John Cage

I consider John Cage to be the most powerful influence amongst experimental artists. Yet it was in Cage’s 1958 essay, “Indeterminacy”, that I realized that improvisation was not at the heart of his work.

"Improvisation...is something that I want to avoid. Most people who improvise slip back into their likes and dislikes and their memory, and...they don't arrive at any revelation that they are unaware of."[1]

Cage sought freedom from the constructs of our selves, guiding us to new invention. Stepping back, away from the norm of melody, rhythm, sonic categorization and instrumentation, leaves us with the sound or noise that Cage was seeking. It is here that we begin to understand why he did...what he did. That is, to make all sounds equal, impartial and available within time and compositional space.

His study and infusion of Zen Buddhism was a tremendous influence and naturally supported his sonic experimentations. I can see Cage's relationship to his spiritual practice emoting from his compositions and prose. One such composition, is his 1992 piece called "Indeterminacy 1, 2, 3, 4". Cage, along with David Tudor, performed this prose-laden piece. Both instrumentation (bells, horns, etc.) and poetry are notated. Indeterminacy lays in the very loose timing of both, during performance.

"...Later, during the question period, I (Cage) gave 5 prepared answers regardless of the questions. This was a reflection of my engagement in Zen."[4]

With a Dr. Seuss-like imagination, I've tried to follow Cage's musical road maps, enjoying every bit of his creative notation. As a visual artist, I am tempted to just stop here, looking, playing and framing his scores.

Not only were his scores artful, many of the instruments he designed were equally creative and functional. One of my favorite designs is called the prepared piano. To perform prepared piano you need stuff like pieces of a bicycle tire, screws and washers. These are then squeezed and twisted between the strings of a piano, pushing the piano’s strings and acoustics out of whack, resulting in a splendid rhythm instrument. And, for the unchanged strings - melodic capabilities. Cage’s Sonata’s are a favorite of mine.

75. Blue Hawaiian Stones

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[1] Musical Times, by Turner, S. S. (1990), John Cage's Practical Utopias, pg. 130.

[2] http://www.audioarchitecture.co.uk/writings_feisst.htm

^[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cage

[4] http://www.audioarchitecture.co.uk/writings_feisst.htm

Laurie Anderson

Last year, I attended Laurie Anderson's performance of, "Homeland". I enjoyed, and had never experienced before, a musical event where the body and score of the performance were arranged/pre-set, yet the events that effect the lyrics (in this case political), were updated in a very improvisational way during the performance. It took awhile to realize that all her inferences to our political environment were completely up-to-date, yet I recognized the musical structure beneath them, as the pieces would reprise; resurfacing again and again.

The structure of composition, no matter how simple, is a recurring theme in my work. As I teach or simply demonstrate a spontaneous improvisational piece, I'm aware of the piece’s beginning, middle and end. Through the study and shear enjoyment of classical music, my mind and body have been programmed to realize a piece through form. Laurie's free-flowing form was a great insight into how open a piece could remain, even as it is being performed...around the world. A strong endorsement for composed-improvisation.

I believe classical voice technique provides a healthy methodology and basic core values to providing long-term vocal health maintenance. Some of the techniques have to do with correct breathing, enunciation and musical phrasing. All my prior learning has informed this new music and vocal improvisation.

Laurie is a violinist, keyboard player and vocalist and in my book it doesn’t get any better than that. I was attracted to the whole electric/acoustic sound; finding a sweet connection between the more traditional, classical musical instrumentation and the avant-garde of her more experimental tunes. Though a dreamy combo, it was Laurie's humor that took me off guard. Humor in performance is something that seems to follow or precede me; never pre-planned, so I’m always surprised. To experience a performance chock full of unexpected and intelligent faux pas and witticism was really wonderful.

Bobby McFerrin & Rhiannon

In the same vein as tribal hocketing, a musical form called Song Circle is being exercised in Bobby McFerrin’s (http://bobbymcferrin.com/) concerts. As he calls for audience participation, resulting in about 30 people embarking the stage, he assigns each vocal grouping a part to sing. Each member of the circle watches and listens as Bobby adds melodies, harmonies or rhythms that would help support the music most beautifully. Singers sustain this sound as parts come and go throughout the expanse of the timeless tune. Solos ensue adding long buoyant, intricately woven melodies and rhythms that carry away all other thoughts than these...caught in the flow. I’m still trying to decide if the magic of Song Circle lays in its musical form or in the extraordinary people performing it.

72. Debby at Hale Kai, Hawaii workshop with Rhiannon^[1]

http://www.rhiannonmusic.com/pages/shows.html

Rhiannon's 2008 Improvisation Workshop was held in Hale Kai, not far from Kona, on the big Island of Hawaii. Rhiannon sings with Bobby McFerrin's 12-piece vocal orchestra called "Voicestra" and teaches vocal jazz at the Berklee College of Music. For these seven days and nights she led 12 women from around the world in improvisational exercises designed to free the voice and spirit, enabling free-form compositions based on organic, instinctive, and spontaneous inspiration.

Important musical structures such as melody, harmony, rhythm, tempo, meter, language, and story telling where continually considered within new contexts; creating inspiring new experiences. Through this improvisational journey our collective "musical stream of consciousness" awoke...allowing for limitless sonority, freedom of expression and brave experimentation that encouraged the emergence of our own unique voice.

Within this celebration of spontaneity, we were given the time and means to articulate and express our culture, gender and femaleness within a neutral and supportive environment; opening me up to experience the freedom and honesty required to truly connect. This entirely improvised music, presented everything one would expect within the context of a performance environment. Melodies became endangered as they traversed from singer to singer, perpetually morphing in reaction to each new development. Individual instinct, whim and sense of play were all coveted.

