Yes, life is happening! Re-reading the first series of blog posts of 2015, some of the projects I wrote about are NOT happening, while new ones keep arriving. (I have a Halloween soundscape that I would love to perform somewhere in October.) For this summer, the work has come from American Dance Festival opportunities: Moving Meditations and two dance class accompaniment gigs have rendered new sound sketches that I am excited about. Two appearances at the Open Eye Cafe (so far this year) have rendered the idea of “nested” soundscapes which is in development. All of this happening in a stew of self-reflection on relationships and love stirred up by all the family connections of the summer.

My cohorts are coming over today. In preparation, I listened to  recordings from our past sessions with the idea that I would “direct” the movement of the soundscapes a bit more.  I listened to our first session from March with the thought that I would hear this “tremendous” difference between that session and our most recent one. What I discovered was that my cohorts are deep listeners, courageous explorers of the sonic Universe, and they “get” the soundscapes. This has been true from the beginning. WoW! I am overwhelmed and humbled by their loving attention. Less effort, less direction on my part, seems to be working well.

Still, I would like for us to have a language that would help us focus and talk about what we are doing together. Susanne and I discussed using some concepts from our Triangle Soundpainting days to guide our improvisations within the soundscapes.  Again, as I listened I discovered that the cohorts are using these concepts already!! Jim is the “pointillism” man, Eleanor wails the long tones on the harmonicas, and Susanne comes up with minimalist loops and long form improvisations.  And they ALL relate to each other and the soundscape in a variety of interesting ways. These people are amazing!

So, today, I want to give them examples of things I like from the recordings and find out what they are liking. Then we are going to use Soundpainting “what to play” ideas to constrain us in creative ways. I am going to use “Snake Dance” as the base; it provides a wide open field with a fun rhythmic drive.

Here are the eight “what to play”s derived from Walter Thompson’s Soundpainting: The Art of Live Composition, Workbook I

Improvise – monologic melody line, statements, phrases, ornaments.

Relate to – imitate, sync with, support another part

Synchronize – relate to another part in an oppositional/counter weighted manner i.e. fill in a gap, play loud against soft, pitch beats, same phrase slowed down, etc.

Pointillism – arrythmic staccato notes with a few long notes, played rapidly and with space.

Minimalism – continuous, rhythmic/melodic pattern; a loop.

Stab/Hit – single, short, punchy sound

Stab Freeze – like a hiccup or a stuck record; short repeated sound. Do this for extended periods for trance and short periods to wake up.

Extended Technique – play your instrument in an unusual, unique way. Find new sounds in your instrument.

Long Tones – rhythmic or arrythmic series of held pitches. (This makes nine “what to play”s.  I left long tones out of the mix! Sorry, Eleanor! They are back!)

We each had two constraints to play within. “Snake Dance” is a wide open field of sultry bass, deep kicks, and conga licks, so everybody feels a bit naked. Eleanor had the two relational  “whats” so she really had her work cut out for her and did an amazing job. Here is a snippet:

And another:

We came up with a different “what” sound called “fluttering”. This idea comes from the sound of the ukelele strummings during the soundscapes. Susanne has picked it up on the piano. Here is an example of that sound from another piece called “Undulatto”:

A few months ago, Eleanor suggested we do something with a waltz feel. I started a piece called “A Question of Waltz” with several stabs at sketches in 3 and 6 beats per measure. Most of these did not have a waltz feel unless you searched for it, which I thought was fun and quirky. Then I put together some sketches for Larry Keigwin’s ADF Sunday evening Community Dance Class the end of June. The  following is one of the sketches. This morning as I waltzed  around the studio to this piece I realized we might have our waltz. (This was recorded ambiently in The Sun(Ra) Room, and sounds best through speakers rather than headphones.)

In another exciting development, a friend has comissioned a piece for her upcoming fortieth birthday. More on that later.

New ideas, new plans for the remainder of 2015.