LONG TONE CHOIR : winter

Rae Diamond and the Long Tone Choir will host a performance/installation version of their work ‘winter,’ an extended composition for voices that welcomes listeners to be active participants as well. This is the second installment of Danny Clay’s ‘quiet time’ series, focusing on works of long duration.
About the Long Tone Choir:
The Long Tone Choir explores time and perception through durational music, and blurs boundaries between audience and performer as a means of expressing a philosophy of inclusion. We use the irregular pulse of the breath as our tempo, which creates a complex yet soothing soundscape and a biotic experience of time.
www.raediamond.com
About the performance installation:
The Long Tone Choir will sing throughout this two-hour event, and the audience will be invited to perform the composition with us. Our score, written in English, will be placed in seven sections around the perimeter of the space. Seating will be set up in the middle of the space for those who would like to be receptive rather than active participants.
About the composition:
The composition we’ll perform employs words associated with the internal and pivotal nature of winter solstice, a time traditionally associated with rebirth. The words are deconstructed into phonemes, which are elongated by the breath. For example, the word, quiet, takes three full breaths to complete, with sound occurring on both the inhalations and the exhalations.
Contemplation through Repetition
Each section of the score is repeated ten times before moving on to the next section. The score takes 25-30 minutes to perform in its entirety, so anyone who wishes to perform throughout the two hours will repeat the score about four times. This repetition brings singers into a pleasant state of calm and focus.