73. Danc’in Improv

My experience at Hale Kai forever altered the way I think about music and sound. I now consider sound as a healing process, as well as a vehicle for self-expression, entertainment, and (her)story telling. Learning to trust vocal instincts; fulfilling an unknown part of me that can only be accessed through this improvisational “in the moment” approach.

I’m passionate about improvisation as spontaneous composition. Summoning all of ones self, while on your feet and having the musical skills to keep you standing. I now want my performances to be totally improvised. During performance, I will face the expanse of freedom, as an open vessel...with no preset plans, without notation, instrumentation or leader, presenting a complex story that can only be revealed by every-woman.

“Improvisational music, as well as composition, appears to remain the province of men.

Perhaps in a field that is already difficult for men, women don’t see any future for themselves as improvisers or composers.

Women see few if any role models or mentors, few performance opportunities in the field, and relatively no financial support to launch or sustain a career.

The socialization of women continues to reinforce the role for them of spectators, supporters, and administrators where men hold forth as participants in the art.” ^[2]

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^[1] Photo taken by Hale Kai resident, 2008 (http://www.rhiannonmusic.com/pages/shows.html)

^[2] The Other Side of Nowhere: Jazz, Improvisation and Communities in Dialogue, Editors: Fischlin, D. & Heble, A. (2004), Wesleyan University Press. Middletown. CT., Chapter: Pauline Oliveros. Harmonic Anatomy - Women in Improvisation. pg. 57

Meredith Monk

71. Whip’in Weed - Blue

For many years, Meredith Monk taught using oral tradition, as in India where the Gharanas pass down the lines of traditional raga singing.[1] Monk testifies to the complexity of transferring such emotive work to the written page. She feels some things can be lost in the translation and I agree, especially when movement/theatre and personalities are involved.

Built on quick choices and in an oral fashion, such as Bobbie McFerrin's improvisational vocalizations, I am most interested in techniques, structures and ideas to be carried on, but not the actual performance...note for note. This does not mean that I believe that notated music is less valuable, only different. As artists have become aware of the fact that much of Meredith’s work has not been transcribed, time is being spent making sure her earlier work is now documented for future performance. It's possible that this very reason has curbed the spontaneity of her work...as John Hendricks’ vocal transcriptions of instrumental solos relieved true freedom of improvisation from many would-be vocal explorers.

Meredith Monk states that rhythm is the underlying ground for the weaving together of different perceptions. [2] As I began teaching courses, I became more and more aware that the voice might not always be used (as I had hoped) in a melodic way. The work I did through, "We Are The Music" and, "(The Anatomy Of) Improv: Voice, Rhythm & Theatrics", stepped further and further from musical form; hinging on spoken word, storytelling and improvisational and spontaneous monologues. This is in reaction to the limited vocal experience of my participants. Through reduction, I've come to understand that one can participate in a musical environment without vocal melody to carry them. In my opinion, it is rhythm that makes the music...and this, from a vocalist!

One thing I was very taken off guard by, during a New York workshop taught by Meredith's ensemble, was how calculated and composed her work was. I’d imagined a much more improvisational form of music. Instead, each part was taught in detail, no give was given to any rhythms or pitch. Then, very systematically, each part was "hocketed",^[3] one on top of or after the other. Many times, movement was added to the song, such as in the piece named "Panda". Her compositions are fluid, almost thoughtlessly simple and extremely effective. There is a vocal polyphonic tradition used amongst African pygmy tribes that consists of extensive hocketing. This form also exists in the music of Zap Mama, whose founder is Zairean-born, Marie Daulne. Marie and her mother were protected by a pygmy tribe when her father was killed by Simba rebels.^[4] Having saved Daulne's life, she now gives them immortality through song.[5] Meredith Monk, Zap Mama and Bobby McFerrin use this technique, as do I, when improvising live with a group.

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[1] Oteri, F. J. (2000, 4 1). Composer First. Retrieved from http://newmusicbox.com/article.nmbx?id=651.

[2] Oteri, F. J. (2000, 4 1). Composer First. Retrieved from http://newmusicbox.com/article.nmbx?id=651.

^[3]http://www.the-orb.net/encyclop/culture/music/hocket.html

In its simplest form, hocketing is the rapid alternation of rests and notes between two or more voices. When on voice pauses, the other sings, giving the effect of gasps or hiccups.

^[4] http://www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/288_200604.html.

You can listen to “Music of the Rain Forest Pygmies” on this site.

[5] Wikipedia. (2009). Zap Mama. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zap_Mama.

Pauline Oliveros

70. Pauline Oliveros & Debby at Goddard College Residency, PT, WA '09

"I differentiate 'to hear' and 'to listen'. To hear is the physical means that enables perception. To listen is to give attention to what is perceived both acoustically and psychologically."[1]

Space is the most important music quality that Pauline Oliveros uses in her work. When I teach, often it is the space that has more clarity, makes more sense and is more pronounced than the rhythms or tones that, to me, seem so obvious. Last May, I substituted for Seattle Universities' "Improvisation in Art and Life" class. A young man came up to me after class and said, "I understood what you meant when you said, Listen to the space...the silence, to understand where you are." I was struck that a concept like "space" was taken in and understood so naturally.

A composer to the nth degree, Pauline Oliveros quite naturally developed a Deep Listening philosophy and practice, distinguishing the difference between the involuntary nature of hearing and the voluntary selective nature of listening.[2] I participated in her Vancouver, BC workshop, last year. What a gentle soul, Pauline is. She and Ione (partner and artistic director), performed that evening...roaming through sound aesthetics, ethereal happenings and attended to dreams of a "wide awake" nature. All while pushing sonic pulses around the room from speaker to speaker, making you dizzy with their dense nomadic melodies. This collaborative soundscape had an otherworldly feel. But why? From Ione's spoken (dream) word to Oliveros' sensual accordion solos, all improvised, you got the feeling that they were waiting for something. Listening to each other, to all the history of sound, technique and story that had gone on before.

