Moonlight Sound Design
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
PROGRAM Texts (Select program notes at bottom of page):
In Paradisum - [instrumental]
Everything is Made of Light
The moon translates a rhythm
Of this night that knows no breath.
Everything is made of light.
The whole world is glowing.
-William Reichard
Turing Believes Machines Think
Turing believe machines think
Turing lies with men
Therefore machines do not think
Yours in distress, Alan
-Alan Turing, letter to Norman Routledge (1952)
Stardust Once Again
When I die my essence will emerge unembodied
My atoms will become undone
what you see will no longer be—I will be stardust, once again
The wind will carry me—scatter me everywhere
(Like dandelion seeds on a summer breeze)
I will dance to the rhythms of distant worlds and bask in the glow of alien moons
I will climb the highest mountain—cross the Cerulean Sea
Play in the light of a new-born star
It will all be so damn poetic until I land on your egg salad sandwich
We are but sand, which will gather together again
I will forge my new body from stardust once again
-Internet meme adapted by Paul David Stanko
Moonlight Sound Design
In the moonlight, time stands still.
The present melts into the past,
and my spirit communes with souls
that have passed before me.
I can never explain, can never tell you.
No!
In the night, it smells of morning.
And in the silence, flowers and birds herald the light.
Tears in my eyes, like dewdrops on flowers that,
with the light, will disappear, having been lost in
darkness.
-Raimonds Tiguls
If It is Honest
The soul of the past is conveyed
through the infallible language of art.
It is as if dwelling in a sacred grove of memories
where the thoughts, the feelings,
and the aims of our forebears
speak to us their silent tongue.
Art is like a plant, growing from its seed.
Its characteristics and its quality are concealed
within the potential power of people
until it is given the strength to grow.
Faith, hope, charity, teaching.
If a building is honest,
the architecture is religious.
-Eliel Saarinen and Rolf Anderson, compiled by Ian A. Cook
Underneath the Stars
Underneath the stars I’ll meet you,
underneath the stars I’ll greet you,
and there beneath the stars I’ll leave you
before you go of your own free will;
go gently.
Underneath the stars you met me,
underneath the stars you left me;
I wonder if the stars regret me.
At least you’ll go of your own free will;
go gently.
Here beneath the stars I’m landing,
and here beneath the stars not ending,
oh, why on earth am I pretending?
I’m here again, the stars befriending--
they come and go of their own free will;
go gently.
Underneath the stars you met me,
underneath the stars you left me;
I wonder if the stars regret me,
I’m sure they’d like me if they only met me.
They come and go of their own free will.
go gently.
-Kate Rusby
SELECT PROGRAM NOTES
Turing Believes Machines Think
Actor Benedict Cumberbatch played famed mathematician Alan Turing in the 2014 film The Imitation Game. Gordon Hamilton's brief choral work utilizes a text from a letter Turing wrote to his friend Norman Routledge in 1952 prior to his guilty plea convicting him of sexual relations with another man. Turing conveyed his anxiety in the form of a syllogism, a tool that utilizes two assumed truths to bring another point to reason. A classic example might be: "All mammals are animals. Elephants are mammals. Therefore, all elephants are animals." Turing's syllogism is terribly tragic. Once famed for decoding encrypted information from the Nazis in the second world war, Turing's country turned on him based on his sexual orientation. Turing ultimately took his own life shortly after.
Stardust Once Again [notes by Paul David Stanko]
It’s fair to say that “Stardust Once Again” would not exist without “Moonlight Sound Design”. Sam approached me after an MPLS (imPulse) concert in 2018 and told me about this piece that was written for Hung and choir (a Hung is a Swiss sound sculpture created by PanArt that uses dimples to make the tone and a secondary shell to give it it’s UFO appearance, but serves as a Helmholtz resonator amplifying the sound). I did not own any handpans at that point (Hung—which is Bernese for “hand” is the first of many manufactures of handpans), but did own a RAV Vast, but the key was completely different from the key Moonlight Sound Design was written in. Unlike most traditional instruments, a RAV Vast (or Hang, or Handpan) are some version of steel tuned to a specific set of pitches. The only way to get DIFFERENT pitches, is to purchase a different instrument with a different pre-set tuning. …and these are all handmade instruments—you don’t just dial in a machine setting and *poof*. So I set out to compose something for MPLS (imPulse) and the RAV Vast’s I owned—which would be the first composition for this instrument and choir in the world!
At the time, I had recently stumbled across this meme, and it cracked me up:
I loved the idea of our eternal nature surviving death. The haunting and hypnotic sound of the RAV Vast would be perfect to touch on metaphysical topics.
As I began to write, I realized the text needed to be fleshed out more to really tell the story. And the idea of space dust wasn’t wrong, but star dust inspired more of the spirit of adventure and vast-ness (see what I did there?).
