LAND SEA SKY is the realization of a text score by Tina Pearson composed during the winter of 2020 - 2021. This was a time during the pandemic when the Experimental Music Unit was playing together remotely through networked platforms, but longing to mingle our sounds together outdoors. The score was imagined for playing at so-named Finnerty Cove, a rocky outcropping on the East shore of lək̓ʷəŋən [Lekwungen] territory on the Salish Sea. Its form and content reflect the trio’s relationship of listening and playing closely together through ten years and multiple collaborative projects, and furthers that relationship toward an increasing focus on questions about our relationships with the lands where we live, work and play.
During the composition of LAND SEA SKY, our friend and colleague Raj Sen, director of Victoria’s Open Space, passed away. The beautiful openness and generosity of Raj’s spirit inspired the final version of the piece, which is dedicated to him.
The practice suggested by the score intends a respectful listening interaction within a location, and its ecosystem, embodying a sensual and perceptual awareness of its complex lifeforms, their histories, and its human and other ancestries. It is an attempt to perceive, move, sound, photograph, record and interact with place as the primary influence and recipient.
Performance and recording:
The musicians were spaced along the rocky shore in a rough triangle 20 - 50 feet apart horizontally, and on different planes vertically. Each musician recorded their own audio track with a single stereo audio recorder placed to capture their individual instrument sounds while at the same time recording the soundscape (wind, surf, grass, birds, planes) from their position. The result is a blend of the three perspectives together, with subtle overlaps and no attempt to isolate the instruments from each other, or environmental sounds from instrument sounds.
LAND SEA SKY was first performed at Finnerty Cove March 3, 2021. The audio mix was made into a video production incorporating a photographic realization of the score by Lyssa Pearson. This video was part of the online London Ontario Embassy Cultural House Earth Day 2021 Exhibition “Stop Extinction! Restore the Earth”, and the live 24-hour stream for the World Listening Project’s World Listening Day 2021 event “The Unquiet Earth” in association with the World Forum for Acoustic Ecology and New Adventures in Sound Art (Ontario).
On July 17, 2021 on World Listening Day, LAND SEA SKY was performed again with the same configuration and recording strategy. The July recordings form the mix for this CD and digital release, accompanied by a new set of photo realizations of the score.
This recording contains wind noise and other elements of outdoor recording. To hear the wide range of environment and instrument frequencies, please listen with headphones or high quality speakers.
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S C O R E Excerpt
L A N D
In silence, turn attention and senses to earth and rock, to the Land.
Imagine and listen for its presence, its materials, textures, organisms,
the formation of this Land through time.
Sense its and sound its resonance through your feet, bones and your instrument(s).
Transition: Land flows into Sea.
S E A
In silence, turn attention and senses to Water – stream, lake, or sea.
Listen for the presense and qualities of these waters through your blood and fluid systems.
Imagine and sound the water’s surface, beneath its surface, its movement and flow.
Transition: Sea evaporates into Sky.
S K Y
In silence, turn attention and senses to the Sky.
Listen for for its molecules, its moisture,
for their movement patterns near and into distant realms.
Breathe in and sound sky’s detail, expanding into its vastness.
Ending: Sense air on skin, into body, down to Land.
credits
released February 25, 2023
Performed and recorded by the Experimental Music Unit:
Tina Pearson: flute, voice, rattles, rocks
George Tzanetakis: clarinets, kaval
Paul Walde: percussion, natural materials
Audio mixing by Paul Walde
Photography: Lyssa Pearson
Design: Paul Walde and Nick Patterson
Experimental Music Unit is Tina Pearson (flute, accordion, voice), George Tzanetakis (clarinets, saxophones) & Paul Walde
(bass guitar, percussion). Since 2012, EMU has engaged in exploratory music & sound practices grounded in ecological studies, focused improvisation and collaboration. Based in Lkwungen Territory, Salish Sea (Victoria Canada)....more
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