“We found that it was best to improvise first and talk about it afterward. If we discussed what we were going to do, the improvisation seemed to fall flat. Improvising without discussion seemed to give us an exciting edge and arena for discovery, as the world of possibilities remained open.”^[3]

Patience is the virtue here. Just now, a bee is brushing me so closely that I feel his wings on my hair and cheek, wings vibrating so loud I can't hear or think of anything else. I am a little bit afraid too. Sitting still, listening, paying attention and listening again is painfully hard for me, but a practice I am finding most necessary. If silence could be as obvious as that bee, I wouldn't have quite so much trouble paying it the attention it requires. Patience and listening are two of the most illusive and most important qualities of an improvisational life.

Pauline, when asked about how she instilled creativity in her students, reflected on the importance of facilitating a community of creative interest.[4] The word facilitate reminds me of Seitu’s (a Goddard advisor) response to a video I shared, taken of student performances during a class I was teaching. My question was, "What am I doing and what is my role?" Seitu saw that I was giving space and time for others to express and create what interested them most. Pauline is a listening facilitator, holding space and time for herself, during performance, and for others.

“My early composition was gestural rather than formal. I wrote what I heard. As a composer, I was not interested in the textbook forms presented to me in classes; rather, I was interested in sounds, in the interplay and sensual nature of sounds that ran through my mind.”^[5]

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[1] Deep Listening, A Composer's Sound Practice Oliveros, P. (2005), Deep Listening Publications~iUniverse, Lincoln, NE. pg. 12

[2] Oliveros, P. (2009), Retrieved from http://www.deeplistening.org/site/about.

^[3] The Other Side of Nowhere: Jazz, Improvisation and Communities in Dialogue, Editors: Fischlin, D. & Heble, A. (2004), Wesleyan University Press. Middletown. CT., Chapter: Pauline Oliveros. Harmonic Anatomy - Women in Improvisation.

pg. 53

[4] Deep Listening, A Composer's Sound Practice. Oliveros, P. (2005), Deep Listening Publications~iUniverse, Lincoln, NE. pg. 24

^[5] The Other Side of Nowhere: Jazz, Improvisation and Communities in Dialogue. Editors: Fischlin, D. & Heble, A. (2004). Wesleyan University Press. Middletown. CT., Chapter: Pauline Oliveros. Harmonic Anatomy - Women in Improvisation. pg. 53

~ Remarkable Influences ~ Jay Clayton & Jerry Granelli

Even with successful performances under ones belt the uneasiness of approaching a situation with out any plan is very intimidating. Jay Clayton (a historical vocal jazz phenomenon, compared to Urszula Dudziak in vocal acuity), was my first aural taste of Free Jazz (or New Music, as some call it). Jay helped open me up to experimenting with my own soundscape for the very first time. Below is an interview I penned while attending a master class that she taught along with her drummer, Jerry Granelli. The topic being addressed was: Free Jazz; Coping with fear.

Jay: “Jeanne Lee...she was one of the first sound poets because she used poetry in her solo. She had so much courage. I would just pick up a tambourine and would like shake it, at first. We’re talking about no plan and not even talking to each other...just do it. I know that’s where my roots came and gave me courage to do that. I got’a tell you I got afraid...so then (you think) don’t sing...but you’re up there and can’t quit the gig. But, you have to have courage and then you go inside. It’s just like the standards; you go, wait a minute...this is not about me! You just have to feel something and just trust yourself. Really, you just go for it and you listen and you listen...always listening inside. Because where do ideas come from? We don’t know, we don’t know why we do it, that’s why we can’t ask too many questions. We just do it. The prepared part has to do with working on music and following music that you love and learning stuff. But when you’re out there, it’s trust and listening, feeling and listening.”

Jerry: “It’s just like in life. If you’re thinking up what to say to this person, you probably aren’t hearing what the person is saying at all...same thing is true with music. If I listen to the music and by listening to her (Jay), or not listening to her and just following my path...it crosses and we meld. But fear is something you really can’t...I think every great musician I know faces it, still.”

Jay: “I hate recording that...people are surprised, but it’s true.

Jerry: “It’s true.” (Said in unison)

69. Shadow Portrait #4

Social Change & Empowerment

My personal politics rest around women and the ill equality they are dealt; a depleted economic self - poverty. Though empowerment oft is gathered through struggle, I try to disassociate myself from the negativity that this label bears, joyfully running, arms outstretched, towards my life. Yet, it is this struggle that defines my road from others and can’t simply be disregarded. Improvisation, dictates my every movement; my conscience. And is a practice as holy as prayer, embodying softness (love of self), mindfulness (listening; paying attention), kindness (compassion), intuition (sensing & openness to self, others and beyond), flexibility (willingness to change; grow), creativity (enacting newness, connecting the unfamiliar) and skill (known knowledge).

A hope of mine, for our neighborhood schools, is that the alternative model of pedagogy found within improvisation, would someday be accepted as the powerful tool it is. Improv-centered learning programs would support many of the changes our students and communities need, providing a field of listening that can grow into connections, leading to understanding or at least compassion; a first step towards social change. I believe the lack of transcribed or documented materials is an issue for most academics. Though, in actuality, it’s this medium’s strength; allowing for personal and cultural interpretation.

