Review: Using Performance as Communication in the Well-Tuned ‘Harmonic Spectrum’
Harmonic Spectrum is a short documentary that does a lot with its 17-minute run-time. The film follows 25-year-old Sean, a self-taught pianist and composer, who uses his craft to channel his inner self and connect with the world around him.
The film opens to the sound of discordant chimes emanating from a warehouse-like space as Sean and an incredulous piano tuner attempt to get an old grand piano fit for purpose. ‘So, you’re not that picky when it comes to pianos?’ the tuner asks Sean, who seems resolved to play the decrepit instrument despite its dissenting melody. ‘I’ve never seen something as bad as that in 50 years of tuning’ the tuner exclaims as Sean, unfazed by this comment, plays a captivatingly beautiful run up and down the keys. Sean states that all he cares about is how to ‘make something that’s nice’, and it is evident from the outset that he can indeed do this, no matter what the piano he plays is like.
Being on the autistic spectrum, Sean has learnt how to use his musical talent to express his thoughts and feelings. He talks about having had a hard time with social situations when he was younger, reading books in order to understand how to respond to gestures and facial expressions. You would never guess this if you were to see Sean now, however. He seems totally at home on the stage, performing for, and interacting with, rapt audiences at Edinburgh’s Jazz Bar and the ‘Pianodrome’, a unique amphitheatrical venue dedicated to the performance of live piano.
Sean plays accompanied by drummer, close friend and roommate, Anthony. Together, the pair communicate through their own sonic language. They (quite literally) understand each other’s rhythms, working in harmony to create unique compositions. But when the COVID-19 pandemic hits, Sean and Anthony become isolation-cellmates and their relationship becomes strained. It is here, in the fallout of the duo, that the documentary derives its narrative arc. We see how, as venues close over the course of lockdown, the pair lose an ability to speak with each other without performance as a mode of communication.
This film has clearly been crafted with attention and respect. Whilst it cultivates pathos in portraying the journey of Sean and Anthony, it never verges into the sickly sweet or overly sentimental. Instead, it cleverly weaves a story–much like Sean’s music–that effortlessly rises and falls. A testament to the resilience of people in the face of adversity, this doc’s release is well-timed. If you–like me–are in need of an uplifting watch whilst we’re still living in this quagmire of a pandemic, I recommend giving it a watch.
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