for Singing Masks, Surround Soundscape, Narration, and Movement
by Norman Lowrey, Texts by Fred Alan Wolf
Score
Just as William Blake suggested that we could "See
a
World in a Grain of Sand," so too is it possible to
hear a universe in each instance of sound. With this
in mind, listen to all sounds and select any one in any
given instant to follow into its parallel universe.
Sound and/or move with your own sense of that
universe. Stay within that universe as long as you
wish, via memory, imagination, or any other
body/dream/cognitive modality. Remain open to
simultaneously occurring universes. Transporting
yourself into sounds in this way, go to as many
universes as you wish. Or none at all. "Just" listening
is ok. The Singing Mask Spirits are guides along
your journey. Have fun and bon voyage!
"The first step in dream practice is quite simple:
one must recognize the great potential that dream
holds for the spiritual journey. Normally the
dream is thought to be 'unreal,' as opposed to
'real' waking life. But there is nothing more real
than dream. This statement only makes sense
once it is understood that normal waking life is as
unreal as dream, and in exactly the same way.
Then it can be understood that dream yoga
applies to all experience, to the dreams of the day
as well as the dreams of the night." -Tenzin
Wangyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Yogas of Dream
and Sleep, Snow Lion Publications, 1998
Background
I've been making Singing Masks for over 20 years now. They have been real
teachers and spiritual guides for me. Their teachings have centered on
dreamtime, animism, connection, and the reality of infinite dimensions. I'm a bit
of a slow learner. It's taken me these 20 years to just begin to get around to
the parallel universe teaching
The masks function for me as "vehicles of transformation." Their voices and
imagery speak to our ancient and primal "one-ness." They may stimulate
experiences of (real) alternate imaginal/dream realms. This is what In Parallel
explores.
Soundscape
The sonic "ground" accompanying In Parallel consists of three independent ingredients:
1) Recordings I've made over the years of a wide variety of things ranging
from frogs in New
Mexico to a sound installation at the corner of 46th and Broadway in New
York City, and
including recordings from piror Singing Mask ceremony/performances (list
at end).
2) Recording of 64 selected passages from Parallel Universes by
theoretical physicist
Fred Alan Wolf. (Simon & Schuster, 1988. Used with permission from
the author)
3) Electronic (E-MU Proteus 2000) bell sounds triggered by a computer-driven
random note
generator I created for the occasion.
The recorded material is on separate CDs interspersed
with tracks of random length silences.
They are played back in random shuffle mode. Yet another aspect of the
masks' teaching has
been about abandoning my false notions about control and allowing for
the unpredictable.
There are a few consequences of this tactic. One is that
there is no guarantee that all the tracks
will get played. Another is that there may be repetition of tracks. And
yet another is that the two
may combine in wasy that render the text unintelligible.
And a consequence of (the possibility of) having so much
going on at once is that we are
challenged into multitasking (or maybe better present-day jargon: parallel
processing). +Words
to "tickle the little gray cells," as Hercule Poirot would say.
+There are the voices and imagery
of the masks to take in. +Invitation to sound and move. Parallel universes,
indeed! Well, it's an
exploration...
In Parallel soundscape includes:
1. Stream(Monterey, MA 1979) - 2 tracks
2. Spirit Talk (Madison, NJ 2000) - 3 tracks
3. Spring peepers (Great Swamp, NJ 1979) - 2 tracks
4. ReVoicings (Madison, NJ 2000) - 4 tracks
5. Max Neuhaus Installation (46 & Broadway, NYC 1979) - 1 track
6. Bees (Linwood, NY, 1980) - 1 track
7. Frogs (Rose Mountain, NM 1998) - 3 tracks
8. Lake (Monterey, MA 1979) - 1 track
9. Cat purring (Green Village, NJ 1980) - 1 track
10. Sheep (Linwood, NY 1979) - 1 track
11. Waterfall (Monterey, MA 1979) - 1 track
12. Morning walk (Boonton, NJ 2000) - 1 track
13. Hummingbirds (Rose Mountain, NM 1998) - 1 track
14. Meadow and horses at night (Linwood, NY 1980) - 1 track
15. Neuhaus mixed with frogs (NM & NYC 1979, 1998) - 1 track