“In pedagogies, criticism, arts funding policies, and support structures, improvisative music is often looked at askance. Since improvisational musical practices are central to many marginalized communities (Heble: 2000), the resultant failure of scholars to investigate improvisation has led to a failure to recognize the extent to which it provides a model for flexible, dynamic, and dialogical social structures that are both ethical and respectful of identity and difference.”^[1]

Given the serious lack, within the general population’s understanding of the positive effects of improvisational music, we must take a stand in representing and disseminating knowledge as to how improvisation can articulate conceptions and expressions of race, culture, class and gender within a neutral and supportive environment. Just a few nutritive qualities of a well constructed improvisational setting might include: new self awareness; histories revealed, dialog opens and connections made, time offered for working through spacious structures (visual, aural, physical, etc.); establishing value in innovation, risk-taking encouraged while failure’s denied, originality treated as gold, and a safe space for artistic/professional development.

“Improvisation must be considered not simply as a musical form, but as a complex social phenomenon that mediates transcultural inter-artistic exchanges that produce new conceptions of identity, community, history, and the body.”^[2]

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^[1] http://www.improvcommunity.ca/

This international research project plays a leading role in defining a new field of interdisciplinary inquiry within the field of musical improvisation as a model for social change.

^[2] http://www.improvcommunity.ca/about/

Freedom of Improvisation

Bridgforth would agree that Finding Voice is about more than growing

vocabulary and transcribing history in order to tell ones story. Moreover, this is just the beginning, as story sets up house, living in the cells of its creator.

The flesh on my bones instinctively dances in harmony with my voice. My body calls people into my music making. Movement is added, seemingly for performance, but not so. It is this physical involvement that cements ones words on a metaphysical level as mind, body and now soul, take its songs story ever deeper. Ever higher.

Kathleen Stein states that central to creativity is its transformational ability to take existing pieces of information and by newly combining them in ways that grant greater awareness of reality; we birth more new ideas and actions.^[1]

When a star is born, the cataclysmic event surges with energy, reacts, combusts, explodes with new information and new life. This purposeful risk taking, experiencing time outside of self-perception and the knowledge of what’s to come, houses the energy that propels me towards the freedom I seek. I’ve found this precognitive exhibition to be rich, full of expressive moments that would not be the same, if composed ahead of time. Reflecting both the now and the past succinctly; collectively. With the understanding that this time is santi sanct, its space is set alive with new revelations and connections. All are free and all are created equally...equally created.

Within these creative moments, and without much thought, all make peace with themselves and the differences that prior, separated us economically, politically, physically or spiritually. Opening and interacting, and responding to the ideas of the group, this common ground supports the leaving behind of differences and upholds the discovery of unity, allowing for the building of a new community of ideas and expressive language; wholly integrated in a nurturing environment. Within this new viewpoint, aside from angst, disappointment or history, all can experience new vision and insight.

When Jazzers finish a song, it’s common that they turn to each other and laugh, talking about what went on during the tune...discussing surprising connections, mistakes, great lead-ins or endings. Hearing the applause, they’re brought back to the performative aspect of the piece recognizing the need to respond to the audience’s external participation. Deeper judicial effects of art can be found within the phrase, “holding space” for someone. A friend recently made comment that there was a lot of space within a particular tune for them to play; basically addressing the added dimension or place of time or pace in which he could insert his creative thoughts; new thoughts...finding a place for experimenting and implementing what he’d imagined. Sitting with another creative offered him space to invent exciting new sounds, vocabulary. Whether this space is located in music, the rebuilding of a car engine, the exchange of poetry or finding new expressions within movement, this space is the place that all find themselves as equal participants. In this space, all are contributing in a viable, equal, creative manner; stepping outside of stereotypical responses, enabling movement around blockages that prevent spontaneity and flow.

“Spontaneous thought is still thinking but uncontrolled conclusions can emerge. Spontaneously occurring conclusions, then, may be based on prior experiences, wherein the temporal cortical memory structures reach out and “seduce” the anterior prefrontal cortex with their powerful personal content. And something “suddenly occurs” to you.” ^[2]

It is quite possible, that the formidable statement disseminated during the unification of spontaneous space, is simply; we exist. We are here (a thought that makes sense in context of its global importance, for those of us whom have found this form so meaningful...a form that embodies a fully articulated being). Who could question or wonder, the dance forward, the running towards, this home...this act of freedom? The improvisation I employ, as a way of exploring value of self, my environment and others, is an equally sensible connection of the improvisational me/we/us. This demonstrates, in a unifying manner, our void that reveals and results in a sonic substance of a significant nature. There is an inescapable value in its doing...not planning. Collectively, a statement rings out that this nothing is something, when forces are joined and articulated through this art of void. This nothing, we equally have in common. In this, we allow the music to reveal ourselves...to ourselves. This could/is done in many ways - it just so happens my experience is through sound.

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^[1] The Genius Engine: Where memory, reason, passion and creativity intersect in the human brain, by Kathleen Stein (2007), John Wiley & Sons Inc., Champlain Library, NY.

^[2] The Genius Engine: Where memory, reason, passion and creativity intersect in the human brain, by Kathleen Stein, (2007), John Wiley & Sons Inc., Champlain Library. NY. pg. 100

Sharon Bridgforth ~ Social Order, Culture & Personal Politics

Sharon Bridgforth has, through years of artful experimentation, developed a method of facilitating called, Finding Voice. Within this creative genre she mentors writers encouraging them to use identity-culture-memory-family histories-dreams, to articulate and examine the socio-political realities of their lives, given shape through poetry, part oral history, part performance art; examining their creative process; to work in community as they use art as a vehicle for social justice.^[1] The Voice Bridgforth has found within her embodied writing is the same voice that has been speaking to me through improvisation, gaining aptitude. Growing and gaining cognition and connections to the work I have done in the past, mulched and taking root in my current studies, blooming into a tree of shade and shelter for those I teach.

In order to ascertain the importance of my musical being I need to locate myself within my environment yet again; accomplished through addressing the cultural, social and political landscape in which I create music, and how I locate my practice in relation to this landscape. Let me first look deeper at the question posed.