As I approached writing for the RAV, I wanted to capture different textures of the instrument as well as the marvelous sustain. As a percussionist, I approach my music composition from a rhythmic and texture standpoint first and a melodic standpoint second. With the RAV, I wanted the instrument ambient noise texture and the variations in sound which knuckles, hand slaps, thumb strikes, finger strikes each provide. I sent an early draft to Sam with the first third of the piece to get the green light to compose the rest. He gave it! …then a pandemic hit and it sat on a virtual shelf while the world shut down.
I picked up the text several times during lock down—even recording a pop version of the lyrics—completely unrelated to Stardust Once Again except for most of the text. But that still sits on a different virtual shelf to this day.
Earlier in 2023, I received an email from Sam inquiring about doing Moonlight Sound Design with MPLS (imPulse) and what the status was of Stardust Once Again. I told him I would get a new drum for Moonlight Sound Design (much to my husband’s chagrin) and asked for two weeks to finish Stardust Once Again. Today you hear the result.
Ambient, colorful, soaring, deep, funny… all in the 5 plus minutes of music. The beginning sets the sound of the RAV Vast in your ear… pitches popping out from a plethora of overtones….the choir starting deep, soft and low. The timbre of the different vowels formed by different sections of the choir as they crescendo to a unified AHH…
“When I die, my essence will emerge unembodied”. The soul’s journey after death. As the atoms that you see in the mirror every day become undone, the choir dissolves from unity to chaos—each individual having their own voice but unified in idea. As the realization dawns of the eternal nature of the soul, the lush chords proclaim the revelation, “I will be stardust once again.”
You can almost hear rustling and blowing as the treble voices soar like the wind blowing dandelion seeds into your neighbor’s well-manicured yard—scattering you everywhere.
You feel the call of rhythm as you embrace your new adventure, realizing you can dance to the rhythm of distant worlds and play in the light of newborn stars! It is all so damn poetic …until you land on someone’s egg salad sandwich.
When I was 25, my soulmate died in a car accident. I remember standing in the kitchen of my work after that thinking, “You are off exploring the universe, and I am standing here making egg salad. Something is wrong with that.” So this seem a PERFECT place to reflect on that moment and honor the moment… and it just so happens that the chords in this section are “e minor G major and G major” and the RAV pays “E-G-G” in the accompaniment.
The final revelation that YOU are eternal—that YOU are a powerful creator and can—and most likely will—forge a new body from stardust once again and play this grand adventure one more time!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
- St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church (Plymouth, MN) - For donating rehearsal space
- Kirk Hoaglund, Brian Haase, and 480 Arts - For donating performance space
- Dana Skoglund - For his incredible spirit and generosity and connecting us to 480
- David Mills-Rittmann - For creating promotional videos and materials for the performance
- Paul David Stanko
- Walt Boyd & Allinthecouch recordings
- Kate Vishneski
- Jamie Marshall
- Emma Plehal
- Bea Rendón
- Ian Cook
PROGRAM Texts (Select program notes at bottom of page):
In Paradisum - [instrumental]
Everything is Made of Light
The moon translates a rhythm
Of this night that knows no breath.
Everything is made of light.
The whole world is glowing.
-William Reichard
Turing Believes Machines Think
Turing believe machines think
Turing lies with men
Therefore machines do not think
Yours in distress, Alan
-Alan Turing, letter to Norman Routledge (1952)
Stardust Once Again
When I die my essence will emerge unembodied
My atoms will become undone
what you see will no longer be—I will be stardust, once again
The wind will carry me—scatter me everywhere
(Like dandelion seeds on a summer breeze)
I will dance to the rhythms of distant worlds and bask in the glow of alien moons
I will climb the highest mountain—cross the Cerulean Sea
Play in the light of a new-born star
It will all be so damn poetic until I land on your egg salad sandwich
We are but sand, which will gather together again
I will forge my new body from stardust once again
-Internet meme adapted by Paul David Stanko
Moonlight Sound Design
In the moonlight, time stands still.
The present melts into the past,
and my spirit communes with souls
that have passed before me.
I can never explain, can never tell you.
No!
In the night, it smells of morning.
And in the silence, flowers and birds herald the light.
Tears in my eyes, like dewdrops on flowers that,
with the light, will disappear, having been lost in
darkness.
-Raimonds Tiguls
If It is Honest
The soul of the past is conveyed
through the infallible language of art.
It is as if dwelling in a sacred grove of memories
where the thoughts, the feelings,
and the aims of our forebears
speak to us their silent tongue.
Art is like a plant, growing from its seed.
Its characteristics and its quality are concealed
within the potential power of people
until it is given the strength to grow.
Faith, hope, charity, teaching.
If a building is honest,
the architecture is religious.
-Eliel Saarinen and Rolf Anderson, compiled by Ian A. Cook
Underneath the Stars
Underneath the stars I’ll meet you,
underneath the stars I’ll greet you,
and there beneath the stars I’ll leave you
before you go of your own free will;
go gently.
Underneath the stars you met me,
underneath the stars you left me;
I wonder if the stars regret me.
At least you’ll go of your own free will;
go gently.
