In this game show for five contestants and a choir by the zaungäste collective we were responsible for the music and the sounds. We created the music by giving the performers scores on the topics of the piece (you can find some of the exact scores down below). Then we used only their voices to create differently processed versions of original songs and sounds.

The concept for the piece Is it me(at)? was inspired by the game-show/workshop Is it music? we had created for and with zaungäste in November 2024. This is the announcement text on the Mousonturm homepage:

“Is It Me(at)?” – a grill show for five contestants and a choir.

In times of austerity measures, strategies of self-denial and cultural budget cuts, we are going all out and presenting a game show in which five candidates compete against each other – while challenged by a chorus of female presenters. With poultry shears and butcher's knives, the zaungäste enter the innards of the theatre, create substitute products and let themselves be grilled. Chance and the audience will decide who is left at the end. Or financial resources. Meatless, but not bloodless. Who actually sacrifices what, and what is only ever reheated? There are no guarantees.

And these were the first tasks that we had given the performers, please feel free to try them out yourself:

The First five tasks can be sung with or without words:

1. Sing a melody of a TV-show, of which you think not everyone would recognise it

2. Sing an advertisement melody from your childhood

3. Sing a melody from a product-commercial, of which you think not everyone would recognise it

4. Make a sound for when a candidate did something right

5. Make a sound for when a candidate did something wrong

The following tasks should be without words, so only sounds or replacement words like lalala

6. Sing a single tone as xylophone

7. Sing a long single tone as violine

8. Sing a long single tone as recorder

9. Sing a single tone as Becken

10. Sing a single tone as drum

11. Make a special-effect-sound of your choice

12: Invent and sing a melody, which in the future will be played for cows before they’re being slaughtered

13. Invent and sing a melody, which in the future will be played to proteins to help them grow

14. Invent and sing a melody, which in the future will be played when packages containing meat are being opened, in order that less meat is consumed

15. Sing a well-known melody but sing it wrong