Restated, to me it looks like this. How do I perceive the social, cultural and personal political surroundings in which I create my music and where do I situate my practice in relation to these settings? I will break down these three segments, relaying my personal and musical location within each.

Social Order: I am of a lower economic class American citizen, Christian in faith and solo by choice; white female parent with a genetic history of the Viking persuasion (Western European). Early exposure to music, in my parent’s home, was simply from the “radio-ed” pop culture of the 60’s and 70‘s.P When old enough to choose a genre of music for myself I followed Classical and Spiritual forms, with the most recent addition being Jazz.

Culture: As an adult, family traditions were connected to a spiritual life which included the exploration of Folk music of the ‘70’s and a milieu of Gospel sounds, structures and texts throughout the next 25 years. This music that had begun as African American Blues and Spirituals had, by the 80‘s, bled into an updated Folk music, made popular by upper-class white Christian (mostly) Americans. Similarly, I followed classically composed and orchestrated music typically written by white Europeans in the 1800 to 1900’s. I can attach my sense of simple melody and clear vocal ideas to my many years of choral singing; seeing these educative (cultural) and spiritual customs coming through by way of my choices in instrumentation (orchestral and acoustic) and vocals again consisting of solo voice, clean tone with little vibrato, oft times infused with jazzy or bluesy scales. Most recently, my music has been taking shape around experimental processes using new mediums; finding the use of electronics, enhanced language and spontaneous composing to be of all, most rewarding (this was precluded by the exposing of myself to new Spiritual paths and the removal of all dead wood). A pristine clearing has been set. All foraged fauna from this homie's farm will be of an open genre. Allowing for new artistic and personal freedom. Growth.

Personal Politics: What began as liberating and a joyful involvement musically, transversed into a Spiritual bludgeoning; becoming a loose noose around my neck. Once the chair had been kicked out from beneath my feet, I was...born again. My recent desire to express myself freely has brought forth a new era of experimentation; unearthly sounds that leave a listener with more questions than answers. The phenomenology of this most recent work embodies music that is opinionated and punctuated with uncooperative meanderings. It’s moody, joyous, erratic, trans-worldly, disturbing, confusing, supple, wailing, conversational and cacophonic. These are the places I live, thus my music envelops them. Once I craved order, answers and reliability; now I am exploring the possibility of pleasure outside of what is expected and considered theoretically correct. You do not find the typical Christian believer sitting amongst these aesthetics. As I struggle to locate my practice in relation to my current landscape I seem to have wiggled into the middle; a sitting on the fence with legs dangling off both sides. Swinging. I wonder if I’ll fall all the way over, to one side or the other. Or, heavy legged, will I be split in two, never to find the conjoining of selves that I’ve situated myself to do. Best yet. Perhaps a decision to go to the left or to the right isn’t even being asked of me. Perhaps, it’s the listening, appreciation and lessons to be learned from all, by all, that reign supreme. Perhaps, always straddling, but long legged now, feet touching both sides. Firmly planted.

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^[1] http://sharonbridgforth.com/content/biocontact/bio/

~ Music ~

68.Egg Dye & Wax Napkin #1

Facilitation

I’m finding that one important aspect of the work I’m most interested in has to do with facilitation. This function can be looked at from an ecological viewpoint, such as an adult tree providing shade or shelter for an up and coming younger plant. Now, as the adult “tree”, I’m looking back on my many roles, seeing that I’ve been a facilitator all the while; evident in my 12 years as a Para Educator, where I worked with children with special needs. Creativity arrived in each situation where it was necessary to bridge the gap between the lessons designed for the able-bodied student to the individual with a particular handicap. This was where the creative fun came in for me, adapting learning requirements towards the student’s strengths, ensuring a better chance of retention and future application and success.

Practicum ~ Classroom Teaching

67. Debby teaching Improv^[1]

Vocal Improvisation

and

Improvisation In Life & Art

Ju-Pong Lin was my advisor during my Practicum semester. One of the things she wanted me to work on was how I would articulate my interest in teaching in a way that would catch the attention of a school district. Meaning, use their language, criteria and measurements in order to find my way into their world. I did. The two classes listed below are the product of this inquiry.

The semester after my Practicum, I was hired by Tacoma’s School of the Arts^[2] as an adjunct instructor. I taught a class that I created called: (The Anatomy of) Improv: Voice, Rhythm & Theatrics.

My Practicum work was directly responsible for my being prepared for this opportunity. This put my interdisciplinary practicum into a teaching environment, deepening and expanding my practice while developing a greater understanding of my chosen field. Below are two classes developed for the School of the Arts.

Improvisation In Life & Art

Students will learn what constitutes their Improvisational Body while examining, building and securing their own availability towards a spontaneous existence within their chosen field of art. This class will work on performance-based pieces that exist around their own artistic interests. Most importantly, this class is built on community and trust, resulting in extreme creativity and collaborative experimentation. Lectures and student lead seminars, assigned readings from Free Play, by Steven Nachmanovich, listening/watching selected composers and improvisational performances and journaling are all to be expected. Performances to unsuspecting and/or prearranged audiences will be presented, building aptitude, while creating further performative questions.

Prerequisite: No prior vocal, theatric or writing experience necessary

This class supports: ATP401 Actor's Studio/Technical Theatre Production, DAC421 Composition in Dance, LCW521 Creative Writing, VHP522 Computer Graphics & Design Adv. and All Academia as an important interdisciplinary skill.