Here beneath the stars I’m landing,
and here beneath the stars not ending,
oh, why on earth am I pretending?
I’m here again, the stars befriending--
they come and go of their own free will;
go gently.
Underneath the stars you met me,
underneath the stars you left me;
I wonder if the stars regret me,
I’m sure they’d like me if they only met me.
They come and go of their own free will.
go gently.
-Kate Rusby
SELECT PROGRAM NOTES
Turing Believes Machines Think
Actor Benedict Cumberbatch played famed mathematician Alan Turing in the 2014 film The Imitation Game. Gordon Hamilton's brief choral work utilizes a text from a letter Turing wrote to his friend Norman Routledge in 1952 prior to his guilty plea convicting him of sexual relations with another man. Turing conveyed his anxiety in the form of a syllogism, a tool that utilizes two assumed truths to bring another point to reason. A classic example might be: "All mammals are animals. Elephants are mammals. Therefore, all elephants are animals." Turing's syllogism is terribly tragic. Once famed for decoding encrypted information from the Nazis in the second world war, Turing's country turned on him based on his sexual orientation. Turing ultimately took his own life shortly after.
Stardust Once Again [notes by Paul David Stanko]
It’s fair to say that “Stardust Once Again” would not exist without “Moonlight Sound Design”. Sam approached me after an MPLS (imPulse) concert in 2018 and told me about this piece that was written for Hung and choir (a Hung is a Swiss sound sculpture created by PanArt that uses dimples to make the tone and a secondary shell to give it it’s UFO appearance, but serves as a Helmholtz resonator amplifying the sound). I did not own any handpans at that point (Hung—which is Bernese for “hand” is the first of many manufactures of handpans), but did own a RAV Vast, but the key was completely different from the key Moonlight Sound Design was written in. Unlike most traditional instruments, a RAV Vast (or Hang, or Handpan) are some version of steel tuned to a specific set of pitches. The only way to get DIFFERENT pitches, is to purchase a different instrument with a different pre-set tuning. …and these are all handmade instruments—you don’t just dial in a machine setting and *poof*. So I set out to compose something for MPLS (imPulse) and the RAV Vast’s I owned—which would be the first composition for this instrument and choir in the world!
At the time, I had recently stumbled across this meme, and it cracked me up:
I loved the idea of our eternal nature surviving death. The haunting and hypnotic sound of the RAV Vast would be perfect to touch on metaphysical topics.
As I began to write, I realized the text needed to be fleshed out more to really tell the story. And the idea of space dust wasn’t wrong, but star dust inspired more of the spirit of adventure and vast-ness (see what I did there?).
As I approached writing for the RAV, I wanted to capture different textures of the instrument as well as the marvelous sustain. As a percussionist, I approach my music composition from a rhythmic and texture standpoint first and a melodic standpoint second. With the RAV, I wanted the instrument ambient noise texture and the variations in sound which knuckles, hand slaps, thumb strikes, finger strikes each provide. I sent an early draft to Sam with the first third of the piece to get the green light to compose the rest. He gave it! …then a pandemic hit and it sat on a virtual shelf while the world shut down.
I picked up the text several times during lock down—even recording a pop version of the lyrics—completely unrelated to Stardust Once Again except for most of the text. But that still sits on a different virtual shelf to this day.
Earlier in 2023, I received an email from Sam inquiring about doing Moonlight Sound Design with MPLS (imPulse) and what the status was of Stardust Once Again. I told him I would get a new drum for Moonlight Sound Design (much to my husband’s chagrin) and asked for two weeks to finish Stardust Once Again. Today you hear the result.
Ambient, colorful, soaring, deep, funny… all in the 5 plus minutes of music. The beginning sets the sound of the RAV Vast in your ear… pitches popping out from a plethora of overtones….the choir starting deep, soft and low. The timbre of the different vowels formed by different sections of the choir as they crescendo to a unified AHH…
“When I die, my essence will emerge unembodied”. The soul’s journey after death. As the atoms that you see in the mirror every day become undone, the choir dissolves from unity to chaos—each individual having their own voice but unified in idea. As the realization dawns of the eternal nature of the soul, the lush chords proclaim the revelation, “I will be stardust once again.”
You can almost hear rustling and blowing as the treble voices soar like the wind blowing dandelion seeds into your neighbor’s well-manicured yard—scattering you everywhere.
You feel the call of rhythm as you embrace your new adventure, realizing you can dance to the rhythm of distant worlds and play in the light of newborn stars! It is all so damn poetic …until you land on someone’s egg salad sandwich.
When I was 25, my soulmate died in a car accident. I remember standing in the kitchen of my work after that thinking, “You are off exploring the universe, and I am standing here making egg salad. Something is wrong with that.” So this seem a PERFECT place to reflect on that moment and honor the moment… and it just so happens that the chords in this section are “e minor G major and G major” and the RAV pays “E-G-G” in the accompaniment.
The final revelation that YOU are eternal—that YOU are a powerful creator and can—and most likely will—forge a new body from stardust once again and play this grand adventure one more time!
