"Aphasia"

Aphasia: A Stanford music professor's work, with hand gestures and odd sounds, about obsessive attention to ridiculous things

Mangled vocal samples, random icons and precise hand gestures come together in a mesmerizing performance by Stanford music scholar Mark Applebaum.

Mark Applebaum's 'Aphasia'

BY CAMILLE BROWN

The performer in the video steps onto the stage and sits down in a nondescript chair, his face blank of expression and hands placed squarely on his knees.

Suddenly, a metallic-sounding "THWUNK!" electrifies the space and with a sharp left-arm gesture the performer strikes his chest, beginning the performance of Aphasia, a composition by Mark Applebaum, associate professor of music at Stanford.