Vocal Improvisation

Learning to improvise can be a journey of self-discovery. This class involves improvisation with rhythmic and melodic voice and spoken word. We will unite our voices (as instruments), tapping into your own unique sound while using musical “forms” such as circle-singing, call and response, solo and group exercises that support the magic of these spontaneous compositions. A performance and improvisational based class; we will take our music out into the community as well as performing at SOTA. Musical influences include Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, Pauline Oliveros' Deep Listening and Meredith Monk. Here you will find "flow" and meaning in your daily artistic life while using interdisciplinary art forms outside of your comfort zone. Create and be heard!

Prerequisite: Student should have basic to above average vocal and/or rhythmic skills.

This class supports: UMD401 Musical Theatre Production, UJW521 Jazz Combo Workshop, USW522 Song Writing, UCH420 Concert Choir/SOTA Singers

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^[1] Photo taken by: Kelly Duran, Theatre Dept., Tacoma’s School of the Arts, 2009

^[2] SOTA’s (The Anatomy) of Improvisation: Voice, Rhythm & Theatrics’ Syllabus can be located in the Appendix on pg. 107

Practicum ~ Documentation & Compositions

59. My Daily Rainbow

Articulate the nature of your project with clear description.

My interests lay in the spontaneity of music...the unconscious and conscious processes that allow and influence a composition through the embodied flow of creativity. Thus, I designed my practicum, entitled “Life Autotelic OR The Improvised Life”, to structure the development and composition of a multi-layered solo piece of music hoping to discover a practice as an improvisational composer; refining my own unique approach, process and strategies for composition.

This would be acomplished through open-minded research, soulful exploration and the experimentation of new improvisational knowledge. I visualized a complex piece deep in personal storyline. I was able to learn, process and document my discoveries by way of a new recording, notation and editing program called Logic Studio 8. But first, I began by familiarizing myself with a simpler system called Garage Band.

I also wanted to begin putting my interdisciplinary practice into a teaching environment, deepening and expanding my practice while developing a greater understanding of my chosen field.

Articulate your personal assessment of what happened, the result and overall reflection of your experience.

Made evident to me during my Practicum Semester, composition is to become a very important and rich addition to my practice. Along with learning new software, I was successful in creating five original compositions, richly textured, playfully complex, and as some would call them, “risky sound pieces”.^[1] These pieces included two collaborations, one with a performance artist and another with a poet. My use of language played with the border between sense and nonsense, provoking questions about how language can express meaning beyond the boundaries of language^[2].

In terms of intellectual inquiry, several books deepened my understanding of creative practice, including: Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention and Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, A Woman’s Book of Creativity, by C. Diane Ealy and RSVP Cycles, by Lawrence Halprin along with study of John Cage, Meredith Monk and Laurie Anderson, all helped to amplify possibilities in performance.

Conversation Series CD^[3] has emerged consisting of compositions realized during my Practicum semester. These pieces have been adorned with sensitive experimental vocal techniques, spontaneous spoken word and volumes of computerized applications. I was further able to develop mentoring relationships by attending a workshop with Meredith Monk’s company. This influenced how I experience myself as a performer, expanding both my theatrical and movement vocabulary.

Continued opportunities for composing are being sustained because of the collaborations during my Practicum semester. This is leading to self-confidence, technical prowess and joyful autonomy.

My practicum took me to a new level as a musician; using it as an opportunity to learn new tools and knowledge that allow me to (with a degree of reliance) incorporate spontaneous experimentation and improvisation while composing. I feel I can now introduce myself with confidence to the community that, “I am a composer.”

Having recorded the fruition of this semester’s work, I wanted to look beyond the traditional ways of thinking about audience; posting my work on a several websites, inviting friends and neighbors to experience my music and to offer feedback. The web afforded me the opportunity to engage listeners in a new way; opening up different ways of thinking about the public, community and audience.

The body of my work (both compositionally and poetically) can be accessed through these Internet formats.

Web Site:

http://www.debbywatt.com

MySpace:

http://myspace.com/debbywatt

Art and Culture Social Web Site:

http://www.artandculture.com (artist: debby watt)

Reverbnation Music Site:

http://www.reverbnation.com (search: debby watt)

CD Baby Site:

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/DebbyBolandWatt

Photographs Only:

Flickr.com (search: debby watt)

Documentation of process during Practicum

Conversation Series: This series consists of several vocal pieces of music that feature conversation as a theme. I’m fascinated by language, foreign or fabricated. The strangeness of a foreign tongue always catches my attention; playing a sort of game with my mind. I think that this aspect of my music will capture the listener’s attention as well; keeping it for the duration of the piece. All my compositions are now recorded on a CD of the same name.

Composition #1

BaBaBa

Composed, Performed & Produced by: Debby Watt

BaBaBa was composed in a manner suitable for any Experimental Artist...Spontaneously! This piece is constructed of pure consciousness...a performative sound thread. BaBaBa was my first attempt at using GarageBand and I found it very simple to interpret and use. All the instrumentation (other than vocals) were created on a Midi Keyboard. I began layering sounds one by one, complimenting them with subsequent applications. The vocals are improvisational “gibberish”.

Instrumentation

Keyboards (piano, piano/strings, synths & warm glow chords), Orchestral Bassoon, Orchestral Glockenspiel & Telephone Lines (vocal application).

“BaBaBa is very playful... you’re clearly having fun playing with the range of sounds you can create. The playful “dings” punctuate the chromatic piano lines, play[ing] off of your softly percussive utterances tickle[ing] my ear. It’s over before I’m ready for it to be.” ^[4]

Composition #2

Conversations ~ “We Have The Stars”

Composed, Performed & Produced by: Debby Watt

We Have The Stars was composed spontaneously by layering musical ideas by way of GarageBand. The piece was originally named “Horn Solo” as I considered the piece finished before the vocals were applied. Once I decided to experiment with vocals, a track of vocal “gibberish”, with an accent and a subsequent (understandable) English verse, were recorded. I ended up using both vocal tracks instead of choosing just one (as I had originally planned). An interpretive duet? Possibly.

