recording

herewith
i shall give a concise description
of the process
into which i stepped
nearly two weeks ago now
partly to see if i can remember accurately
what transpired
in a yardbarn converted to a
recording studio
phil o'keefe's studio

as the idea for this effort
began to formulate in my mind
i was taken with the awareness
that the goal
while not completely clear to us
was to have something that is
expressive of what is going on
in the lives of the people making the recording
in that
our very lives will somehow be evident

this being the case
it occurred to me to
take a structural position
part of this was the need to
ecomomize time and effort
the other part was the challenge
to see if a whole work of musical art
can be made interesting and coherent
in a matter of a 15 hrs or so

thus i formulated this plan

1) use the structure of the Roman catholic Mass
as the means of thematic sequencing
of the music chosen for the project

2) incorporate a sort of icon painting approach
which consisted of entering into shared prayer
about the texts and the faith messages
-another way to think of this
is within the definition of lectio divina

3) be open to the incidents of life
any voice any possibility of musical enhancement
that happens to be presnet
is immediately a part of the scene

4) be as open as possible to interpretive creativity

5) incorporate something of the spoken word


finally it came into my mind the sense the overall sense that
the recording itself is merely a work of art
what really happened was life and music were
welded together to make life
and good food and laughter were
there and
as i was carefully woven into the lives
of the people involved
something new and strange and beautiful
is understood to be happening
of course
we may simply be farting around

my thought for the recording is
that it can become a conversation piece
as well as an introduction
to a performance style
within the multivaried representations
of christian focus

one keen minded woman
made the statement
after our fledgling performance
in the humble environs
of the valley of enchantment
it is something that
could be heard in any christian church
and i believe this is true

it also is apparent
that within the form itself
there is considerable leeway
for alteration and further creative input
this perhaps is the most exciting
aspect of the project for me thus far

basically i'm just devising clever ways
to be hanging out with john and sally mcgill