Thursday, March 30, 2006 7:25:37 PM Message From: Laurel MacDonald <kiss@6q.com> Subject: Re: thank you and a thought..... To: Cathy Nosaty Cc: Philip Strong <vacuvox@6q.com> Dear Cathy, Thank you so much for your beautiful letter! It was so encouraging and exciting to read your impressions of the opening. I hadn't considered the theatrical elements of it -‐ I guess I have been grappling with the technical challenges of creating live music using this technology, so I hadn't really considered the impression that this aspect of the performance makes, beyond the obvious. Just the technical challenges of performing the piece -‐ that's all I had on my mind! So your comments are very enlightening and exciting. (I guess I feared that we might, perhaps, alienate our audience by working with technology that creates a barrier, compromising the immediacy and directness of the purely acoustic experience. Or that it may be visually awkward, or seem too tech-‐nerdy to be appealing!) The idea that we can create a sense of the mystical, the mysterious, with layers of meaning heightened rather than obscured by the technology is so interesting, and it opens up so many possibilities for how we might develop this type of performance. I would absolutely love to pursue a project of this kind with you! It could be cool to expand the range of timbres using your instrumental skills on piano and/or accordion as well. (I am thinking of things like the Pauline Oliveros accordion sound -‐ do you know her work?) And Phil's work with percussion, as he has also been incorporating Ableton/DAW technology to manipulate his live percussion (and vocal) sounds. Phil is hoping also to get his toob drum back up and running using a new-‐and-‐ improved amplifying system. (There have been bad feedback problems with the current system -‐ it has caused him huge headaches in past shows. He hopes to lick the feedback by applying a gate to each of the 6 internal microphones.) So this would give us access to these unearthly timbres once again as well! I haven't read through the Nightswimming information in detail yet, but have skimmed over it all. It does sound very appealing and it seems like this project -‐ your idea -‐ could be a perfect fit for them. But of course you musn't feel any pressure to submit something for the April deadline if it is too crazy for you -‐ and my guess is that it may be a bit much for you to manage
just now! But I also know that you are a veritable super-‐woman and that if you chose to submit something for this deadline that we would definitely be on board! (The other possibility is that the 3 of us could work together on some development even without having grant funding. And then if/when funding comes along, then you could expand the work to include actors/dancers etc to send it in the direction of your ultimate vision...) We'll look forward to gabbing about your ideas more whenever you wish -‐ sooner, or later -‐ either is fine. Looking very much forward to the collaborative possibilities! xoxox Laurel