Recording of Heather's score for Jordan's LETTER

LETTER JORDAN BIREN - HEATHER LOCKIE

This is how Group 1 and Group 2 (ideally) should sound together : D

Group1 & Group2 together

Recorded at Readers Chorus Monday workshop night August 31, 2015.

Readers Rajio Taiso (Readers Radio Calisthenics) 08312015

WALK Jordan Biren

07/12/16 Readers Chorus lab in Chinatown. Experiments in Shape Note Reading.

Shape Note "Reading" experiments

Japanese George Clooney takes American Ken Watanabe to get sushi one night. Gara, gara, gara, gara...the sound of the sliding door to the restaurant. A lively welcome Hey ra shy! from the chef. George and Ken reply good evening Do mo! Kon ban wa! A friendly waitress show the way E ra shy ma se, oku dozo and some hot tea, hai ocha. Ginger gari and wasabi come out and they order. What an amazing meal. That you go chi soh sama!

Written by Haruko Tanaka
Performed by The Readers Chorus
March 1, 2015
The Velaslavasay Panorama, Los Angeles

www.readerschorus.com


02 Japanese George Clooney takes American Ken Watanabe to get sushi @ The Panorama

An epistolic reflexion
from the center of film
and
The harmonic images
of voice and viola
and
The resonance of a voice
with choric voices 
and
Speaking to a letter received
that speaks to a voice ringing

Text by Jordan Biren
Score by Heather Lockie
Performed by The Readers Chorus
March 1, 2015
The Velaslavasay Panorama, Los Angeles

www.readerschorus.com

03 Letter @ The Panorama

"Last July, my sister was in a train accident while visiting Zimbabwe for a destination wedding. Twenty-seven of her college friends were with her, and one of them died. Her injuries were such that she had to stay with our parents for an extended period. The beginning of her recuperation consisted of mostly lying around on painkillers and/or being in a ton of pain, and I though doing a song with me could be a diversion. So I asked her if she would sing some harmonies for a thing I was working on, and she said yes. I wanted to experiment with layering words with different syllables, á la Robert Lax' Black and White Oratorio, but incorporating pitch content. I asked her an open-ended question: what one-syllable words came to mind? The first thing she said was "blood". The second was "tusk", and there went the direction of the piece." - Heather Lockie

Text by Shawn Lockie
Music/arr. by Heather Lockie
Performed by The Readers Chorus
March 1, 2015
The Velaslavasay Panorama, Los Angeles

www.readerschorus.com

01 Wedding, Funeral @ The Panorama

Beginning at the same point alphabetically but each with a different edition, readers list the bolded entries of their respective dictionaries. Each reader's dictionary is distinguished from all others either by lexicographical manufacturer or by year of issue, but not by language or intended purpose. As the inclusion of words or phrases begins to feel arbitrary, the book's claim to comprehensiveness, or to authority, breaks down. It is an exercise in the pliancy of language, and suggests the complications of professing to know one.

Written by Todd Lerew
Performed by The Readers Chorus
March 1, 2015
The Velaslavasay Panorama, Los Angeles
www.readerschorus.com

04 Reading the Dictionaries @ The Panorama

"The Black/White Oratorio" is an epic minimalist poem by Robert Lax that is comprised entirely of the names of colors, and is meant to be read aloud by a chorus. It takes about 35 minutes to read, and there's an intense interplay between soloists, small groups, and the whole group in unison. It is a highly repetitive, cadenced, hypnotic, and - some say - hallucinogenic experience.

Written by Robert Lax & John Beer
Performed by The Readers Chorus
March 1, 2015
Velaslavasay Panorama, Los Angeles
www.readerschorus.com

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