Theatrical Sound Design

On a Text by James Baldwin is a performance which uses the repeated reading aloud,  audio recording, transcription, and whiting-out of an excerpt of James Baldwin's "Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind" (1962) to illustrate the multiple meanings of a text and that any meaning found in or derived from a text or speech should be questioned. The process of repeated reading aloud, audio recording the reading, and transcription of the words read reduces the approximately 500 word text at the start of the performance to seven words by the end. These recordings are of the first, seventh, thirteenth, and twenty-first(and last) readings during a performance.

Excerpts from "On a Text by James Baldwin" (2013)

Spatialization Studies 2014

Becky Grajeda - voice and electronics
Beth McDonald - tuba

In this piece Grajeda reads and repeats aloud an excerpt from Joseph Mitchell's short story "Up in the Old Hotel" while McDonald improvises on tuba.

Up In The Old Hotel

This is a recording of a participatory performative meditation by Becky Grajeda and Jessica Speer of two of Pauline Oliveros' Sonic Meditations, "Teach Yourself to Fly" and "Flaming Indian" performed as part of the 2nd Floor Rear Festival in Chicago, Illinois on February 2, 2014. 

Recreation of Pauline Oliveros' "Teach Yourself to Fly" and "Flaming Indian"

Recordings created on August 3, 2014 at the Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago, IL as documentation of the performance work "Spatialization Study: Chapters" by Becky Grajeda. 

Reader-performers: Eva Bialecki, Jenn Cooper, Gabrielle Kan, Brandon Kosters, Milad Mozari, Kurt Peterson, Carola Salvi, and Drew Thomas.  

Recording engineer: Alex Inglizian

Description of Spatialization Study: Chapters
Eight reader-performers stand around the audience, each reading aloud one of two chapters of the Bohumil Hrabal novel "Too Loud a Solitude" (1976), English translation from the Czech by Michael Henry Heim (1990). All reader-performers begin reading together, from the beginning of their chapter, reading until they have completed their chapter.

Recordings used in this track were created in part with a grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. 

Spatialization Study: Chapters

Recordings created on August 3, 2014 at the Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago, IL as documentation of the performance work "Spatialization Study: Translations" by Becky Grajeda. 

Reader-performers: Eva Bialecki, Jenn Cooper, Nicholas Davis, Timothy Dukes, Becky Grajeda, Gabrielle Kan, Brandon Kosters, Milad Mozari, Kurt Peterson, Carola Salvi, Drew Thomas, and Anne Yoder.  

Recording Engineer: Alex Inglizian

Description of Spatialization Study: Translations
12 reader-performers stand around the audience, each reading aloud one of three translations into English of the Jorge Luis Borges story "The Garden of Forking Paths" (1941).  All reader-performers begin together reading from the beginning of the story until each reader-performer has read the story in its entirety. 
Translations used are by Helen Temple and Ruthven Todd (1962), Donald A. Yates (1964), and Andrew Hurley (1998).

Recordings used in this track were created in part with a grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. 

Spatialization Study: Translations

A two channel sound collage made from field recordings of household heating systems and family members' voices. 

The title comes from two types of paper and mixed media collages by Czech visual poet Jiří Kolář, evidence poems (created from ephemera from daily life) and elemental poems and collages (in which large areas of an image are removed or simple cuts are made into the image). 

Evidence Poem 1: A blot could end everything

Things that shouldn't be picked up in the first place_Sample

This an excerpt of the audio for a 2-channel site-dependent sound installation.  When installed, the voice should be barely audible, with the speakers on or near the floor.  The source recordings were made in Chicago and Florence, Italy.

Vent +Voice Rollage (2010)

This is the audio for a 1-channel site-dependent sound installation. When installed, the sound plays through one speaker in the corner on or near the floor, and is barely audible. The source recording was made in Prague, CZ.

Ostrovní (2010)

This is the audio for a 2-channel version of a 3-channel site-dependent sound installation.  When installed, the audio is as loud as is bearable (it should overtake the space) and the speakers and equipment are not visible.The source recording was made in Prague, CZ.

Veletržní (2011)

An :11 sound experiment. It would be displayed through two channels.


Brushes (2010)

An :11 experiment. Displayed through two channels

Lot in Life (2010)

Audio for the 2-channel version of a 7-channel sound installation.  In the 7-channel version, 6 speakers make a horseshoe around the front of  a space at approximate height of 5 feet, the last speaker sits on the floor at the back of the space completing the circle. In the 2-channel version speakers are placed on each side of the main listening area.

Conversation (2009)

Preshow sound for Knud Adams' production of The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek at Kenyon College in September of 2008. 

The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek - Preshow Sound

Sound collage for the dream sequence in Kiff Scholl's production of Dennis Miles' play Sona Tera Roman Hess at the Lounge Theatre in Hollywood in August and Sept of 2008.  Recordings were sourced from freesound.org, and various sound effect websites. 

Reviews of the sound design can be found here:
articles.latimes.com/2008/sep/05/entertainment/et-stage5

www.laweekly.com/2008-08-21/calendar/sona-tera-roman-hess/

Sona Tera Roman Hess - Dream Sequence

Audio documentation of Mark Booth and Becky Grajeda's performance "Elsetime Duet", performed at Sector 2337 Chicago, IL on June 13, 2015

Audio documentation of Elsetime Duet

On a Text by James Baldwin is a performance which uses the repeated reading aloud,  audio recording, transcription, and whiting-out of an excerpt of James Baldwin's "Down at the Cross: Letter from a Region in My Mind" (1962) to illustrate the multiple meanings of a text and that any meaning found in or derived from a text or speech should be questioned. The process of repeated reading aloud, audio recording the reading, and transcription of the words read reduces the approximately 500 word text at the start of the performance to seven words by the end.  This is the recording of the first reading, which is of the entire text.

On a Text by James Baldwin, Recording 1

On a Text by James Baldwin, Recording 21

On a Text by James Baldwin, Recording 13

On a Text by James Baldwin, Recording 7

This is the 2-channel version of a field recording-based composition by Becky Grajeda and Charlie Schneider.  The original source recording was made while pedal-boating (feet pedal to power the boat) on the Vltava River in Prague in 2011.


Pedal-boat on the Vltava

Soundscape played while audience enters theatre before start of production of "Living an Explorer's Desire" at the Wells Fargo Theatre at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles on May 21, 2013. This set of one act plays addressed themes of immigration, cultural and geographical displacement, and a person's perception of the idea of "home."  Grajeda created this sound collage using field recordings made by Grajeda and others sourced from  freesound.org. For a full list of recording attributions, please contact Becky Grajeda through this site.



Living an Explorer's Desire - Preshow Sound

Becky Grajeda is an artist working primarily in sound and performance — often using field recordings for sound collages or texts for text-based performances.

bgrajeda

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