Hello everyone, we wanted to take a moment to say hi, wish you a happy holiday and new year! Listening Bodies did not offer any in-person workshops this year, but we were creating videos, online experiences, and planning for the future.Â
The first thing we wanted to share with you this holiday season is the “Meditation on Light” written by Monica Gentile (read by Michael in English and Italian by Monica). It’s a lovely guided meditation exploring the sensorial nature of light during this deep wintertime.
Also while we were in Philadelphia for several months this spring, due to the pandemic, we were happy to live near and spend time with the wonderful dance/media company known as Fidget. This year Fidget will be hosting a Virtual New Year’s Eve Party called Age of Aquarius co-hosted by Forbidden Fruit. Listening Bodies will premiere a new video dance piece we created called “A Song the Earthworm Sang”. This piece is dedicated to Deep Listening founded by Pauline Oliveros and is a reference to a poem she wrote called “The Earthworm Also Sings” found in her Anthology of Text Scores. Please consider purchasing a ticket to raise a toast and enjoy hours of art and entertainment for this virtual party in the comfort of your own space.
This has been an amazing week re-connecting with the work and community of my late teacher Pauline Oliveros. This week marks the beginning of my collaboration with Sharon Stewart in our new project Mixes from the Field combining Deep Listening, field recording, sound art and sonic ecology practices.
We began the week attending a memorial concert for Pauline in her
hometown for the last 35 years, Kingston, NY. It was a beautiful day of
readings, dedications, music and listening. Here’s a photo of a group
sonic meditation from the event at Kingston City Hall.
Mixes from the Field began yesterday with our first class teaching high
school students about listening and creating music from the sound world
around them at our American Composers Forum sponsored residency at Village of the Art and Humanities
in North Philadelphia. Here is a photo from the first day teaching the
students about various microphones and sound processing techniques using
an iPad.
Finally,
just a reminder there’s still space for our day-long Deep Listening,
Field Recording and Sonic Art Workshop for adults in West Philadelphia
called Hidden Pulses. It’s Saturday March 25, 10am-5pm, with a two-hour break for lunch, sound-walks and a field recording outing! You can register here online, or just come to Art Church of West Philadelphia at 10am. Sliding scale payment for artists and students 🙂
Feel free to email me with questions about the workshop.
‘m very excited to announce a new
collaborative project, a new residency and a call for used keyboard
donations for a community art and music school in Philadelphia…
Mixes from the Field
Last spring I met Dutch sound artist Sharon Stewart at EMPAC during a day-long meeting of Deep Listening
teachers, students and community. After the symposium, during a layover
at Penn Station and on the train ride back to Philadelphia we connected
over our shared interest in field recording and sound art philosophies.
From that meeting and a continued connection online we developed this
new and exciting framework.
Today, we’re pleased to announce a new website, teaching, performance and collaborative project called Mixes from the Fieldexploring the connection between environment, field recording, Deep Listening, sonic ecology and sound art.
This year I am honored to be Composer in Residence at Village of the Arts and Humanities with support from American Composers Forum.
The residency will culminate in a week-long workshop with students at
the Village and Mixes from the Field. During this week-long intensive we
will be teaching the students about Deep Listening techniques, how to
listen and remain connected to the environment and how to make music
from the found sounds of their world. It will include hands-on technical
workshops, field trips, sound walks and sonic meditations. The finished
work by the students will be posted to the Mixes from the Field website
and be part of the global community of listening and sharing.
Also Mixes from the Field will be hosting a day-long Deep Listening / Field Recording workshop for adult artists on Saturday March 25 at Art Church (52nd and Webster Street) in West Philadelphia. Look for a detailed announcement email coming soon…
CALLING ALL LONELY KEYBOARDS
As part of my residency at Village of the Arts and Humanities, I’ve
expressed interest in starting to give keyboard lessons after school to
the students there. The Village already has an impressive lineup of free
music performance and production lessons for students. They already
teach guitar, drums, music production, singing, rapping, podcasting, but
not keyboards/piano! Why? Because they need some keyboards! This is
where you can help.
Do you have an old or new keyboard with a minimum of 50 keys
(synthesizer or digital piano) that you’d like to donate? It should have
full sized keys with touch sensitive velocity.
Would you like to “sponsor a keyboard” by helping to purchase a keyboard for VAH?
Do you know of a music or piano store who might like to donate a keyboard to VAH?
Once we have a few keyboards I’m going to start giving lessons there
as part of my composer residency. In addition to teaching keyboard
technique, the keyboard can be a gateway into the wide galaxy of music
theory, chords, songwriting, collaboration, improvisation, playing by
ear, sound design and self-expression.
Please get in touch at mikronesia@gmail.com or 267-312-2821 if you’d like to be involved!
