In the Studio

Digital Vocality / Temporal Duets is a voice and movement project in collaboration with Shannon Holmes and was instigated at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada in early June 2022. I composed this brief reflective writing and Shannon added responses in parenthesis. Our first mini vocal video work, Temporal Duets: I is included below… welcome to the journey…

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We open the studio door and walk across the honey-colored wood floors. In front of us, wide floor-to-ceiling windows show off sunny finch-laden bushes and a ballet barre runs the length of the windowpanes. Behind, a black velvet curtain is drawn across a wall of mirrors. To one side, a closed upright piano and concert bass sit silently. A few glowing stage lights hang from the high ceiling. We unroll our mats and grab big physio balls. We sit on the floor, facing each other. We intone affirmations:

our voices are beautiful
(breath and vibration)
our bodies are beautiful
(energy and matter)
all the sounds we make are beautiful
(oral/aural pleasures)
we are grateful for our voices and bodies
(where do you begin and I end?)
we are grateful for each other
are grateful this moment
(temporal co-mingling)

We lay down, supine. The room is chilly. My feet are socked.
Our backs gently push into the floor as our bodies are breathed by breath.

We touch sound
(haptic harmonies)
It is how we begin
(spontaneous sonorities)
It is how everything begins
(embodied expressions)

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