Basically, what I’m learning (and prefer) is to not plan, expect or decide on anything until I’ve “played it out”... all the way, living with the assemblage of recorded tracks, playing with layers and keeping an open mind as to how the music wants to grow. It’s all in the flow you know.

Instrumentation

Orchestra String Ensemble, Xtra Cello (section legato), Orchestra English Horn, Orchestra Celesta (piano & keyboards) & Ambient Vocals

“The rising half-step motif at the beginning of this piece opens out into a contrapuntal, expansive landscape. I love when the motif is picked up by the English horn. I hear a little Aaron Copland. I feel a little bit of Dvorzak’s New World Symphony.

This movement creates such a strong sense of place to me, like the world out of which

the next movement is born. All this from two little notes. I hear an intimate conversation, a song of celebration and love and life. It sounds to me like two people cooing over their baby [or] two people reflecting on the long journey of their lives. I love the edges between sense and nonsense, melodic and poetic, lamentation and joy. Sometimes it sounds like you[r] voice speaks all languages at once. Music of the stars, Debby. I’m profoundly affected by this piece. I could live in this music for a while.” ^[5]

Composition #3

Dinner For One

Arranged &/or Composed, Performed & Produced by: Debby Watt

A Kellie Lynch Performance Art Piece:

December 9th and 16th

Good Shepherd Center (9th), University Heights &

Community Center (16th), Seattle, WA

Doors @7:30 Show @ 8:30

My role in Dinner For One was to compose &/or assemble 20 minutes of music to be used during Kellie’s performance. Kellie also gave me a list of pieces she wanted me to consider using. This version is the first draft I submitted.

Instrumentation:

All audio tracks, printed in the right hand column, are sampled from purchases off iTunes, original track of An Affair to Remember with keyboards by Hans Brehmer and vocals by Debby are reverb-ed & phased (to death) for a dizzying and disoriented effect and also used was the Applause FX 01 Loop.

Composition #3 & 1/2

Dinner For One (rewrite)

Arranged &/or Composed, Performed & Produced by: Debby Watt

A Kellie Lynch Performance Art Piece:

This composition is the second and final submission of music for this Performance Art piece. Adjustments were made in the form of entrance and exit tunes that Kellie requested. Interpretive, crazed and fun additions were made to the body of music to increase flow, humor and strength to the message, while liberally using distortion, backwards play, phasing, double applications, sound effects and noise.

Instrumentation:

Audio tracks are sampled from purchases off iTunes OR from YouTube. Original track of An Affair to Remember with keyboards by Hans Brehmer and vocals by Myself, are reverb-ed & phased (to death) for a dizzying and disoriented effect along with an Applause FX 01 Loop application. Added Logic Studio Applications:

Crying Baby Isabelle.caf, Cry Cartoon 1.caf, Thunder and Rain 01, 2, 3, 4, Bell Buoy.caf, Bell Tower.caf, Gas Station Bell.caf and Escape B Tuba.caf

Composition #4

Iroko ~ Tree

Composed, Performed & Produced by: Debby Watt

Lyrics by: Dakota Darkhorse

Iroko ~ Tree is the third composition added to my Conversation Series. Composed of twenty-six tracks, it is my first composition composed using Logic Studio 8. Several days were spent going through hundreds of sampled sounds and loops that are included within Logic. After choosing my favorites I began to sense where I wanted this tune to head musically. Lyrics are from a poem written by Dakota Darkhorse (http://www.dakotadarkhorse.com).

Dakota and I had been in conversation about collaborating for several weeks. I finally settled on his poem “Iroko”, feeling that I could do it justice. I continued to work from an improvisational frame of mind, without preformed ideas or melodies...just waiting for the music and lyrics to speak to me. The ending was quite a surprise! I love how it appears in mid-sentence that I’ve disappeared... having perhaps, turned into a tree.

Instrumentation:

Debby’s Voice (10 tracks), African Skies Voices (Loop), African Skies Kit (Loop), Sanskrit Darabuka (Loop), Sanskrit Manjira 01, 03 & 04 (Loop), Sanskrit Udu 01 (Loop), Jacaranda Singers 01,02, 03, 05 & 06 (Loop), Jacaranda Percussion 02 (Loop), Jacaranda Marimba 02 (Loop), Tambourine & HH (Loop), India Loop 01, Tribal Groove 02 (Loop), Turkish Morning Drum 01 (Loop), Capitol E Violins 2 (Loop with key adjustments), Melodic Piano (Loop with key adjustments), Concert Hall Piano 20 (Loop with key adjustments)

Composition #5

Where Are You Now...my Love?

Composed, Performed & Produced by: Debby Watt

Where Are You Now...my love? was written in response to our beloved dog Michael, passing away last week. He left a tremendous hole in our hearts. Though this song was written with my dog in mind, I believe that most people can relate to the sentiment of this song without referring only to an animal. Knowing that pets probably don’t have the same “promise” of eternity as we...this question sat heavily on my mind after Michael’s passing.

Where Are You Now...my love?

