Humming As Sonic Art

photo: Michael Reinhart

Hi there,

I admit that I have been extremely lazy about devoting my blog to sound art and to my HMMM works. The last 20 posts are about my idyllic summer in gaspé. To fully grasp the HMMM project go to:

http://www.kathykennedy.ca/music/m_hmmm.html

kathy

Friends,

this would be my first post of audio in a really long time. I used to do that for a living way back in the 90′s, and I’ve been wincing at the thought of it for a few years. Anyway, I thought that it was really worth it to show those of you who were part of the June metro hmmm to hear just a touch. There is much more recorded and its amazingly rich, diverse, and wonderfully fluid just as we were that day..
I put the link on my website since it seems that wordpress doesn’t use mp3′s.

http://www.kathykennedy.ca/sounds/rotundahmm.mp3

kk

Some beautiful surprises seeing friends who had heard of the hmmm through facebook or word of mouth. And thanks to the many who suggested that we make this a monthly event.

Its so true that we should.

This situation comes up at every important juncture of the works I’ve been referring to as HMMM. I’m torn by thinking about making a living as an artist every day, and the repercussions of commiting myself to another volunteer event in my life. But then again it would be a bit perverse to being paid for this kind of thing. It is so very clearly about non-commercialism.

What is the HMMM about I wonder… everyone who participates in it must have their own singular view.

The rotunda of Victoria Square was an extraordinary experience. Between 20 & 30 of us walked to it, leaving the metro officially, to get to a fairly small, dimly lit, intimate space that many Montreal pedestrians must travel daily. We gradually expanded the humming into open vowels mostly, which allowed people to really sound out. At some point I know I, among many, was singing to the top of my lungs while travellers popped in through a theatrical array of glass doors from various building complexes. It seemed to last forever, but the video documentation will tell all. Another highpoint was the spontaneous line-up of singers along the rotunda walls, which loo

That stands for
Unvalidated Musical Experience
Maybe that’s how I should describe this event in the metro.
When I explain this to people sometimes its hard to explain. Its not really about the performance.
Maybe you have no problem with that concept,
but sometimes I think people need to hear that its a more of … a listening experience.
Like a soundwalk, but with your own built-in echolocator.

I think we’re trying to do something pretty challenging here. Maybe articulating would help make it more accessible.

New review just came in….

KATHY KENNEDY – HMMM REMIX COMPILATION (CD by Le Son 666)
Perhaps it’s safe to assume that all people hum, at least every now and
then. Humming to themselves, to a tune or to meditate. Kathy Kennedy, of
whom I never heard, does group hummings for ‘sonic experimentation and
meditation, for play and for physical well-being’. Recordings of this
humming were given to a whole bunch of people in order to crank out some
form of remix, which is clever thinking, me thinks, because it brings her
work to a new audience. Kennedy is, I believe, from Montreal, so some of the
Montreal posse are here, such as Helene Prevost, i8u but also Francisco
Lopez, Kim Cascone, Thanos Chrysakis, Austici, and lesser known names, such
as Doug van Nort, Magali Babin, Jonas Olesen, Margaret Schedel. Some of them
use the humming of voices as a starting point to create electronic
deviations of it, other use the voices as voices, and layered them, change
the pitch etc. But all of the twelve remixes (the first track is a sort of
documentary piece about humming and people are
being interviewed) seem to be interested in creating densely, atmospheric
music in which you can feel good. To create perhaps a similar effect as
humming, to enter a relaxing state. Quite a nice compilation, but not always
a big surprise. (FdW)
Address: http://www.le-son666.com

David Newman
Audiobulb Records

http://www.audiobulb.com

http://www.audiobulb.com/ab-shop.htm

http://www.myspace.com/audiobulb

Fri. evening at 6 pm, about 15 of us began humming along the landing of Berri metro for 10 minutes or so. We continued on along one train car to Mont-Royal. It was so beautiful. No one could tell exactly where the humming sound was coming from…maybe they were humming along too. Noone can tell because our mouths are closed.
Some of the participants observed how different the experience feels after a few minutes of humming. This is powerful stuff. We really have to do more. Want to join in?? Let me know….

Hello out there, in here, on there, I wanted to point out this neat sound project that Brenda Hutchison is doing.  She is videoing her  ringing a bell every day of 2008 at sunrise and sunset.  This gets really neat when you play a weeks worth of bell rings at one time, give it a try here at http://dailybell2008.blogspot.com/ !enJoy