Critical Immobility

Critical Immobility, Spencer Arias (2024)
for woodwind quintet

The creation of this work would not be possible without the important contributions of Andrei Smertenko. It is crucial that the science is highlighted, by vocalizing the scientist note aloud to the audience so that they can learn about the research the music was inspired by.

Scientist Note
Humans, along with animals, plants, and every living being, are made up of microscopic structures called cells. Some trees have so many cells that if we stacked them end to end, the line would stretch all the way to the Moon. 

Within the plant body, each cell interacts with a remarkably small circle of neighbors throughout its entire life – just 26 on average. This is because plant cells are fixed in place, like bricks in a wall. In contrast, the cells in human bodies are far more dynamic. As you listen to this piece of music, trillions of cells in your body have traveled several meters, encountering millions of other cells along the way. Meanwhile, not a single cell in all the plants outside this building has moved even a millimeter, being surrounded by the same neighbors. 

Imagine a life confined to interaction with only 26 individuals, yet wanting to communicate with countless others you’ve never seen and will never meet. This is the challenge faced by plant cells. The solution is the long-range communication systems. Plant cells have evolved ingenious ways to send signals across great distances within the plant body, much like how we use radio waves to communicate across vast distances. These signals reach billions of cells, orchestrating a symphony of responses that drive growth, prevent diseases, and help survive challenging environmental conditions. 

The “Critical Immobility” highlights the remarkable adaptability of plant cells to their “still life.” It’s a story about intricate mechanisms they evolved to thrive in a world where movement is not an option.
-Andrei Smertenko, Professor, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University,

Program Note
Critical Immobility is one piece out of a collection of works, new works in response to and collaboration with a group of plant scientists, in this case, Andrei Smertenko, in his talk "Critical Immobility." This scientist, in particular, was quite vivid in his explanations of how plant cells interact with one another and how they differ from animal cells. For instance, when an animal cell is infected with a disease, the other cells will work together to eliminate the infected cells and keep that disease from spreading. This defense is also partly due to cells' ability to move and adapt in ways plant cells cannot. This defense is our immune system. Plant cells, on the other hand, are immobile and cannot move within the plant. This lifestyle has consequences, such as a tiny disease spreading throughout the plant that begins to spread. One way to fix this is to prune a plant to remove diseased stalks.

Plant Cells make decisions collectively to respond to environmental signals. So when there is a frigid day, and the plant leaves are feeling the harsh frost brush up against the plant, the cells within the leaves will send a signal to other parts of the plant, such as the roots, to let them know that they will need to adjust or adapt so not to experience this frost so negatively. This adaptability is critical to understanding how cells adapt so it can better help us keep plants from negatively reacting to the effect of climate change. Musically, I wanted to create a work that reflected many of these reactionary responses. The initial pulsating motive builds to this choral moment that organically arose from the chosen harmony, which is vaguely a canon. As each section evolves, different instruments take on various roles and act communicatively, so it should feel like a response, even if the musical material repeats. The three primary sections of the work explore different responses to external environmental stimuli while also exploring the color of the quintet to represent various parts of a plant, all leading us back to the pulsating calmness of a return to normalcy.