Home 1. Introduction 2. Markers 3. Archive 4. Audible Markers 5. Visible Markers 6. Notational Markers 7. Conclusion
3.1. Integrated Silences 3.2. Inherent Silences 3.3. Silent Discourse 3.4. Meta-Silences 3.5. Silencings
T.J. Anderson’s Watermelon Revisited is a piano piece written for me, based on a longer work by the composer. In this composition about historical-cultural silencing, the title and the music evoke racism in Washington, DC. The melody, only faintly suggested in this miniature, comes from a song that watermelon vendors (who were primarily Black) would sing as they wandered the streets of the South, selling their wares in the hot summer days a century ago.
Due to the association with Black vendors, “watermelon” later became a derogatory and racist term for Blacks. Anderson addresses this directly in his music, quoting part of an original street melody, but only the ending, as if it were an echo. The fragmented song, arising from the abstract dissonance of the first page and its mix of nostalgia and distress, are elements that Anderson uses to evoke silencing.