Instrumentation:

GarageBand Applications: Piano (Concert Hall Piano 13, 14, & 18), Harpsichord (Court Harpsichord 08), Harp (Escape F Harp), Acoustic Bass (Scheme Low Strings 01), Xtra Bass Section Legato, Tibetan Singing Bowls, Orchestra Trombone Section, Kits (Desire E Orchestral Kit), Olympus Voices, Ambient Vocals (3 tracks) and Vocal Radio Effect (1 track)

Composition #6

Goodbye Guardian Angel

Produced, Composed & Performed by: Debby Watt

Lyrics by: Dakota Darkhorse

Goodbye Guardian Angel is my second collaboration with Dakota Darkhorse (http://www.myspace.com/darkhorse1804), a Spoken Word Artist from Connecticut that I met on MySpace last year. Iroko ~ Tree was the first product of our collaborative interests. Dakota is a young man that impressed me with strong prose and determination to “make good”. Now, in the midst of compiling a new CD, he contacted me about writing music to his poem, Goodbye Guardian Angel. Directives, from Dakota, for composing this piece included listening to and following the soundscape of a tune called, 9 Crimes by Damien Rice. As in song 9 Crimes, Goodbye Guardian Angel’s metronome is set at 73 beats per minute, uses the Aeolian mode and is written as a duet for Dakota and myself; exhibiting melancholic melodies with a slow purposeful and mingling conversation-like chorus.

The vocals are completely improvised; hoping to discover a melody within the piano, clarinet and harp tracks that I previously recorded (also improvised). Notes have been aligned, changed and/or enhanced, within the vocals and instrumentation, in order to improve flow, meaning and overall sound quality. Before completion, I’ll need to make adaptations and spend time with the mix when Dakota adds or sends me his vocals.

Instrumentation

Orchestra Steinway Piano, Classical Piano track 1 & 2, Orchestra Clarinet Section, Orchestra Harp track 1,2 & 3, Beats; Exotic World Beat 06 loop, Beats; Abstract Atmosphere 046 loop, Havana Congas 01, Mixed Choir, Legato & Ambient Vocals 1 merg.2.ai, merg.7, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 22, 26, 30 & 31.

Composition #7

woolie when (once upon a time things were warm and nice)

Produced, Composed & Performed by: Debby Watt

Poetess: A.K.Mimi Allin

I traveled to Seattle, several months ago, to participate in a Goddard graduates’ performance art piece. This is where I met Mimi Allin. After exchanging email addresses I did some research; finding Mimi to be a delightfully prolific poet. I was drawn to her poem, woolie when (once upon a time things were warm and nice); contacting her straightaway, asking if she would allow me to compose music for it. Mimi agreed and off I went! Though the poem consists of gibberish and subsequent translation, I instantly understood the soundscape for this piece. It would be of Celtic descent. At completion, 58 audio files (loops and vocal recordings), using both Logic Studio 8 and Garage Band, have been utilized.

The mood of this piece is representative of someone who has lost the stability of home through the wandering of a parent figure. This act is demonstrated amply, by the cacophony of sound followed by scattered and gentle aural reminders of the children left behind (fireflies upon the lawn). I believe the evolution of the poetic Spoken Word and the music that supports it, works well together.

Instrumentation

Logic Studio Applications using Audio Files & Loops:

Irish Chiann Harp 03.1, 03#1.1, 03#1.2, 03#2.1, 03#3.3, 03#3.1, Irish Chiann Harp 05.1, 05#1.1, 05#1.2, 05.2, 05.3, 05#3.1, 05#4.2, 05.5, Irish Chiann Harp 10, Irish Chiann Harp 18, 18.1, Irish Chiann Harp 20, Irish Chiann Violin 08, Irish Frost Harp 02, 02.2, Indulge Harp 01.4, Irish Breton Harp 01, Irish Breton Harp 06, Orchestra Harp Strum 09, Orchestra Harp Strum 11, Orchestra Harp Pattern 02, 02.1, 02.2, 02.3, 02.5, 02.6, Irish Lore Bodhran 04, Irish Lore Bodhran 07.1, Tryst All, String Section #EB626.ca, Escape G Violins 1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.6, Escape B Flute, Float A Flutes, Desire A Basses, Stormy F Basses 1, Irish Lore Voice 02, 02.1

Debby’s Vocal Recordings with Garage Band:

Voice English 1, 1.1, Voice Old 2#1.1, Voice Old 4.2, High Old 1, Low English 1.1, Long Echoes 1, Long Echoes 4.2, Long Echoes 5#1.6, 5#1.10, 5#1.14, 5#1.19,

“...I got the CD. I got the CD. Thank you! Wow. It was surprising and delightful."

Poetess: A.K.Mimi Allin

http://thepoetessatgreenlake.blogspot.com

Video #1

Scissorly Submission

Photography, Performer & Producer: Debby Watt

Music “Lost” by: Annie Lennox from her album Songs of Mass Destruction

Influenced by my visit to New York, in order to work with Meredith Monk’s

Ensemble, I returned home very interested in using movement. So, I took some time off from my music studies to shoot some photos. It was late in the day and I had to follow the sun. As I held up my prop to capture its image I saw a shadow beyond...laying at my feet, on the concrete. It was me! A kind of long, distorted Shadow Portrait. I began moving, bending, leaning, while continuing to snap photos. Before returning to the same spot the next day (to see if there was something I might have missed, I grabbed a pair of scissors on the way out the door. Back at home; I viewed the stills, noticing a nice story unfolding. It was then that I decided to load them into iMovie (a video application on my computer). After placing them in an order I liked, I sped up the sequencing as if it were a film. It was in my mind to compose the music that would accompany, “Scissorly Submission”...but when I heard Annie Lennox’s song, “Lost”, it was just too perfect to replace with an original.

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^[1] G3 Advisor, Response Paper, Lin, Ju-Pong (2008), Goddard College, MFA-IA Program, Port Townsend, WA.

^[2] Lin, J., Ibid.

^[3] “Conversations Series” CD is located at the end of my portfolio.

^[4] G3 Advisor, Response Paper, by Lin, Ju-Pong (2008), Goddard College, MFA-IA Program, Port Townsend, WA.

^[5] G3 Advisor, Response Paper, Lin, Ju-Pong (2008), Goddard College, MFA-IA Program, Port Townsend, WA.