Introducing: Duets

Sophia and I met online, as you do these days. She responded to an ad I’d put on Facebook, selling some clothes. When she came over to try things on, I learned she played cello, and my musical spidey senses tingled. I’ve long wanted to collaborate with a cellist. I think the cello sounds like what a human soul would sound like if it could sing, and if I had to live my life over I would learn to play the cello. Since she was new to Yangon, I invited Sophia to join our local choir and bring her cello.

Sophia joined the Strand Singers, and my husband, Matt, and I wrote a cello line for a piece we were working on, Eliza Gilkyson’s Requiem, a gorgeous tribute to the survivors of the 2004 Asian tsunami. One day, before choir rehearsal, Sophia came early and we sat down to play. We decided to improvise, and this is what happened.

Sophia figured out what notes were on the handpan, and that was the starting point. When I studied Afro-Cuban drumming (many, many years ago), I remember learning some tips for finding your way into improv: come in late, come in early, look for the spaces in the part and fill them, echo what someone is doing, find harmony. In this case, I could hear the spaces in her part, and then filled them with arpeggios that ended up providing some polyrhythm. In improv, you can never stop listening - there’s an in-the-moment mindfulness that I imagine is like surfing, like riding a wave. You’re along for the ride, but alert and responding moment by moment.

We (Matt included) had such fun this first day, that we decided to form a band, put together eclectic tunes, and try to get some gigs when COVID-19 is over. We met once more after this, and have been on lock-down ever since. Sigh. The best laid plans.

For these past couple of months I have lost much of my motivation to play music. But recently I feel the old spark returning - to create and collaborate. But what to do when I don’t have the energy to form a virtual choir or even pursue Acapella videos with three or four others? Maybe duets? Aha! Simple and direct - just myself and one other person. It feels do-able. So I put out the word, received some very eclectic pieces, and will post those duets in the coming weeks.

I invite anyone, anywhere, to send me a 3-4 minute video, and I will create a duet with you. Any genre, any instrument, anything that is in the spirit of a SonicBloom in these times of chaos and confusion. Viva la duet!