A Five Part Series from TTBOOK!

Public Radio International

Wisconsin Public Radio

TOUCHING THE SOUND

Program 08-03-02-A

Listen!

Standing on 8 feet of ice in Antarctica you can actually feel the call of the Weddell seal below through your boots. The Carthusian monks say you can feel the vow of silence in your soul. In this hour of To the Best Of Our Knowledge, touching the sound of a monks silence and a seals call. And, an exploration of sound with famed percussionist Evelyn Glennie. Who happens to be deaf.

SEGMENT 1:

Dame Evelyn Glennie is an award winning solo percussionist and composer who performs with the great orchestras and popular artists. She's also deaf. She talks with Steve Paulson about touching sound.

SEGMENT 2:

In 1776 there were no radios or telephones or honking cars, but there were other sounds. The church bell, the town crier, and women beating their laundry all had distinct sounds. Richard Rath, author of "How Early American Sounded," tells Jim Fleming how every sound in Early America had a living and willful source. Also filmmaker Philip Groning talks with Anne Strainchamps about the six months of silence he filmed with the Carthusian monks of the Grand Chartreuse in the French Alps. His film is called "The Great Silence."

SEGMENT 3:

Doug Quin is a sound artist and professor of audio at Syracuse University. He's trying to help us tune certain sounds in, sounds we don't consider worth hearing -- from the sound of a spider sucking blood from an insect to the sound of a tree falling in a forest. He takes Anne Strainchamps on a round-the-world listening expedition.

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 08-03-024-A.

................................................................

Books:

Richard Rath, How Early America Sounded (Cornell)

Film:

Into Great Silence: Inside the Famed Carthusian Monastery.
(2007) Directed by Philip Groning
Touch the Sound: A Sound Journey with Evelyn Glennie.(2005)

Websites:

• A video of Evelyn Glennie talking about drumming at the TED conference:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU3V6zNER4g&feature=related

• For more sound recordings by Doug Quin:
  http://www.dqmedia.com
  

Music:

• Evelyn Glennie music used:

  Akira Miyoshi’s “Marinba Concerto.” Evelyn Glennie with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra from the CD “Rebounds” on RCA Victor Records.

  Louis Cauberghs’ “Halasana.” Evleyn Glennie with Philip Smith on piano from the CD “Drumming” on BMG Music.

  Askell Masson’s “Prim.” Evelyn Glennie solo from the CD “Drumming” on BMG Music.

  Evelyn Glennie’s “Sorbet #3: Udu Trail.” Evelyn Glennie solo from the CD “Drumming” on BMG Music.

  Evelyn Glennie’s “Attack of the Glow Worm.” Evelyn Glennie solo from the CD “Shadow Behind the Iron Sun” on RCA Victor Records.

  Evelyn Glennie’s “Land of Vendon.” Evelyn Glennie solo from the CD “Shadow Behind the Iron Sun” on RCA Victor Records.

  All other music in the show from the “Imaginary Landscapes” CD on Electra/Nonesuch Records:

  Ron Kuivila “Loose Canons”

  Alvin Lucier “Music from Alpha Waves, Assorted Percussion and Automated Coded Relays”

  David Tudor “Dialects”

  Maryanne Amacher “Stain-The Music Rooms”

  
  

Distribution dates: week of 03/02/2008 - hour 1

Listen!

................................................................

Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

Wisconsin Public Radio is a service of the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension.

Page design and management by Jim Fleming at Wisconsin Public Radio and Sarah Fleming.

© 2008 WHA Radio and the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. All rights reserved.