecture and Dr. Seussian plants.

Score Purchase: Subito Music, Sheet Music Plus

Parts Purchase: Subito Music, Sheet Music Plus