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book of days
archive 2002
12.24.02
Happy Holidays! I love
how low key things are here, but still highly festive. The street
lights were up and running in late November, but I didn't see
a Christmas card until around December 7th, and only after that
did the stores begin to decorate, one by one. The Three Kings,
who are more popular than Santa arrive on January 5th...
12.13.02
To add to the list
of "Preferable Next Lives": a Benedictine monk living
at Montserrat! The basilica on top of this extraordinarily jagged,
rocky mountain is one of the most beautiful churches I've seen.
We are treated to a concert of vocal music by the monks and the
boys choir - a simple melody sung in a cavernous space gives
me chills every time.
11.25.02
What a treat, to hear
the music of Kaija Saariaho live in concert! And how fabulous
to attend a concert on a rainy Sunday evening and find the hall
packed with people of all ages... So many subtleties in her instrumental
music, of the sort that don't easily translate in concert settings.
But the electronics carry the small, delicate sounds to the forefront
of the sound field, like intertwining whisps of smoke and colored
gases.
10.22.02
This past weekend -
hiking trip 2 hours South of the city to the Delta de l'Ebre.
Again I am reminded of how much my music is really about landscape.
This first month in Spain - or rather Catalunya, as the locals
prefer - has been so much about taking care of basic life necessities
(finding a flat, figuring out how the banks work, the phone system,
etc.) that music hasn't been so much in my ears, but with the
fabulous views of Saturday ideas are now flying! My favorite
sights: the miles of rice fields, dotted with white Egrets standing
tall in the water, and a gigantic full moon rising from the Mediterranean
Sea in a cloudless rose and blue watercolor sky.
10.06.02
This morning I woke
up to the blaring of car horns. People don't just tap their horns
here in Barcelona, they lean in and press hard. The result was
an orchestra of long sustained tones (surprisingly in tune) bouncing
back and forth from one side of the Arc del Triomf to the other
with the rhythm of the traffic lights.
What was all
the commotion about? The streets around the Arc were closed off
for a parade of in-line skaters!
9.28.02
So many interesting
sounds in Barcelona!
I am staying across the street from the Arc del Triomf, in a
bed and breakfast run by a painter. My room is turquoise and
filled with her lovely paintings and mixed-media works. The window
faces the street in front of the Arc, so there is constant heavy
traffic, and people passing by - within a space of 10 minutes
one can easily hear a multitude of languages. During the short
lulls between passing vehicles is the distant sound of drumming
from the Parc de La Ciutadella behind the Arc, and the chiming
of the clock tower from the Placa Catalunya. Approaching subway
trains vibrate the building and blanket the sound field in a
low bass rumble.
9.26.02
Writing from a plane
headed to Barcelona, where I will be spending the next year.
What do I hope for from this experience? To find new sources
of inspiration for my music, to become more comfortable speaking
and thinking in Spanish, to become immersed in a different culture.
Excited mostly, terrified occasionally. But more than anything,
in an age when it seems nearly impossible to be a composer first
and foremost, I feel incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity!
9.16.02
Dinner with friends
tonight. Flipping through a homemade book of inspirational quotes,
this caught my eye....
Learn to
write about ordinary
things. Give homage
to old coffee cups,
sparrows,
city buses,
thin ham sandwiches.
8.30.02
Well finally it's finished!
Ayehli for marimba and sampled sounds. This one has been
a very long time coming. So much for being prolific!
Oh well.
The music is
divided into three sections: the first and last are loosely structured,
sprinkled with improvisatory moments, while the middle section
is a driving marimba solo. The recorded electronic part, which
is decidedly "subterranean" (according to my friends)
runs through the entire piece. I think the marimba music lifts
it out into the open. The image I keep getting of this piece
is a seabird flying low over the water, just skimming the surface.
The title?
Ayehli is the Cherokee word for twin - I believe the literal
translation is "other wing". Speaks to the relationship
between the marimba and the processed sounds - rising out of
and falling into one another, melting together, always close.
6.26.02
I am abandoning linear
time. And blue jeans, but that's for another journal....
My watch has
been banished to the bottom of the jewelry box. I hardly miss
it at all - after all there is a clock available at practically
every turn - and it's quite freeing to walk through the day without
one. So many fabulous things don't have a thing to do with linear
time. When you think you've been hanging out with a loved one
for an hour or two - and it's been seven. Being caught up in
writing or reading and looking up to see that the sun is rising.
The music I find most inspiring renders time completely elastic
- each moment twists, stretches, compresses into a totally unique
event. So how can I create music with that sense of elasticity
if I am aware of every second that ticks by?
6.18.02
Thunderstorms tonight
- fierce, loud cracks with blinding flashes and heavy cleansing
rains that slowly dissolve into a distant growl behind the clouds....
after sitting with the storm I feel vibrant!
A very good
night of musical work amazing what a dose of negative ions
will do.
5.23.02
Thinking lately, after
lively discussions on last month's issue of NewMusicBox, about my musical
family tree. So many musicians have influenced me in various
ways, magically appearing at the right time and the right place.
The following is a list of those whom I consider family - the
ones who I find myself turning to again and again for information,
inspiration and grounding.
Annea Lockwood - spaciousness, sensuality,
an appreciation of the power and beauty of small sounds.
Steve Reich - the importance of rhythm, that a small amount
of material can go very, very far.
Pauline Oliveros - the discipline to listen, deeply.
John Cage - that life IS music.
Frank Zappa - everything is better with a sense of humor!
4.11.02
It's all about the
Happy Musical Accident. The little surprises that turn music
from ordinary to special. I suppose it would be powerful and
glamorous to say that I have total control over every aspect
of my music, but truth be told, I depend on the Happy Musical
Accident - I work, and wait, and wonder when and how it will
appear. Usually it comes after a period of frustration with fussing
and fuming (a girl needs a good temper tantrum every now and
then) when I can't quite see where the music is going. Then just
when I'm convinced that the piece is doomed, atrocious, plain
BAD... it happens. A slip of the hand - an unplanned button pushed
or a knob twisted the wrong direction. Maybe a copying snafoo,
chord progression mixed up, sixteenth notes instead of eighths.
And suddenly
with that unanticipated turn, the path is clear.
The most recent
incidence of the Happy Musical Accident transformed some traffic
and construction sounds into a lush, shimmering, breathing wash
of color. I affectionately call it The Accordion from Outer Space.
From where
I stand, control is highly overrated.
3.29.02
My listening tastes
have turned towards long bouts of big wide bands of noise and
crunchy galloping found sound - think Francisco Lopez, Laetitia
Sonami, Kaffe Matthews. Now I know perfectly well that these
artists created their work with loads of thought and attention,
but the result feels loose and relaxed, in an "oh this old
thing? Just a little something I slapped together" sort
of way, which I completely adore. Casual with a little grit -
that hint of rough n' tumble.
2.20.02
Trying to expunge the
sounds of today's newly completed radio program from my ears.
By the time a show is finished, I am often familiar with it's
every detail, but this one is taking up more headspace than usual.
It is a sound portrait of 24 hours on the edge of Ground Zero
in NYC. Included among the interviews with rescue workers and
tourists are recordings taken right at the edge of the site....
you can hear how gigantic the hole really is.
1.01.02
"Happy New Ears!"
- John
Cage
A toast to
peace, joy and music aplenty! Looking forward to what this year
will bring....
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